After lots of practice sewing on plastic canvas, the girls have been begging to do some “real” sewing. I think I was procrastinating a bit, worried about Natalie getting too frustrated and Delaney needing oodles of help. I was wrong. Not only did they learn the backstitch in 2 seconds, they whipped out their first embroideries with excitement and ease.
They both wanted a specific design drawn on their fabric to trace with stitches. I used some simple clip art and traced their chosen designs onto muslin with a pencil. I think one of their favorite parts was choosing the floss colors! Once they got going, my only job was to help them start and tie-off each color. Delaney was having some trouble keeping her needle threaded, so I just tied the floss right to the needle.
They are already planning their next projects – Natalie wants to transfer one of her cake drawings to the fabric, and Delaney wants to make either a rainbow dolphin or a cat. One of my secret projects is to surprise them each with their own sewing basket of some sort.
Even if you are not a sewer, I highly recommend you give this a try with your kiddos. My girls are SO proud of their creations!
Embroidery supplies:
- Embroidery hoop – we are using colored plastic ones; wood ones are great, too
- Embroidery floss – very inexpensive and comes in tons and tons of colors
- Needles – we used metal tapestry needles (blunt tip)
- Fabric – We used unbleached muslin, which is very inexpensive and has a loose weave that is easy to sew through with a large needle.
Happy Sewing!
