Thursday, December 18, 2014

Sewing with Children

I have a confession; I have sewing minions. Not really. But I do have little ones who have their own options as to how a sewing machine should be used.
I heard the Fiber Arts Fiesta is going to have a children's exhibit, so I thought I'd help my five-year-old son turn his drawing of a princess into a quilt. I enlarged his drawing and traced it to paper-backed fusible and to clear vinyl using a permanent marker. P.S. Images need to be mirrored if you mind the final result being reversed. I bubble cut around the pieces and fused them to solid fabrics chosen by my son, Bryce. He cut out the pieces on the line with scissors and placed them on the background fabric using the clear vinyl as a guide.
I fused a piece of fusible batting 1/2" smaller than the top to the back of the quilt top. I placed this right sides together with the backing, and used a pillowcase method to deal with the edges of this quilt, as binding is not something I am prepared to accomplish with a preschooler. My son added some details with a fabric marker. For the love of your quilt, do not use permanent marker! I set my machine to a wide Aziz-zag with a minimal stitch length for my son to add the arms and wand. My son did straight-line stitching to quilt the quilt. Yes, I know they aren't technically straight. However, he's five, so I'm going to call it improv curves in the entry description, for his sake. In hindsight, I should have had him do before fusing down the pieces so he wouldn't have to start and stop to avoid sewing over her royal highness. He also insisted on the grass in the lower left.
Here's the artist.
Being the little sister, Linnea wants to do everything everybody else does. Below is evidence of her presence.
Ah ha! Crud, if you ask me, that little green button isn't the most convenient when you have a one-year-old.
But she looks so innocent!
Don't be fooled.
And never, ever leave the machine on!
Do you have minions of your own?
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8 comments:

  1. Bryce is a budding Picasso! No minions here, just a cat's rear end in the way.

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  2. Cute!! My four year old would like to sew...and I want him to, just don't know how that works into my 'stress-relieving' sewing time. And my one year old likes to turn off the machine while I'm working if he's in the room ( and luckily I usually only sew when he naps). ;)

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  3. haha kids are the reason I got a machine with an on/off button (my first machine you had to plug in to turn it on). In retrospect I wish I had immediately made a cover for the new machine so little fingers wouldn't fiddle with it when I'm not in the room. Yesterday Aurelia grabbed one of my drunkard's path blocks (I traded her for one that was bound for the trash), and then she snipped into it with some kid scissors and gave it back me, declaring it was her Masterpiece! haha kids are funny. I love the process you and Bryce went through for his quilt, it turned out so great!

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  4. Bryce's little quilt is wonderful! and aren't you adventurous in letting your kids any where near your sewing machine, lol, mine also like to tell me how to do my work, but I have not been brave enough to let them do anything other than wind my bobbins.

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  5. Bryce's quilt is fantastic! I have minions but they're still a bit too little to let near my sewing machine - it won't be long now though I'm sure!

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  6. I love this technique with a child's drawing! Nice way to preserve the artwork.

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  7. So cute! I haven't been brave enough to do sewing with someone younger than ten. But the young ones help me choose fabric all the time.

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  8. I agree that they should not have colored buttons placed there! My almost 2 year loves pressing buttons and switches so much right now that I had to switch the machine I use because my daughter would not stop pressing the thread cutter on my Janome. I can't wait until she is old enough to learn how to sew though.

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