Teach Your Child How to Sew

Sewing uses products that can be harmful to younger children who don’t truly understand what certain tools are used for. Therefore sewing should be taught to children older than preschool. Learning how to sew is a great life skill for children to have. If they have the basic sewing skills they’ll fly through Junior High and High School’s life skills classes.

If you are not familiar with sewing yourself, but want to grow that knowledge into your children, this could be one thing you learn together. Nearly all fabric or craft stores have classes in their stores for sewing, quilting, or other crafts for their customers. Learning this together can make the process a lot of fun for children. If you do know how to sew make the lesson geared toward growing the love of sewing as opposed to something they have to learn.

Grades K-3rd
If you do not know how to sew a great start for you and your child would be to take a sewing class together. You can find classes at almost any craft or sewing machine store or sometimes you can find them at adult education classes at your local high school or college.

Young children normally love to do exactly what their parents are doing, so make a fun project together where children won’t even realize that they’re learning. But mainly emphasizes that they’re making something trendy and neat. This is the best way to teach children how to do something.

Use one of your child’s favorite shirts, pants or sweaters that they have outgrown to create a teddy bear they cherish forever. Pick up an outline or a teddy bear or other animal pattern, the materials needed and have fun with your child while they are learning from you. Go over basic sewing instructions with your child as you are putting together the stuffed animal, allowing them to help cut and sew.

Main points to address:

• Go to sewing classes together.
• Create teddy bears or other animals from old clothes.

Grades 4th-6th
As with the younger children, make the lesson of sewing more of a project than a lesson. This time take your child to a craft or fabric store with you. Browse through the catalogues of projects, clothes or accessories together and find one that you can both do together and that your child would enjoy wearing or using. Allow your child to also pick out the fabric pattern to be used with the project and make sure to have all necessary equipment before you leave the store.

Whether you are making a T-shirt, sweatshirt, lounge pants, an apron or a tote bag you and your child can also add accents, fabric paints, patches or other flashy objects that can be placed on the fabric for added sparkle. You can gain a wealth of creative ideas to make a personal and wonderful project at your local craft store or online at any one of the links provided in the resource section of this article.

Main points to address:

• Make fun projects together.
• Include accents, fabric paint or other flashy objects to shirts that you sew.

Resources
Resources that can help you in your venture include:

• Infinite Freedom – http://www.infinitefreedom.com
• Learn how to sew – http://learnhowtosew.com
• Craft Zine – http://blog.craftzine.com
• Sewing – http://www.sewing.org/

Posted in Leisure.

Related articles

• Teach Your Child How to Take Good Pictures

• Teach Your Child How to Paint

• Teach Your Child to Play Hide and Seek