Little Stitchers! Week 2: Printable Pack

Welcome back for Week 2 of Little Stitchers!  The response to this series has been overwhelmingly incredible and makes me thrilled to see how many of you are excited to teach your children to sew.
little stitchers header.jpg
Week 1 covered the basics of space planning, safety, and machine recommendations.  Week 2 is aiming to get you and your child practicing the needle, the pedal, the handwheel, and the presser foot lever by sewing on paper.  Paper is a great way to get started because it is less slippery than fabric.
The Little Stitchers! Printable Pack 1 includes Sewing Straight Lines, Sewing Angles 1, Sewing Curves 1 and 2, and a Dot-to-Dot grid.  These will all be used at different points in the series and more will be added!  Feel free to save them in your dropbox account and print out, as needed.  
printable collage.jpg 
Today, we are going to begin with the Sewing Straight Lines printable sheet.  
sewing straight lines.jpg
As I mentioned above, today’s main goal is to teach the children 4 parts of the machine: hand wheel, presser foot lever, presser foot, and pedal.  

Learning these parts simply takes repetition and modeling.  The first time Ainsley and I discussed these, I had her stand next to me, while I showed her the parts and explained what they did.  I had her repeat the words to me multiple times and then I verbally quizzed her on them to make sure she was ready to move on. The next step is to teach them this sequence of events. 1.  Lever up. 2. Needle up (hand wheel). 3.  Paper/fabric under presser foot. 4.  Lever down. 5.  Needle down (hand wheel). 6.  Hands to the sides. 7.  Press pedal and sew carefully. 8.  Foot off pedal. 9.  Lever up. 10.  Needle up (hand wheel). 11.  Pull paper/fabric out. 12.  Snip threads. Kids catch on very quickly.  The most important thing is that you are directly next to them to guide them and assure that they are safe.  Talk to them the whole time, giving them verbal cues and praise.  Repeat these steps multiple times until you are confident that they are clear on the process. Important safety tip: 

Randomly say “STOP” in the middle of sewing to make sure they understand that when you give that direction you mean business.  They must listen or they will not be able to continue.  Make sure they understand why that is so important.  Also, make sure that you are reminding them to keep their hands on either side of the needle and their eyes constantly on their project.  The second they aren’t doing that, say “Stop” and remind them.   
Don’t forget my tip from last week: 
Set your child up so that their foot is easily able to press the foot pedal.  I have Ainsley sitting at a child size table and the pedal is propped up on a sturdy box.
The following two videos are examples of what I say to her during her lessons.  Eventually, they won’t need this guidance, but until I feel fully confident in her abilities, I will continue to give reminders.
Practice, practice, practice is the key! (and lots of patience)

 

If you feel that your child isn’t ready for the needle just yet, feel free to remove it and have them practice the sequence with a needle-less machine.  
So far, Ainsley has already created a pillow and a Barbie dress. 
She is pretty proud of herself.

Come back next week for more tips and lessons.  In a few weeks, I will also be featuring some fantastic guest posters and a few giveaways.  As always, please let me know if there are specific lessons you would like me to cover!

Hayley
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Hayley

Hayley Crouse is a wife, mother and multifaceted designer. Her love of sewing, crafting, cooking and interior design infuses her daily life and naturally spills over into her online presence. She pushes the envelope of her creativity and hopes that others will be inspired to do the same. She currently authors the Welcome to the Mouse House Blog, is the pattern designer behind Mouse House Creations and is a collaborative designer with Willow & Co. Patterns.
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6 Responses to Little Stitchers! Week 2: Printable Pack

  1. Chelsea B. January 8, 2014 at 1:59 am #

    Love these printables! I always used some super old ones for my high school students. But these will be perfect for my sewing school students! Thanks for sharing!

  2. Dawna January 18, 2014 at 4:48 am #

    Great job Ainsley!!! Thanks for letting us learn with you.

  3. Adele March 31, 2014 at 11:13 am #

    I am so glad to have found this series. I have been wanting to teach my eldest, who is 5, how to sew for some time so as soon as I can afford a new sewing machine for her, I will be doing it!

    Adele @ Mammy Made

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