Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Spontaneous Sewing and Related Activitites



I collected some sewing items and placed them in a basket for my 7-year-old. My favorite item is a small hoop that I filled with an old sleeve from a men's dress shirt. The other items include a needle threader, spools of thread, and scissors. My daughter has now added tape, much preferring to tape the thread on the back of her sewing project over tying knots (how do you teach knotting thread - I can't do it either).



My eldest does not do anything in a tedious fashion - coloring is barely within the lines. When I talked about sewing in rows or with small stitches, she responded with "I don't like to do it like that." I'm just glad she likes to sew. After finishing this first sampler for her brother's birthday, she sewed a simple dress for a bunny rabbit and embellished it with a pretty button. Her momma was darn proud.



I bought a salt shaker at the grocery so my little ones could enjoy decorating the lid with sewing pins. My almost-5-year-old much preferred decorating the pin cushion and using the salt shaker as part of the "pin cushion bug".



This needle threader is a jewel of a find. I had no idea what it was until I saw it on someone's blog (wish I could remember where and give them credit). I, the mechanical engineer, could not figure out how to use it (a failed presentation). But my 7-year-old figured it out by herself and now uses it with ease to thread a needle - very convenient if the artist likes to use lots of colors.



The 24-month-old found a new use for our marbles. She made a noise machine with the sewing tin lid. She enjoyed dropping the marbles on the tin and rolling them around and around. Then she had fun putting the marbles back into an old spray bottle, showing more patience than usual with the large quantity of marbles. She has had lots of practice, so she can now pick up 4 or 5 at a time and use her hand as a funnel.

My dear children must learn many things on their own. Their mother does not have many skills in the homemaking arena - though God is teaching me day by day! Many times I will try to teach or "present" something to my kids and it's literally the first time I have ever attempted the procedure. We have many frustrations and failures. And sewing was no different...until I set out the needed equipment and let the my eldest child teach herself and wow - she took off on it and does not want to stop.

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--
   ...A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
   A time to be silent and a time to speak.

Ecclesiastes 3:1,7

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How you do it, I'll never know. You are an amazing woman and an amazing Mom. Your kids are truly blessed!

SurvivingByGrace said...

What a sweet, somewhat biased :), comment from my dear friend!

Alexandra said...

Oh my gosh, that embroidery is so cute, and good! I think we might try this...I see hoops at the thrift all the time.