Tuesday 22 January 2013

Pillow talk!

Ahhh school holidays!
A chance to spend time with just one child at a time - love it!

When we were browsing in a fabric shop recently a lady asked the girls if their mum had taught them to sew, and their response was along the lines of "not really, she usually just does it herself!".

In my defence;
They often ask a few minutes before dinner/bath/bed/school/lunch time
I find it a bit much to have six small hands to entertain with a sewing project - and it doesn't feel like fun then, it feels like a military exercise

So anyway - I decided they would each have a sewing day while we were at home.

Miss L started and chose to make a patchwork cushion.
Now before all you clever quilty types fall off your chairs at the sight of me doing something even remotely like quilting, let me stress it was her idea!!

She chose a series of charm squares, mostly from the City Weekend range by Leisl Gibson, arranged them in a pink combo and a blue combo for the two sides of her reversible cushion and then I showed her how to pin them together.

Not all her seams were straight but it is all part of learning I figure!
From there we sewed them into rows then sewed the rows into blocks, pressing all our seams open as we went.

We put the two blocks right sides together, traced the heart template onto one side and pinned the two layers together.

From there she used the edgestitching foot of my machine to 'trace' the line and carefully sewed on the line all the way around, just leaving a turning gap.
She didn't even need my help to stitch the opening closed...
Turn and stuff and then carefully hand stitch the opening closed... Ta da a new cushion that she has gone to bed cuddling the past two nights.

She did so much of the work totally by herself - I assisted a little and pressed the seams open, but not much more than that really.
It made me realise how very capable my little girl has become, how much she has grown this year, a happy/sad moment.

Her reversible cushion, pink and her favourite side, the blue side.
Miss G decided she too wanted to make a cushion, but a cloud shaped one.

Together we drew a cloud then she used fabric crayons to draw on a face, complete with blonde hair ("like me" she says), a hair bow and teeth, of course!

Both of us concentrating hard while she did the handstitching

Next she chose some white fluffy fabric with silver threads through it for the back lay the two right sides together and we sewed.
Miss G was content to do the 'pedal' with me steering the fabric through, whereas her sister did all the sewing by herself - taking care to turn the work every few stitches when she was on the curves.

A new bedtime friend with a toothy grin - Claudia the cloud!

Things that made these projects easier for the girls:
Height adjustment made to the foot pedal - it's sitting on a box of elastic!
If they can easily reach it they can better control the sewing.

Fancy new speed adjustment.
I slowed the maximum possible speed of the machine down so they wouldn't accidentally sew too fast, with theirs or my fingers in the way!

By using the edgestitching foot she was easily able to follow the outline - she just carefully kept the foot on the line - it worked brilliantly.
Highly technical "foot pedal on a box" and see the 'blade' of the edgestitching foot - an excellent guide
I set the presser foot so that each time they stopped sewing it lifted up and enabled the girls to adjust their fabric to turn coroner or to get back on line if they were a little off.

All in all I had a really enjoyable time and am looking forward to making a new ballet tote bag with Miss A tomorrow.

The only criticism of our projects from 'the guy who lives here'??
I am teaching them to sew on the sewing machine equivalent of a Porche and from here the only way is down!!

9 comments:

Maryanne said...

Hi Karen,
I love the look of pride on both your girl's faces! And they certainly have a reason to be proud. Both their cushions look fabulous.
I am going to try Madeleine with the edgestitching foot - what a great idea.

Cath said...

Oh, Karen they are fabulous! I love L's double-sided patchwork heart. Maybe your daughter will be your real catalyst for dragging you to "the dark side"! I totally get the timing issue Lily often asks to have a lesson on something crafty at inopportune times. Loving G's ballet outfit whilst hand stitching her beautiful cloud!

Cath said...

Oh, Karen they are fabulous! I love L's double-sided patchwork heart. Maybe your daughter will be your real catalyst for dragging you to "the dark side"! I totally get the timing issue Lily often asks to have a lesson on something crafty at inopportune times. Loving G's ballet outfit whilst hand stitching her beautiful cloud!

Annie said...

I love working with kids and encouraging them with my passion to sew. I had one of my neighbours grandchildren here today, and we made fabric cup cakes and ice creams from one of Jodie,s old patterns. Grandma came over to see what had happened to them. The little boy was playing on the play station with Peter and Ashley and I were sewing. They had initially come over to see the baby birds!

Lyndel said...

Oh Karen, what a lovely story. Your girls are so lucky to have such a patient Mum, and what 'chips off the old block' they are too. Beautiful sewing girls! well done.

ARTwendy ... said...

Well by the looks of things the 'L' plates are definitely on & they've got the Porsche in 1st gear just nicely!! Awesome work Mum .... Well done Miss L & Miss G .... Yay!

Cass said...

They look absolutely fantastic. I love that toothy cloud pillow. You should sew a little pocket on it and it could be used for the tooth fairy!

Debbie said...

Great sewing girls and excellent patience Karen! I am wondering how long I have to wait for my 4 year old to sew like that, she already shows a great deal of interest - mainly with pinning things!

bec said...

Awesome! I've been so slack and havent sewn with Sibby for ages. She's discovered reading so I hate to disturb her haha. I had the same problem when she was learning on my machine- she thought every machine had an up and down button and scissor button- the basic machine I bought her last had those as well! But at least it's a bit simpler (and I can take it to classes and groups. Actually, any excuse for a new machine!)