Creating beautiful designs is one of the benefits of learning a life skill that's sadly declining.
When your child joins the Brownies or Scouts you soon realise they need to learn to sew. I don’t know if my daughter’s pack is particularly prolific at handing out awards but she seems to have a new badge to stitch on every few weeks - time for her to learn to do it herself.
Like changing a fuse, being able to sew a button on a shirt is one of those little life skills that every child should master, and it’s fairly simple to learn the basics of sewing. Once you’ve threaded your needle and tied a knot you’re good to go, and there are some nice, easy crafts you can try out which only require a basic running stitch.
Embroider a work of art
How about transforming one of your child’s sketches into an embroidered masterpiece? To make an embroidery all you need is: some material, an embroidery hoop, a pencil, a needle, some fairly thick thread, and a pair of scissors.
The embroidery hoop isn’t strictly necessary but it makes the project much easier for your child to handle by themselves. All the materials can be picked up at a haberdashery – try your local market, department store or order them online. If your child gets the sewing bug the local haberdashery can become a great place to spend an allowance as they have so many craft items at pocket money prices.
To make your work of art you need to first draw your design on the material using your pencil. Then place the fabric in the embroidery hoop and pull it tight. This holds the material firmly in place making it easier for your child to sew. Thread your needle, tie a knot in one end and stitch over the top of your pencil design. You can use a variety of colours to suit your picture and simply tie the threads on the reverse side of the picture when you’re done. The hoop makes a great frame to display your art in when you're finished.
Sewing buttons and other project ideas
You can also make use of the embroidery hoop when you learn to sew on buttons too. Use the hoop to hold some spare fabric and have a try sewing on lots of old buttons – practice makes perfect!
There are several other easy projects you could try. Those Brownie and Scout badges are a good place to start but you could also buy some aida and make bookmarks, which would make a great end-of-year thank you for a teacher. You could also try simple purses, keyring charms, or recycle an old pair of jeans into a bag.
Photo: Cathy James
Other posts you may like
Love Cathy James’s post? Read more 
2 Comments
Post a comment
You must be signed in to post to Ready for Ten.
Haven’t registered? It’s really quick and simple.
admin
02 June, 2011
What a great post Cathy with some wonderful crafty ideas!
I am a keen quilter so our house is stacked with fabric, threads, wadding etc . My sewing machine is permanantly out and plugged in, so my kids are very used to having fabric to play with. It brings them so much satisfaction to make something of their own, the last thing we tried was making a gingerbread hand puppet. This is a nice idea for a beginners task http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/puppets.html and a good way to use up all those socks who have mysteriously lost their partners :-)
Leigh
Ready for Ten Team
mum
02 June, 2011
Leigh, my eight-year-old would be in heaven, getting her hands on your fabric stash! Thanks for the link to the puppets, there are some fab projects on there.