Summer Sewing: Kid edition

Did anyone start to wonder if I was still alive?

I am. Life is even going pretty well. But, with an almost 3 week trip visiting family, a massive activity to plan, and two kiddos starting school, this little blog has really suffered.

But enough excuses: on to the good stuff!

I've mentioned several times that we made a summer bucket list. We managed to cross of almost every single thing - and the three that are left are all ones that cost money (I'm cheap, what can I say!)

Before our fabulous trip (really, everyone should experience 10 hours at the airport with three kids and no stroller), I taught my kids to sew.

Every once and a while, I think about how flippin easy kids have it today. Ok, that sounds like I had it hard too. When I mean today, I mean in the last 80 years or so.  No chopping wood, no hauling buckets of water, no plucking chickens.  Sure, many people never learned how to read, and died super young, or had a chance at education or things like that. But little kids started doing chores - including sewing and baking - at a MUCH younger age than we would consider it today.

Girly-Lou is almost 7.  In pioneer days, she would be making patchwork quilts and mending pants.  And she just barely grasped those silly lacing cards.

So, I asked her what she wanted to learn to sew. I said we could do something like a bag, or a pillow case, or something like a monster or a toy. She instantly grabbed onto the monster idea.
 
We bought a big pack of felt, and she picked out all the colors. I did a quick pattern according to her instructions (crazy eyes, big teeth)

(why does blogger sometimes randomly turn pictures?)

She helped me trace them onto the felt.  Then I showed her how to pin the face pieces together, and how to sew by hand:

She had it super fast!

Once all the face was sewn to the body, I helped her sew the front and back together.  We kept it really simple (straight lines!), and just turned it inside out, leaving the entire bottom open. We stuffed it together, then sewed along the bottom (yes, you can see that seam. But since it's felt, it's not going to fray, and it's a super easy way for a first project!)

Once we were done, Buddy decided a monster would be pretty cool too.  He changed his design up a bit, but we followed the same steps.

And my monsters get to show of their monsters!

There's a long way to go before they really know how to sew on their own, but it was a great first step.

I'm linking up HERE

*do you guys like linky parties? They are such an awesome place to get new ideas (and a bit of a time suck too!)