There are two little people (and one big person!) in this house who like to sew.   However one of our challenges is preventing my little two year old sabotaging the sewing endeavours of the rest of us!  When I say sabotage, I really mean destruction through over enthusiasm and 'yet to be perfected' fine motor skills.   So, we've learnt to involve our littlest at her pace with some independent sewing activities.   It keeps her occupied, and thus out of the 'sabotage zone'! and those fine motor skills are getting a work out.  

We made some soft toys the other day (post on that coming soon) and my little two year old enjoyed her part in the process. Here's what we did, you might want to try some of these ideas at your place?  

So don't think you can't get out a sewing project for yourself or independent little people if you've got a busy toddler with you.   Set them up with these or other activities - cutting up scrap fabric is also another favourite in our house - and buy yourself some time to sew.  

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It's been a little quiet around here on the sewing front.. .it seems to  happen when you uproot your life and move to the other side of the globe (literally!).   In fact, most of our sewing supplies are on a ship somewhere around the equator as I write - it's final destination is a long way still!    So today it was nice to be asked into my Little Person's new school to help the five and six year olds make fabric collage scarecrows for the local country show.   

The kids had fun sorting through a great big box of fabric scraps and creating some colourful scarecrows.  They traced cardboard templates/patterns then glued their creations to paper.   The end results were lots of fun.  This would be an easy project to do at home - it is a good project to practice tracing around patterns, cutting, and appreciating colour, all the while using up fabric scraps that haven't quite made it into any other projects.  

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The school holidays have arrived - again!  So time for some sewing at home.   Today we stitched up some art using embroidery floss and buttons.   This was the first time I let my biggest Little One free with a pile of embroidery threads - it took her about two seconds to have most of them in a complete mess - perfect for a nesting bird.  So this evening I made some little cardboard bobbins in an attempt to halt (or perhaps just lessen a little bit??!) the mass of knotted threads in the future.   We will see if it works....fingers crossed!

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Our beautiful mess ended up just being beautiful.    My Little One completed a picture of her little blue play house.  Good enough to frame, and easy enough to complete before getting too complicated.  

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This week at Project Run and Play, the theme was to create something that represented your signature style.  This was all that was needed to motivate me to make something with the fabric we had printed at Spoonflower using a drawing my Little Person created this summer.    

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Take one enthusiastic, five year old, wanna-be sewer.  Add a yard (or metre) of fabric.  Use an iron and sewing machine to mix well.  Thread in some elastic, and hey presto!  A couple of sewing sessions later, you have a delightful skirt (that is even wearable in public!!).    

...and it twirls.   

This weekend my biggest Little One finished her first, life sized, wearable piece of clothing.   She is pretty chuffed, but Mama is even prouder!  This is a great project to gain confidence after only a small amount of practice on the sewing machine.   It is another example of where sewing can be deceiving - in this case the result is a lot more impressive than the skill required to get there.  
 
You can try something similar at your place - here's what we did.   We had a yard/90cm of organic cotton sateen 56inches/142cm wide that we cut in half horizontally, leaving us with two rectangles 45cm x 142cm.  One for the front of the skirt, one for the back.   So we didn't have to worry about finishing seams, I overlocked the edges of both rectangles before going any further.  The rest was up to Little Person hands.  

• Sew side seams: Sew the two rectangles together on the short sides.  
• Make waist casing: Fold 5cm/2inches to the wrong side along top edge of skirt. Pin. Iron. Topstitch - making sure your casing is wide enough to fit your elastic.   Leave an opening about 10cm/4inches to feed elastic.  
• Thread elastic into casing.  It is easier for Little People to thread a longer piece of elastic than needed.  Once threaded - cut elastic to required size (normally a few cms/inches less than wearer's waist measurement)
• Sew elastic.  Sew casing closed.  Spread gathers evenly.
• Hem skirt: Fold 1.5cm or 1/2inch to the wrong side.  Pin. Iron.  Topstitch.
• Your done!

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This was a great project for practicing sewing straight  - we focused on lining up the edge of the fabric with a guide - either the edge of the presser foot, or a piece of tape stuck to the sewing machine.  The temptation when starting out is to focus on the needle going up and down (yes, it can be quite mesmerising..), but looking at the needle is a sure way of getting wonky stitching.   

I hope you feel inspired to let your Little One have a go.  It's not as hard as you may imagine.  A little bit of patience and some calm, encouraging and guiding words are all that's needed.  

Enjoy.  

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One of the current obsessions at our place is Space.   We have a variety of balls lined up on the lawn representing the planets; bath time is an endless list of questions about stars, orbits, suns, planets, moons, and atmospheres; NASA you-tube videos are on our watchlist; and somehow I find myself discussing atoms with my Littlies on the way to school.  Oh my - my head hurts!   The silver lining to this (quite literally) is inspiration for a Little Person sewing project.   And it fits perfectly with this week's theme for Project Run and Play - create something fabulous from denim.  

So, this week I have made a cute denim and poplin Star Gazer dress with a twinkling exposed zip.  For the matching purse I used a sparkly denim, lined it with silver and iron-appliqued some stars on the front.  And I must say, the whole outfit has been a hit.   My Little One hasn't taken it off (with the exception of a swim and a bath) since I gave it to her yesterday.  I even found her sleeping in it when I checked on her before I went to bed last night!  

I designed the purse to be easy enough to be made by a Little Person, but we ran out of Little People sewing time this weekend - so I whipped it up myself.   But I'll post a tutorial soon on how to make your own Star Gazing Purse. 

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