Celebration Garland: a sewing project for the boy!
Boys can sew, too! The other day Elliot came into my sewing room and said he wanted to sew something. He's always been fascinated with my sewing machine -- he's a "how does it work?" kid, big time -- and I love that he's so interested in sewing! Some of you may even remember the little video I made when he first started sewing. When I asked him what he wanted to make, he said he wanted to make a decoration for his birthday, which is next month. So I thought, why not let him sew some scraps into a garland? It's a similar concept to the felt heart garland I made a few years ago (see The Easiest Heart Garland Evar) -- except instead of felt, I just chopped up some colorful scraps into a big pile of strips:
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And he put them under the presser foot (carefully!! We talk about safety with the sewing machine every time we use it), sewing across the middle of each strip, and then adding another strip at a time, with a few stitches after each one.
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Once he got the hang of it, he really went to town! He is tall enough now that if he stands next to my sewing table, he can both reach the machine and step on the pedal by himself. This project is great because it helps kids get the hang of the pedal and the speed of the machine with very little risk of messing things up.
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He had fun and was really proud of himself. I loved having a quick and easy project that kept him busy for a half-hour (with supervision from me, of course; I never let him use the machine when I'm not in the room). He even came back to it the next day and added more. I made sure he left a few inches of thread tails on either end to make it easy to hang up. Then we took some pictures (with this turtleneck)...
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...and hung it up in our dining room. I think it looks pretty cool!
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Does YOUR boy like to sew? I love great ideas for sewing projects that can be done WITH your kid, not just for your kid, don't you? Or does having your kid in the sewing room make you crazy? Believe me, I've been there, too.
Celebrate the BOY 2013
This post is part of Celebrate the BOY, a series of boy sewing posts hosted by me and Dana of MADE. Here's what we've done so far:
DAY 1: Rae: Saffron Pants and Color Roundup / Dana: 5 Steps to the Basic Tee
DAY 2: Rae: Little Bit of Color Hoodie / Dana: Pants Roundup
DAY 3: Rae: Hoodie Tutorial / Dana: Kids Shorts/Pants with Back Pocket Tutorial
DAY 4: Rae: Show your Stripes Turtleneck / Dana: 13 DIY Fabrics
DAY 5: Rae: Stripes Roundup / Dana: Favorite Tee Shirt Buddy Toys
Head over to made to see what Dana's up to! or check out my Celebrate the BOY archives for even more boy sewing posts! And don't forget to add your photos to our Celebrate the BOY Flickr group!