Learn to sew - Lesson 5 hand sewing

Well what a great few weeks sewing we have had. How has your sewing been going?

Today we are going to move on.... and do some hand sewing.
Hand sewing is a great skill to have. Whether its sewing on a button or fixing a seam.
So thats what we are going to learn about and put into practice today.

Trying this out will help with threading a needle, accuracy with sewing, stitch length and funishing off. We will also add a button or two.

I started off explaining about having a double thread for a stronger stitch. 

I got my daughter to thread the needle!- she did it! And to tie a knot in the end. She enjoyed all of this. Then thread it through starting at the back of the fabric, bring it through to the right side. Now your ready to begin. Going in and out teying to keep equal distance as you go. 

And keep going. 

Why don't you change thread colour. 

And keep going. 

My daughter then tried her initials. 

Looking good. 

Then time to add a button. 

The hard bit os choosing a button! 

So thread your needle with a knot at the end. Do a few stitches where you want the button to be. Then put the needle through one of the button holes and through the other button holes. Then through the fabric. Repeat this a few times. 

Once its secure. 

Take hold of the needle and wrap the thread round the base of the button between the button and fabric. Wrap it a couple of times. Then push the needle through the fabric under the button. Then finish by doing a few stitches at the back. 

Done! God job. 

My daughter kept going and added another button, why not?! 

Move onto lesson 6 - here

Hanmade denim skirt

Everyone needs a denim skirt, or two! Its been in mind to make for a while and Ive finally done it!
So today Im showing how easy it is to reuse that old pair of jeans (or any trousers - Ive done it to cords and linen trousers before) to make a skirt.

So cut your trousers. I cut mine around the knee. Making sure you give yourself enough fabric to heam the bottom of the skirt - so dont cut it where you want the skirt to ginish ( unless your going to leave the rdge raw) 

Unpick the seams of the leg. 

Press those seams open. 

then grab your pins and start tucking over the middle part of the trouser so it sits flat. Pin all into place. 

cut out triangle shapes of the left over leg. Pin these into place. 

Sew all those edges. 

put the skirt on. Measure where you want the bottom of the skirt to be.

I wanted a nice neat edge to my skirt. So I ironed and pinned the heam up. 

Sew along that edge. 

Thats all there is to it! 

Done. 

You can also do this to kids trousers too! 

Now these jeans will be worn rather than stashed at the bottom of my wardrobe! 

Learn to Sew - lesson 4 drawstring bag

Here we are at lesson 4 already. I hope your doing well and have enjoyed what you have learnt. 

My daughter has! 

And because of that we are moving on, I hope your ready! 

So today come our first proper project. The drawstring bag. 

This is a great starter project. With a few processes in and some straight lines to sew. With a great result. 

So lets get started. 

This bag is going to be lined.

 So grab your fabric and cut the front, back and lining cut out of your chosen fabric. We chose a tectangular shape. Not too big. Yours could be squared. Each one needs to be exactly the same size.

You need to pin your lining fabric together. Put the pins in equal places. We did this 2" from the top. You are going to sew from pin to pin. 

Repeat this step with your patterned fabric. 

Next press open the seams. 

Here you will see at the top you have abit left open. 

Perfect. Repeat your ironing with the lining fabric. 

busy busy!!

now you need to sew a 'V' shape.

I penciled it onto the fabric. So my daughter could sew the dots. 

Repeat this exactly on the pattern fabric.  

A great opportunity to try and thread the needle. 

Second attemp and she did it! 

Stuff the lining fabric into the pattern fabric. No you can see it taking shape. 

right, more pining. 

Pin the lining and pattern fabric together at the top. Lining up the edges together. 

Sew along the top. Joining the two fabrics together. 

Now back to the iron and press the top down. 

and fold over again. 

So the top edge that you sewed is tucked under. 

Now pin the final fold into place. 

Sew along the edge as close to the bottom as possible. You are now creating the tunnel for the ribbon. So you want as much space as possible. 

sewn into place, hooray! 

Its looking good. 

here you can see the tunnelz for the ribbon and where the 'V' shape was sewn. 

Next is more fun, choosing the ribbon. 

Mg daughter couldnt chose one, so two it was! 

Thats fine! 

Put a safety pin on the ribbon and push it through one side of the tunnel and through the other tunnel. Take the safety pin off. 

Now put tbe safety pin on another ribbon. Push it through the other tunnel and push it through both. 

Tie the ends. 

You should have ribbon going both ways - if that makes sense?! 

test it out. 

Yay, it works! 

One happy lady. 

What a good job. 

My daughter did all the sewing herself. 

So what have we done today;

chosen fabric, done lots of ironing and pinnng, sewn in lots of straight lines plus the 'V' shape, chosen ribbon, used safety pin and pushed through tunnels. 

We have practiced some great skills today - well done. 

I hope you like your new bag. 

The great thing about these bags is you can make them as big as you want. The perfect PE bag or laundry bag. Or smaller for little treasures. 

This is also great as its lined, for extra durability and neatness. And so very simple. 

Thanks for checking out lesson 4. 

Let me see your drawstring bag. 

Happy sewing :-) 

Sew your way to lesson 5 - here

Learn to sew - lesson 3 applique

So how are you getting on? I hope your doing lots of practicing!?

Today is about more practicing!yay! Its all part of it so bear with me.

I ask her where the presser foot is & needle. Asking questions as we ho along to make it familiar as possible.
With a new piece of fabric the practicing begins.
I say its up to you what you do. But maybe start by following the piece of fabric. So she sews around the fabric.
Pivoting around the corners. She likes this bit and its great *practice* at using the presser foot a lifting up and down the needle wheel.

