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Blessings to you!
Kristen helped her 5 year-old daughter make an adorable tooth fairy envelope since she is looking forward to the "big" day when her tooth falls out! Aubry and I will be making one of these since her two front teeth are wiggling enough to make it impossible for her to eat an apple.
Kristen even wrote up a simple tutorial here. Check it out!
These pretty little hanging pillows are so easy to make and are just right for little ones to handle as they learn to embroider. First, pick out the fabric and ribbon that you want...cut the fabric to a 10 x 7 inch size and the ribbon to 14 inches.
Position your ribbon between the fabric as shown and pin in place. I measured in 1 1/2 inches from the edge of my fabric to place my ribbon. This will allow your handle to be sewn into the seam correctly at the top of the pillow.
Allow for a 1/2 inch seam and sew all the way around leaving an opening at the bottom as shown. Clip the corners and trim the seam allowance as needed and then turn so that you have a little pillow ready to stuff.
This is the fun part for the little ones....time to stuff! Stuff as full as you want and then decide what pattern to use for embroidering. I just freehanded a heart and a flower for mine using a mark-be-gone marker. This simple design is easier for beginners to follow. Next, take a matching thread and handstitch the bottom opening closed.
Gather the rest of your supplies...a little basket with a variety of threads and needles and scissors and let your little one get to work. If you've got a beginner, show them the general technique and let them try on their own. The pillow offers great protection for fingers and such because of the stuffing, they'll just need to watch their fingertips when reaching for the needle to pull through.
What they end up with is a super cute little pillow that will be perfect for hanging on door knobs, closet handles, and even on the walls, as my girls decided. I had to help Claire (3) quite a bit, but Emma (5) was able to control her stitches very well with only a little help. And, how exciting for them to know that they made these themselves...and what a precious keepsake for the years to come :) Enjoy!
***Hi, I'm Sandra! I have been married to my wonderful husband for 12 years and I am a homeschooling mom to four blessings. You can learn more about me here. I would love for you to stop by and visit with me at my blog, My Inspired Heart, and see what creative adventures my family and I are up to!
This tutorial is super easy and is designed for the young beginning sew-er. With a little help from mom, your girl can make herself and her friends enough bandanas for the whole summer!
Start with a square of fabric (21" X21" approximately). Raid the fabric stash for this one!
Step One: Press a 1/4" inch fold along all four edges of the fabric:
Step Two: Press another 1/4" fold along all four edges (this is called a hem):
Step Three: Sew a seam along all four edges. Believe it or not, you are already done!:
Your edges will look like this:
The full bandana:
Aubry ties it with a pirate-ish flair:
Happy sewing!
***Today's guest blogger is Stacy from With Great Joy. Thanks, Stacy!
Recently I decided to try my hand at embroidery. I had some hoops that I’d found at a thrift store, so I just needed some fabric and embroidery thread to get started. As I stood in the fabric store, selecting those things, it dawned on me that there was no way I could get away with learning this new skill without my six-year old daughter, Ella wanting to learn right along with me. [How handy it was, then, that I’d picked up two hoops at the thrift store!] I chose thread colors that I thought she’d like (so pinks and purples, then), and picked up the rest of the supplies.
That evening, I curled up on the couch with my hoop and needle, and right away Ella expressed interest in what I was doing. I showed her, and then asked her if she wanted to do it, too. As I suspected, she most certainly did! Her face lit up when I pulled out a hoop just like my own and handed it to her.
I gave her a pencil and told her she could draw a picture onto the fabric and then stitch over top of it. She was excited about that, and clarified, “Any picture I want?” I said “Yes” and watched to see what she’d draw. She drew a little house and happily stitched beside me. Ella loved the whole process.
She could draw her own picture, choose her own colors, go at her own pace, and stitch by her own “rules”. She did a beautiful job, and spent more than an hour working on it. I had to help her thread the needle and tie off the thread when she came to the end of a color, but other than that, she was able to do it all by herself. If you’d like to do something similar with your little girl, it is easy to get started, and an inexpensive craft to do, too.
Here’s a list of supplies you’ll need:
-hoop
-embroidery floss
-needle
-fabric with a looser weave (linen, flour sacks, muslin)
-scissors
-pencil or water-soluble/vanishing ink pen (found with the quilting notions in your fabric store)
Enjoy!
My girl loves to make things. Fabric, papers and staples are some of her closest friends. This makes it easy and fun for me to keep a blog like this because there is no arm-twisting or bagging going on to get her a crafty mood. She is always ready to create.
Lately her craftiness has escalated to new levels and she has been campaigning for a sewing machine of her very own. Not only does she mention the machine everyday, she has taken to getting ready for it by hand-sewing. She made the vest in the picture all my herself and she did not fail to mention that the machine would have made the job much quicker.
One afternoon of questions and cutting and questions and measuring and choosing buttons and questions and a crying a few times yielded a surprisingly wearable garment.
The problem?
She seriously wants to wear it.
Out of the house.
As part of a real outfit.
Maybe this crafty mama isn't quite ready for such a crafty girl!
Aubry loves headbands and so do I. They are easy to make and simple to use and, most of all, they keep my girl's hair out of her eyes.
I have put together a very simple tutorial that can used by a beginning sew-er, ages 10 and up, with a little help from mom. All you will need is a rectangle of fabric, a small piece of trim, and about 10 inches of 1/2" elastic.
Your daughter can make a few of these for herself and her friends, and these would also make great Christmas gifts if made in a set of three. Once I had the headband cut out, it only took me 15 minutes to get it sewn up, so these are not only cute, but quick also!
