My first post on this topic discusses my then-two-year-old daughter’s desire to cut fabric, and my search for proper fabric scissors that would be safe in her hands. (I’ve since shown her the business end of a pin and how to use them safely, since naturally, after cutting a bunch of fabric pieces, you want to pin them together.) I didn’t necessarily intend this subject to become a series, but here’s another post in the same vein nonetheless.
N (age 7) and I signed up for a parent/child art class at a local museum. We both like art, and art museums, and I think he, as my middle child, is really in need of some one-on-one time with me. This class seems like a great way to do that. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it seems (we’ve only had one class) that we’ll be working on one collaborative project over the five sessions. The first day, part of what we needed to do was sew the shoulder straps that will connect to the rest of the project. Rectangles of craft felt were pre-cut, and we were to choose two rectangles, and fold each in half and sew the two halves together, to make two straps. Easy enough. N and I looked around for needles…
…and all they had were tapestry needles. Those are the large, blunt-tipped needles you use, generally, with yarn, which is exactly what we were to use them with too. But they don’t pierce felt, so we were supposed to punch holes in the felt with hole punches first, and then weave the yarn through the holes to “sew.” Which is a pretty good method, except that anyone who cuts fabric knows never to use your fabric scissors on paper because it dulls the blade, and boy did it look hard to punch holes through craft felt!
N really wanted to use a “real” needle, which I thoroughly support. I don’t know if the tapestry needle/hole punch/yarn method was chosen out of expediency or safety. I got the sense it was safety, but the class is geared for kids ages 6-9, and any six-year-old can use a real needle if shown how. And I’ll be honest: I really didn’t want to try to punch holes in craft felt with a paper hole punch, so we took our pieces of felt home to sew.
Here’s N, using an embroidery needle and floss to sew his felt.
(That is a rare TV-on sighting in our house! It was Sunday afternoon–football was on.)
N used the chalk that you see in the photo to draw a line of what he wanted to sew, and then he followed the line. I showed him how to backstitch and helped him around the corners and sorted it out when he forgot and sewed around the edge of the fabric instead of back and forth. After a few times, he figured out himself how to fix that, even re-threading the needle himself. Since this is a collaborative project, we each sewed a strap. Here they are together (click to embiggen).
N’s is on the bottom. He backstitched that zigzag himself. With a real needle. And he is pleased. And yes, he poked himself once or twice with the needle, but he didn’t even bleed (so he’s doing better than I am; I usually draw blood from my thumb at least once per embroidery session).
Kids are so capable. Let them prove it to you!
(PS: We also made the shirt he’s wearing, many years ago. It’s printed using a vinyl fish replica and liquid acrylic craft paint.)
