Feathered friends

School holidays provide the opportunity to slow down and do things that you might not otherwise get to do.

For me that means having time to do some sewing with the girls.

We started these sweet toys earlier in the week - on the first of five days where the temperature peaked at around 44 degrees celcius (around 110 farenheit!).

It seemed like a good activity for indoors, in the air-conditioning.

Introducing Polly penguin...

and Danielle Duck.

Penny penguin...

The pattern is from the Queen of softies - Jodie of Ric Rac, and there is also a cute little owl as well as the duck and penguin.
Jodie is known for spending literally hours and hours, perfecting the shapes and features of her toys. Apart from always looking amazing they also come together in a logical and easy manner.
You can see them all here on Etsy or in her pattern shop. (this is not a paid endorsement - I just love Jodie's work!).

The pics below are just to show you what I am sometimes up against when trying to get good photos!

The two seven-year-olds managed really well with the sewing for this toy - only needing assistance once or twice.

I relinquished control and didn't re-cut squarish edged circles or re-stitch areas of beak that may have been slightly missed - and I am glad I didn't because these toys each have their own character (design features) and are really a reflection of the girls' work.

As a result, they are incredibly proud of them.

Each time they asked me what to do next, I referred them back to the pattern and so they also learned a lot as they made the toys.

Jodie's instructions are very straight-forward and explain why you are doing certain things too so the child learns as they sew - they had no trouble reading the entire pattern and I just explained any terms they didn't understand.

The small kid tracing penguin's feet

The smallest kid did remarkably well too - on a number of occasions I was told that I needed to leave her alone, she was fine!

She is a bright little button and so follows instruction really well.  I could put in two pins and ask her to sew only between them and she did this with ease, so was able to do the bulk of the sewing herself.
I helped with things like the feet and wings but she sewed on the beak, eyes and tummy all by herself.

Using my 'good' machine was a treat for all.

Watch out for your fingers!!

This is a beginners pattern and it was a wonderful thing to make with the girls. They learned new skills and expanded their sewing vocabulary while having fun.

I asked them at one point would they like to go to the pool and they said no they wanted to sew - good girls!!

They are now all tucked up in bed with their new toys, but not after taking to the trampoline with them and teaching them to fly!

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!!