Like many moms, I became very interested in sewing when I was pregnant with my first baby (a boy). I sewed some then using quilting cotton that my mom had on hand. When he was a bit older, I heard about the Kids Clothes Week challenge and sewed a bit then too but I never posted pictures. The resulting garments were cute but not too practical - stiff and unyielding to the springy limbs of my new offspring.
As the online sewing community matured, I started to hear about sewing with knits. I experimented first on tricot gift bags that I got from a (relatively) local outdoor clothing store. The prints were happy and the fabrics were stretchy. Soon I was demanding whole afternoons, then Saturdays to spend sewing. Instead of spending one hour a day on sewing for my kids during the KCW, I was trying to eek out whole outfits to share throughout the week.
Now, almost all of the clothes that my kids wear are made by me. Kids Clothes Week means that I'll spend as much time as I can bent over my sewing machine pumping out garments to get them through the rest of winter. But I don't want my kids to remember these marathon sewing weeks with sadness, so some planning has to go into their care for next week too.
Mostly, they'll be working alongside me. Housecleaning will be largely ignored and I hope to maintain an intentionality about how we spend time together both inside and outside the sewing room.
Inside the sewing room, I've learned some tricks over the years. And we've developed some guidelines there that we hope will make the experience a happy one for all of us.
A few ways that my littles like to participate are: transferring markings from patterns with the tracing wheel, marking fabric with disappearing ink and taking out the bobbin and putting it back in.
They also spend a fair amount of time in my lap or sitting next to me while I sew. They like to push the reverse button on the machine to help with backtacking. My son also likes to play "red light, green light" with the sewing machine. This is how it works: he sits in my lap. When I come to a pin he calls, "red light" then he carefully pulls the pin out and puts it in the pincushion. When it's stowed, he calls, "green light" and I fire up the machine again.
When we're in the sewing room, anything goes in terms of crafty messes. Paint, beads, fabric swatches spread from corner to corner - it's alright in the sewing room.
When it comes to picture taking, I find that the best time to do so is in the morning, not after a full day of sewing. And costume pieces ALWAYS help. We don't do many treats in our house typically, but picture time usually includes some chocolate.
What are your tricks for getting your kids to help you craft?
