Good morning everyone!!
I’d like to say a very special welcome to all you wonderful AllFreeSewing.com and Favecraftsblog.com readers who’ve made your way over this morning. I absolutely LOVE both sites, and I couldn’t be more honored to be featured today as they celebrate National Sewing Month.
Soooo – here’s the deal. I created a special tutorial for making a SUPER EASY 4 STEP NO-HEM SCRAP APRON just for this day and just for allfreesewing.com readers. (did you read that – NO HEM!!!) HOWEVER, some sort of angry bird has infected my phone which includes my camera. So, at the last minute, I’ve made a switch …. BUT … I’m going to try to squeeze in the tutorial with the photos that I do have.
So without further ado, here’s what I’d love to discuss today … SEWING WITH KIDS!!
This summer I hosted my first ever Kids Sewing Camp. And gosh, we had a blast. I learned 2 important things during that week:
1. Kids LOVE sewing.
2. Kids are DARN GOOD at sewing WAAAAAAY before you’d think they could be!
We had an age range from 5 to 9. That’s it. No older kids. I was worried, yes I was. But seriously y’all – the week went by without a hitch. Read on for photos of what we did, feel free to glean the ideas for yourself, and Yes – there’s a mini tutorial down there at the bottom!
We started by making pin cushions. Each child picked out their scrap fabric, cut out their two rectangles, and hand-sewed them together.
Even the youngest amongst us did a great job. We used these pin cushions all week.
Next we moved on to covered button pushpins. I laughed every time they finished one because as soon as they’d pull their button out of that plastic thingy, they’d all yell AWESOME!!!
Next – we moved on to bows. The girls used them for hairbows, the boys used them as bow ties. This was great practice for them using a very simple pattern.
We also made embroidery hoops with felt initials appliqued on top… these turned out SO cute!!! Side note: it was often hard to tell which was more popular – the sewing or the lollipops!
Finally we made it the SEWING MACHINE!!! The kids were chomping at the bit to get to “sew” because they, like me, were getting really tired of all that hand sewing business. Our first machine-sewn project was a pillow. Of course!
For their pillows, they used fabric that matched their embroidery hoops so that they could have a collection in their room. (This brings up a good point – they loved having a nice set up waiting for them when they arrived. AND, I enjoyed doing that part, too!)
Because sewing is somewhat time-consuming with children..you really do need to sit down at their side to protect their lovely fingers … we created the pillows and the embroidery hoops in tandem. While one child was sewing, the others were hand sewing their hoops. And eating lollipops!
All of this, and we were only on day THREE! Sew impressive, right!?! (the kids, that is!)
Because the kids were so thrilled and doing so well, I knew we could move on to something more complicated. But don’t over hear me … I said “more” complicated …but it was NOT complicated!!!
I created this darling little ditty of an apron for the sole purpose of being a perfect project for kids. HOWEVER, I’ve decided that I love it for ME too!!! I think you will too – and you’ll be amazed at how EASY and CHEAP it is!
HINT: This is the tutorial I was telling you about up top!!!
This apron is made using fabric scraps and bias tape. I sew up little sections on the apron to make little compartments for different things. This is so easy, even a 5 year old can make it. I’m not fibbing y’all! I love this so much, it has become my go-to hostess gift!
Here’s where the tricky part comes in – I’m having to use photos that I took from the sewing camp. They are fine photos, but I did not take them with a tutorial in mind so put on your thinking cap and let’s see if we can’t make this work!
For supplies, you’ll need a large fabric scrap for the base of the apron, and a slightly smaller but still decent sized scrap for the pocket portion. And you’ll need extra wide, double fold bias tape.
Thinking caps on? Here we go:
Starting with the main part of the apron – cut 2 large rectangles. For the kids’ aprons, these were about 17″ x 9″. For adults, I try to do about 24″ x 10″ … but again, it’s what ever size scraps you have on hand. The joy of this apron is how inexpensive it is!
Lay out one of those face up in front of you. Put the 2nd rectangle to the side for a moment.
For the pocket section, cut a piece of fabric twice the length that you want for your pocket, then fold it over wrong sides facing. And pin that to one edge of the apron rectangle.
You might need to look closely at this photo to see what I’m talking about.
The fold of the pocket fabric should be in the center of your piece, the edges match up with the edges of the rectangle.
You can see will pinning his edges together here. The next step is not shown, but all you do is place your 2nd rectangle on top of this right sides together – just like you’re making a pillow.
Now, sew the two sides and the bottom edge where the pocket edges meet the apron edges. DO NOT sew along the top… leave this open. Once you’ve sewn those edges and trimmed the corners, turn right side out. Believe it or not, you’re almost done!
Now, take your bias tape, and pin it to the apron leaving plenty of length at the sides to tie around your waist. (For kids and small/medium sized adults, you can use just half of the packaged length! YAY, project just got even cheaper!!!) Once you’ve pinned it to the apron, machine sew a ZIG ZAG stitch starting at one end, going all across the apron, and ending at the other end.
Then, just decide where you want your sections to be, sew a straight stitch, and admire yourself for a beautiful project!!!!
To give you an idea of time involved … each day we met for only an hour and a half. Everyone finished their apron!!! And remember, these are youngins!
So, seriously y’all … In my humble opinion…. in honor of national sewing month … there is absolutely NO reason why you can’t sew an apron, help a kid …. and do it CHEAP AND EASY!!!!
I do apologize for the crazy tutorial…but hopefully the instructions were clear enough. If you’d like more photos of this project, just let me know – surely one of these days soon I can find them on my computer! If not, I’ll happily recreate the tutorial!
Thank you again AllFreeSewing.com for hosting me today – I hope you’ll keep in touch for more CHEAP and EASY projects!!!
Now go SEW!!!
Lylas,
Robie
Oh….I almost forgot…. one HUGE piece of advice for sewing with kids….
Keep your eye on EVERYONE!!!
