Little stitchers

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e l t t i L s r e h c t i t s

SEW LIVING

Share your love and ith knowledge of sewing w projects these helpful tips and for children

With the summer holidays just around the corner and the unpredictable English weather, it’s always a good idea to have rainy day plans up your sleeve to entertain excitable children. What better way to enthral a child than to teach them the skill of sewing? Plus, we all know how much fun it is too! Take a look at these projects, created with children in mind, and follow some tips from those in the know to make your sewing adventure a success.

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TEMPLATES ONLINE

essentials Felt, grey Thread, embroidery, stranded: pink; yellow; metallic , silver Sequins Beads Wadding

Great for...little hands sew a lucky charm

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Download and print the template from www.sewmag.co.uk and cut two (one reversed) out of grey felt.

Using the picture as a guide, decorate both sides of the elephant with pink chain stitch lines (see our guide on p99). Use yellow

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embroidery thread to sew a line of running stitch to mark the elephant’s ears.

Decorate with sequins, including a small one for the eye.

Sew the two sides of the elephant together using a small running stitch, leaving a gap at the top.

Stuff with wadding.

Make a loop by knotting silver metallic thread, place the knot into the gap and sew closed with running stitch.

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READER OFFER...

This project is one of 24 featured in Start to Stitch by Nancy Nicholson, Claire Buckley and Miriam Edwards (£12.99, Search Press). Turn to p24 to get your FREE* copy. *Just pay postage.

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Blanket stitch in burnt orange embroidery thread around the outer edges of the orange eye surround. Straight stitch with cream thread around the cream middle of the head, use dark brown thread for the top of the head, and black thread around the beak.

Hold the mask to your face and measure elastic around the back of the head. Pin to the wrong side of the mask and attach with an overstitch. Take the second brown shape and pin to the wrong side of the mask.

Using dark brown thread, blanket stitch the two layers together.

Place the eye hole template over each orange eye surround and draw around with a vanishing fabric pen. Fold the fabric in half and snip through the felt layers. Cut around the outline and blanket stitch the eye hole with burnt orange thread. Sew feathers on top of the head, building them up a little at a time and attaching with overstitch.

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TEMPLATES ONLINE

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Great for...boys essentials Felt: brown, 22cm x 50cm; cream, 12cm x 22cm; stone, 10cm x 23cm; orange 8cm x 16cm; black, scrap Fusible webbing, 20cm Feathers: brown, grey Elastic: black, 3mm, 30cm Thread, embroidery: dark brown; cream; burnt orange; black Pen, fabric, vanishing

Meet the authors Ginny Farquhar and Alice Butcher, co-authors of Sewing for Kids, have both been sewing for as long as they can remember, with Alice inheriting a hand crank Singer sewing machine from her great grandmother when she was eight and Ginny making clothes for her Pippa doll with her elder

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READER OFFER... stitch an owl mask

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Download and print the templates from www.sewmag.co.uk and cut two of the owl heads in brown felt. Cut the top of head, middle of head, eye surround and beak in fusible webbing, leaving a 5mm border around each shape. Iron the fusible webbing onto the reverse of the felt. Cut out each piece, following the border. Using the picture as a guide, position each of the shapes onto one owl head and iron in place.

sisters. With a strong history in sewing, they currently make and commission products, as well as running a variety of craft and textile workshops for both adults and children.

We caught up with them to discover their top tips for teaching children how to sew.

■ Get children used to handling fabrics by giving them their own box of scraps to play with. With adult supervision, teach them to cut fabrics and create colourful collages.

■ Give children the proper tools and teach them how to use them safely.

■ Let them practise their stitches by drawing simple designs on open weave fabric with a

This project comes from Sewing for Kids

by Ginny Farquhar and Alice Butcher (£9.99, David & Charles). Readers can purchase it for the special price of £7.99 with free p&p (UK only). Go to www.stitchcraftcreate.co.uk and quote code R111001 upon checkout or call Stitch Craft Create on 0844 8805851. washable fabric pen. Use a hoop to keep the fabric taught to allow greater control when stitching.

■ When they are very young children need lots of supervision and encouragement. Keep the projects simple but don’t dumb them down; children are very capable of achieving good results if they have the correct equipment and enough time to complete projects.

■ Practise, practise, practise! Get children to thread needles with a variety of different sized eyes so that they become more competent. Using counted linen is a great way of helping them to improve the evenness of their stitching too.

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SEW LIVING learnt, my boys are thrilled to earn their coloured belt (a piece of twine) and my girls want to be given a certificate!

Pin it!

Pinterest is such an amazing tool for class planning. Creating a board and having students pin their favourite things will open your eyes to what they really want to make. You will get a better understanding of the fabrics that move them and designs that woo them!

Good times

stitch & learn Annabel Wrigley, owner of the Little Pincushion Studio and author of We Love to Sew has been teaching both boys and girls to stitch for the past few years. Interestingly, she has found that girls love to sew to get to the finished product, whereas boys prefer the actual process and mechanics. With all her experience, we found out what she feels is the best approach to turn little novices into confident artists.

Perfection is for the birds Before you start the sewing process, it is important to talk to your student about expectation. You don’t want the child to be striving for instant perfection. Personally, it’s the hardest thing for me when working with children whose hearts are set on creating something flawless. Some are so hard on themselves if a line is crooked or a button is a little wonky. Everything that they make is beautiful in its own right!