 We then move on. I explain about stitches. She has been using a med straight stitch. But that can be made longer or shorter.
And the stitches can be different. (Depending on your machine) so I show her the different stitches. And she gets excited! So I give her the option of what to choose and let her go with it.

she tries lots out and enjoys it.

 Whilst this is happening she is always in control of the machine, going at her own pace, making her own decisions of what to do. And shes creating! Getting more confident as she goes. 

Success! 

But there is more!... 

ready for a small project. 

We are going to do some applique. 

I show her my bag of scraps and say she can choose a few fabrics that we are going to cut shapes out of. 

She loved choosing her own colours and patterns. 

Next we iron the chosen fabrics. 

Cut into shapes.

Arrange the shapes on a piece of fabric. 

 Next part is pinning the shapes onto the fabtic. She definetly needed help with this bit. I showed her what to do. And she gave it ago. She found ot hard bringing the pin through. But we kept with it.

 Our shapes are looking good!

 She was keen to get started. So she began takjng one shape at a time sewing each one on. This is a great excercise to do. As there is alot of stopping and starting. Needle in and out and cutting the thread and moving onto the next shape.

 It took her two sessions to complete all the shapes. I try and give her room when she says she needs a break
 I dont want to over kill the whole sewing thing.

She uses straight stitch all the way round each shape. 

And its complete, tada! 

A round up from today: 

continued pivoting round corners, 

following the fabric doing straight lines,

we have tried out new stitches,

Choosing fabric, 

pinning fabric shapes to fabric, 

stitching shapes onto fabric (lots of stops and starts) 

Controlling the needle wheel. 

Phew a good days work!

What are you going to applique? 

Or you could try stitching your initials?

Next time... 

our chosen project is to make a drawstring bag! 

So cute! 

Watch this space :-)

For lesson 4 - go here

Learn to sew - Lesson 2

I hope you enjoyed the first lesson. Today is a similar lesson. 

Turn your machine on and familiarise yourself with the functions: pedal, pressure foot& needle. Once your sewing machine is threaded. Choose your fabric. 

When your fabric is secured with the needle in the fabric you can start a straight stitch. 

Follow the side of the fabric. 

When you get to a corner, leave the needle in the fabric, pressure foot up and pivot the fabric round. Pressure foot back down. Hands in place and start sewing again. 

Repeat this as much as you want. 

This is great practice; sewing along the length of the fabric and pivoting round a corner. 

We also learnt about using the reverse button. Keeping your hands in place, whilst pressing the reverse button and using your pedal - all at once. 

Today we have practiced:

My daughter is loving deciding where to see. Doing corners, straight lines and learning the reverse button. 

Happy Sewing :-) 

Lesson 3 here 

Learn to sew - Lesson 1

I am so pleased to be bringing this to you.

A few weeks ago I started showing my daughter, whose not quite 6 yeas old, the basics in sewing. And she loved it. Yay! Its begun!

My mum taught me to sew with the sewing machine when I was young. Looking back I dont know how much I enjoyed it. But I was learning new skills. I remember making different projects during the school holidays using different techniques. Like patch work and applique. Hand sewing buttons, choosing fabric and just being creative. She also taught me to be confident on the sewing machine. I later did textiles at university and saw so many other people so not confident on a sewing machine. And I realised that the many times I had played on a sewing machine as a child, it really gave me the confidence in the sewing machine. Knowing how to correct my mistakes, threading the machine and feeling confident in MY foot as it controls it all. What a lesson to learn.

This is what I would love to pass on to my sweet daughter. Just as my mum did for me.

Seeing my daughter enjoy learning to sew, fills me with joy. Im passing it on.

Some of my friends picked up on the fact that I was teachng her, they suggested I put it on here, for you to read. So here I am.

Lesson 1 is below. These lessons are for my daughter. I am going slow with her. Ive already threaded the machine for her. But these lessons can be a guide for you helping your kids or if you yourself want to follow along and learn.

The biggest part, like most things, is PRACTICE. The first few lessons with my daughter is repeating lots of the same things and making the machine familiar to her.

Lesson 1 

Firstly get comfortable in front of the machine. The foot pedal should be within reach. I put it on a tub for my daughter to reach it. 

Next explain about the machine: the power button, the thread at the top, the foot, the bobbin, the needle. Where each thing is and what it does. 

Explain about the pedal. "You are in control of it."

Next explain about safety. Where your hands should go. On top of the fabric, keeping it secure and guiding it through. 

Then we are good to go. 

After choosing some fabric folded in half, with some thread that can be easily seen. 

I reminded my daughter a few times about starting with the needle in the fabric. So that means using the side wheel to bring the needle down into the fabric. 

With the fabric in place and the presser foot down, the needle down. 

You may begin. 

We practiced using a straight stitch. Around the fabric. Stopping and starting. 

I really want her to be confident in operating the sewing machine and knowing that she is in control. As I encouraged her with the pace of the stitches and good hand placement. She was doing really well. She was listening and putting into practice what I had been telling her. 

This has been a great first start at sewing. She really enjoyed it. 

Today we have practiced: 

knowing how the machine works,

 using the pressure foot, 

putting the needle down into the fabric,

positioning your hands guiding the fabric, 

A steady pace using your foot on the pedal. 

I hope this has been helpful. 

Check out lesson 2 here

Hanmade Scrapbook pages

Over the last few months Ive been playing catch up with my scrapbook. Ive been so far behind, but its been higher up my list of to dos to catch up. Ive definetly made progress, yay. But got to keep going.
So I thought you might like a look at some of my pages, here you go. I hope you like them.