Sewing is a skill that few children learn adequately. If you like and want your children to learn this textile art, you can explain to them how it is sewn by hand and with the sewing machine. It starts when they are still small or just teenagers. Choose jobs based on the coordination between the kids' eyes and hands and the level of fun. Consider very simple projects for 1-8 year olds. Find out how to teach children to sew.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Sewing for Toddlers
Step 1. Put some tubes of raw pasta in 3-4 different plastic bags
Add approximately 10 drops of liquid food coloring to each bag and shake them thoroughly. Choose a different color for each bag.
- Place the tubes of pasta on paper napkins to dry. They will dry out quickly in the sun.
- Choose the yarn according to the children's favorite color and cut a long piece of it. Knot one end.
- Give the children a plastic needle with a rather large eye. Teach them how to introduce the thread into the eye. It is a very useful exercise for the future, when they will need to insert the thread into the needle.
- Show the child how to place the plastic needle in each tube of dough to make a necklace.
Step 2. Pass the thread in a cardboard
Set aside some cardboard images, such as those printed on the back of cereal boxes or on greeting cards.
- Use a small hole punch to punch holes in the drawing, so that the thread, passed along the edge, follows the shape of the character or subject portrayed. You will need more holes along the curves and edges than the straight lines.
- You can use this method to teach children about straight stitch or back stitch. You will need a few holes in the same place to make a straight stitch, so the baby doesn't undo it when he comes back. Once he has mastered the straight stitch, you can teach him to go underneath to back stitch on the cardboard image.
- Give the child a piece of thread, a dull pair of scissors, and a plastic needle. This time, ask him to cut a piece of yarn and knot it. Let me thread it into the needle, passing the other end through.
- Give the baby a starting point and show him how to move from the first hole in the back and sew around the image. He will feel satisfied when he has finished the outline and knotted the thread in the back. Cut out the image and frame it, or hang it up.
- For very young children you can use a shoelace instead of the plastic thread and needle. In this case, it will not be necessary to use the needle, because the ends are easy to thread.
Method 2 of 2: Sewing Jobs for Older Children
Step 1. Make a banner
You can use it to decorate a child's room or as a decoration for a holiday, depending on the type of fabric you use.
- Gather the fabric according to the use of the banner. He does well using fabric scraps. If you work with younger children, cut different types of fabric in the shape of triangles of the same size. For the older ones, have them cut the fabric so they can make the banner themselves.
- Show the child how to thread the embroidery thread through the needle. This may take several attempts.
- Show how to start the banner by inserting the needle from the back into 1 corner of each triangle and then pulling it to the other corner in the front. Move the triangle along the wire, sliding it gently.
- Have the child continue with the rest of the triangles until the thread is filled. Hang the banner where everyone can admire it.
Step 2. Teach how to sew a button
This handy trick is useful for fixing clothes or decorating a fabric with the use of colored buttons. As a first project, give the children a large piece of felt and buttons of various colors to place anywhere on one side of the felt.
- Help the child tie the thread after he has inserted it into a regular needle. It would be better to choose a larger needle so that he can see it more easily.
- Show him how to thread and lift the needle from the wrong side of the fabric through one hole in the button and then reinsert it into another. Continue 4 or 5 times until the button fits snugly, not too tight.
- Tell the child to tie the thread on the wrong side of the fabric. Then find various types of 2- and 4-hole buttons that you can practice with. Once she is comfortable sewing buttons on felt after the project is complete, use the work to cover the front of a pillow. When he learns how to sew buttons with this method, you can teach him how to sew them on a shirt, making sure that it matches the respective buttonholes.
Step 3. Buy children's sewing books
To encourage a passion for sewing, buy him a book he can enjoy completing some simple projects explained inside. Many of these manuals are designed and structured like coloring books or children's fiction texts, with pictures and ideas inside.
Here are some great tips: "Sewing for Children", by Emma Hardy; "Cutting and sewing for babies and children", published by Giunti Demetra; "Sewing for the little ones", by S. Barri Gaudet; "The abc for sewing. 50 illustrated cards. With gadgets", by Giunti Demetra
Step 4. Make felt shapes to stuff
You will need embroidery thread and needle, some felt and batting for stuffing.
- Cut out a shape, such as a heart or circle, from a piece of felt. Fold it in half and cut out the template on 2 pieces of felt. They will be the front and back of the work.
- With eyelet pliers, drill a hole every 0.6 cm apart through two pieces of felt.
- Help the child insert the thread into the needle. Instead of tying it right away, leave some length to tie the knot at the end.
- Teach him to use the straight stitch, back stitch, or blanket stitch around the edge of the cut out felt. When he gets to the end, help him fill the piece with batting so it has a chubby shape.
- Help the child finish the open hem and tie the thread. Once you have learned how to use all three stitches on different felt scraps, move on to sewing a few felt letters on one side before stuffing the fabric.