Set the scene Create a space that inspires learning and focus. A table and a comfy chair will do the trick. I have also found that in a room full of little sewing girls, Taylor Swift CDs are a wonder for concentration!

Practise makes perfect My favourite exercise is ruling lines on a piece of white canvas fabric. I thread the machines with fun fluoro-coloured cotton and have the children sew on the lines to be able to sew straight and control their speed. Once they’ve mastered it, it’s time to move on to some projects.

Pick and choose To a class of super motivated and excited students, offer choices of fabrics. This unlocks the inner artist in the children and gives them a sense of creative pride in their work. You may not love the choices they make but they do, and that’s all that counts.

Be realistic Just like a bad hair day, a bad sewing day happens to all of us. Don’t get frustrated if

your student is not getting it. Accept the fact that you may need to step in and help.

Class structure

For me, having fun is the most important aspect in teaching children. Find your groove, create a safe, open environment for discussion and confidence building, and do your thing! There is nothing better for me than having a child tell me that sewing class is the highlight of their week.

I like to have my lesson size at about four kids, sometimes five. Also, I like to teach in one-hour classes – this is enough to keep them engaged without putting them to sleep.

Although a two-hour workshop can have a hot cocoa break in the middle.

For more from Annabel Wrigley, check out her website www.littlepincushion studio.com or pick up her latest book We Love to Sew.

Keep promises

Readers can order We Love to Sew for £15.99 (£19.99, FunStitch Studio) including UK mainland postage and packing (other destinations on request). To order call Roundhouse on 01273 603717 and quote Sew Magazine.

The most asked question is, “Will we finish today?” I’ve made a point of never promising anything. Just because I can sew an owl in 30 minutes doesn’t mean a child can (it’s more like four times that). Try not to rush your students, and only step in if you feel they need help.

New level It’s always great to introduce a new skill with every fresh project, and acknowledging that is just as important. For every new technique

ranfetry Ccor

READER OFFER...

Encourage their creativity with kits and more

Superstitchers’ Sewing Machine Kit design includes a purse, bottle jacket, wash bag and tote. Priced from £10, www.super stitchers.co.uk

The Stitch-It Bear Kit by The Little Experience is a fun way for children to learn to sew. Priced £14.49 each, www.craft4kids.co.uk, 0845 680 4484.

Silver Viscount’s The Bug sewing machine is an ideal beginner machine that has 11 of the most common stitches. Priced at £69.95. www.sewingworld.co.uk, 01202 528451.

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sew a mug rug

1 Download

TEMPLATES ONLINE

Download and print the templates from www.sewmag.co.uk and cut out from fusible webbing, leaving a generous allowance. Iron onto chosen fabrics and cut out the pieces. Using the picture as a guide, arrange the motifs and iron into place on the main fabric.

Stitch around each piece using black thread. Draw on the face using a water-soluble fabric marker, then hand sew using backstitch with satin stitch for the nostrils.

Press the appliqué and place onto wadding and the back piece, right sides out. Pin and stitch the three layers together and zig zag neatly around the edges.

Fold binding strips in half lengthways, right sides out, and press. Stitch the shorter strips to the top and bottom of the back, flush with the edge, sewing the longer strips to the left and right. Fold the strips over onto the front and topstitch into place.

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READER OFFER...

This project comes from

Great for...teens

Love to Sew Mug Rugs by Christa Rolf, which features a collection of 22 different

essentials

Thread: machine embroidery, black;

designs to make (£7.99, Search Press).

Fabric: lilac checked, 16cm x 23cm, two; bright

embroidery cotton, black

Sew readers can get the book for £6.99

striped, 6.5cm x 16cm, two; 6.5cm x 25cm,

Pen, marker, water-soluble

with free p&p in the UK when

two; assorted colours, scraps

Wadding, 16cm x 23cm

purchased with Start to Stitch.

Fusible webbing, 20cm

Note: A seam allowance of 7.5cm is included

See p24 for our great reader offer.

Teen talk

I was 10 years old when my twin sister bought me a sewing machine.

I taught myself until Christmas 2012 when my mum treated me to a place on a sewing course at the Birmingham School of Sewing. I will definitely be going there again – I learnt to add sleeves, pockets and buttonholes and to generally brush up on my skills.

While my friends don’t sew, they are always amazed by my makes. My art teacher says that I have inspired her to

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We caught up with reader Zoe Murphy, a 13 year old avid stitcher, to hear why she loves sewing!

get sewing again and we are planning to set up a lunchtime sewing circle at school. I’m currently making a dress and a skirt for my sister. She likes to take advantage of my sewing skills! I also want to make the glasses case which featured in issue 48 for my mum.

Before I bought proper fabric to sew with, I used my old clothes. Now, I upcycle pieces when they become too small. My favourite jumper is getting tight, so I am going to make it into a cushion!

I usually make cushions and bags, but I have just started to design my own patterns and make my own clothes. I wore my own skirt to the opening of Guthrie & Ghani, the new haberdashery shop and workshop opened by Lauren Guthrie from The Great British Sewing Bee. Ann checked out my seams and said they were excellent!

I felt so lucky meeting some of my favourite contestants from the show.

I’d love to pursue a career in sewing – I’d like to open a shop selling my own creations, fabric and sewing tools.

With GBSB’s Lauren!