---My inspiration came from the tutorial that KC Quilts put together, but my tutorial is simplified. If you and your daughter are ready for something more challenging, try her version.
First you will need to cut out a 15" X 3" piece of fabric. This rectangle is the main part of your headband. I sewed a piece of ric-rac down the center, but you can skip this step entirely or you can use ribbon, ric-rac, or lace to jazz up your fabric.
Now you will fold your strip in half (right sides together) and sew down the long edge.
Clip a safety-pin on one end of your headband and thread it through to turn you piece right side out. This takes a bit of scrunching and pulling, so be patient.
Now iron your headband flat so that your seam is in the middle of the back of your fabric.
Tuck 1/4" of your edges into the headband and iron.
Now you will cut a piece of 1/2" elastic (I cut mine 10 inches long) and place 1/2" into one end of your headband. Sew in place.
Now you will need to place the headband on your head and bring the elastic around until it reaches the other end of your headband. Tighten the elastic approximately 1/2" to 1". This will keep the headband firmly on your head without squeezing too tight. Trim the elastic, leaving an extra 1/2" to tuck into your headband. (I cut approximately 4 inches off for Aubry's headband).
Now sew the other end of the elastic into your headband.
Now you are finished!
If you are making these for gifts, simply measure the headbands to someone with a similar sized head as the gift recipient. Remember to make these bigger for people with very thick hair.
Have fun and happy crafting!
...to make a bean bag, doll pillow, sachet or a pin-cushion! This little project is perfect for a brand-new sew-er, or for anyone who likes to combine fabrics and have fun with color. (See the variations at the end of the post.)
Supplies needed:
Two 5" squares of fabric
Cotton or polyester stuffing
Needle and thread
A 16" length of ribbon
Sewing Machine
***For the sake of the photographs, I am using bright red thread on this project. Normally I would be using white or a color that doesn't show up as much.
With right sides of the fabric together, sew a 1/4" seam around the square, leaving a 2" opening for turning:
Clip the corners of the square close to the stitching (but not close enough to cut the thread!) so that when you turn your piece right-side out, the corners will be nice and pointed:
Turn your square right side out using a crochet hook to push out the corners:
Stuff the square firmly and then stitch it closed:
Now you simply tie on the ribbon to make it pretty:
Variations:
***Instead of stuffing, fill the square with beans or rice to make a bean-bag. You will only need to fill it 3/4 full. Make a bunch of these to create a fun game!
***While you are adding the stuffing, pour in 1 tablespoon of dried lavender flowers or cloves to make a sachet. These make great gifts!
***You may use your ribbon-tied square as a pin-cushion. All sew-ers need a place to stash their pins! These also make great gifts.
Happy sewing!
Before setting your girls free on the sewing machine, there are a couple of practice techniques that you can use to teach them to sew straight lines. Once they have mastered a semi-straight line they are ready to start their first project. Only time and lots of practice will fully straighten their lines.
***Adult supervision is required!
First, you can take a sheet of notebook paper and simply have your girl sew straight lines of stitches up and down the lines of the paper. (There is a straight line of stitches in the picture below to the left of the zigzag line.) Encourage them to sew slowly and to stay in control of the paper and the stitching line. Be sure to let them know that if they go too fast they may sew over their fingers, which is something they will want to avoid!
You can also practice zigzag stitches with this same sheet of paper, although the straight stitches are the most important and will be the ones they use the most.
Another helpful hint is to lay a piece of clear tape over your needle plate (the metal square in the picture) vertically. (If you look closely you will see the tape in the picture). Now take a Sharpie marker (make sure you use something permanent so that it won't bleed onto fabric) and draw lines at the 3/8" mark and the 5/8" mark. This will give your girl a dark, solid line to follow with her fabric:
3/8" line:
5/8" line:
Practice is the key at this point. At first when your girl starts veering off the line, she may find herself making things worse by trying to fix it herself. You can encourage her to stop if she starts slipping away from the line, and that way you can help her back to the right spot. Once she gets the hang of it, she will be able to steer herself in the right direction.
Happy sewing!
My girl is a gift-giver. When she knows that someone's birthday is coming up, you will find her feverishly working at coloring, stapling and creating. When I discovered that we could take a piece of fabric and color on it using crayons, and then iron the design into the fabric, I knew that this craft was for us!
Here is how to do it:
First, take a piece of cotton fabric and have your child color a picture on it. I suggested to Aubry that she use bright colors and try her best to fill the center of the fabric piece, as opposed to the edges. It is also a good idea to press hard with the crayons to get the best color.
After the picture is complete you will take a piece of blank newsprint paper and lay it on your ironing board. Then lay your fabric piece face-down on the newsprint. Lay a damp towel on top of this and add one more layer of blank newsprint on top to complete the stack. Iron on medium-high heat until the crayons appear to melt into the fabric and the colors are set. (I found the technique in this book.)
After I ironed the picture into the fabric, I trimmed the piece into a 12-1/2" by 15-1/2" rectangle and then I sewed a 4" by 15-1/2" piece of fabric to the top edge of her picture so that the finished bag front would equal 15-1/2" by 15-1/2".
After I squared up the bag front to 15-1/2" by 15-1/2 inches, I pretty much followed this technique to finish the bag. The only differences are the measurements and the fact that I didn't use any oilcloth to make the bag or bias-tape on the straps. I also used fusible interfacing on the bag and the straps for sturdiness.
This bag was easy and fun to make. Aubry chose to draw a picture of Grandpa, Grandma, Great-Grandma and herself, and she decided that this bag will be going to Grandma Alice. The best part is Aubry's happiness over the finished product and her idea that Grandma Alice might use it to tote books home from the library!
Happy crafting!
