Thursday, October 15, 2009

Teaching an 8 Year Old To Sew

My grandson, Gavin, has been asking me for a while now to teach him to sew.  He loves my quilts, he's always enjoyed playing with scraps on my design wall, and he has decided that it is time for him to make a quilt himself.  Since he is going to be 9 in a few weeks, and since I learned about that age, and especially since he was at Gramma's last week, I decided it was time, too!  So, today I am sharing a step by step "tutorial" of sorts on teaching children to sew.....my way!

First gather all your scraps in one place....
                                     
I have to confess. This basket doesn't contain all my scraps.      
I also have scraps here....
                                   









                                   
here..........
     
                                      
and even here!

(And don't tell anyone, but I might even be able to find a few more if I try.)

                        Now, for the next step.
Well, this is what happened next at my house.  It wasn't  exactly planned, but someone (two little rascals named Gavin and Aidan) really had some fun! (You can skip this step if you want!
I had Gavin practice on lined paper for a while with no thread in the needle just to get the basic idea. Then he started putting some scraps together.  He did great!!! (And I am being totally unbiased.)
                                                                               
 
We only had time for him to finish a single block, which he was so happy with that he wanted me to quilt it right then and make a tiny little quilt from it.  Instead it is hanging on Gramma's design wall waiting for our next sewing day.  And Gramma is really looking forward to that!

8 comments:

Mimi said...

That is just great. Not so sure about the mess they made, but Gavin looks happy and his quilt block is really beautiful. I'll bet he can't wait to come back and sew some more. How exciting for you. If you need some more scraps, I have about a ton! :D

Ruthie said...

How wonderful! He looks so pleased with his block and I can't wait to follow his progress.

Unknown said...

LOL! I can't believe the shot of your floor! OMG! What a mess! It looks like they had a blast!

Sandy Panagos said...

They did have a blast, and this isn't the first time. They play for a long time with those scraps! For all that play it doesn't even take 10 minutes to pick it up, and of course they do it (with Gramma's help!)

Anonymous said...

Sandy, Loved the tutorial. Wish I had some grandkids to try it on. You are such a GREAT gramma! Can't wait to see more blocks. Dar

Red Geranium Cottage said...

OMG that is hysterical. What a scrappy mess. lolol

janice said...

looks like fun! I have no grandkids, just a dog.... and murphy hasn't asked me to teach him to quilt.....yet....

Teaquilts said...

Love Gavin's method for making a scrap quilt. Looks like he enjoyed it. I hope the finished products will be in our next quilt show...hint, hint, hint.