Tip Tuesday! Sharing the Love!

"Tip Tuesday!" - Sewing with Children

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

We all have a love of sewing and quilting. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't spend nearly as much time (and money) doing it. Chances are that if we didn't love it, we also wouldn't spend nearly as much time reading blogs (thanks for reading mine, by the way), checking out websites and wishing we could spend more time with our sewing machines. Somehow, reading about quilting helps when we can't actually do it. I am very appreciative of those people who spend so much of their time and energies sharing their talents with us. 

I too enjoy sharing my love of quilting with others. I teach a fair number of quilting classes at area quilt shops, I give private lessons, I co-host a number of quilting sew-ins (Old Bags' Days), and I am a member to a couple of quilting groups. I enjoy all of it and feel blessed and honored to be able to do those things.

One of the things I enjoy most about teaching is when I introduce a new quilter into "our world" and I watch as they start the process of creating. I love it when that proverbial light bulb goes off and they "get it." And then there is nothing quite like seeing the pride in their faces when they are showing off their first completed project. Oh my, how I love that moment! If you have never spent time with a new quilter, you might want to consider doing so. It is really an awesome thing to do.    

I often work with children and find that very satisfying. All of my grandchildren spend time in my sewing room and I love that. (I do put up scissors, pins, cutters, and anything I don't want messed with.) They all play with my fabric and thread and I'm ok with that.

 

I even like to have them stop in and spend time with the Old Bags' Day quilting people. 

Quinn and Sadie love to "help" me sew by sitting across from me while I chain piece and keeping the sewn units in order and untwisted. They also love to help me organize blocks on the design wall and say "Ta Da!" when it's done.

A couple of years ago, Quinn wanted to start sewing and I bought a simple little chain-stitch sewing machine. It's basically a toy and somewhat of a pain to use, but she loves using it. A couple of weeks ago I showed her some pictures of two young ladies who made quilts for 4-H projects. 

The back of Kelsey's quilt is adorable cow fabric!

Here's a close up of Brileigh's quilt back. Can you see the ants that are heading to the watermelon?

Quinn loved what she saw and wanted to start some "real" sewing. I said ok, but that she needed to practice on her machine before using mine. (I was in the middle of a project with a deadline and couldn't give it up right then) She was fine with that and started working with some basic strips. 

Do you see the Clover Wonder Clips? I often use those instead of pins when I'm working with young kids. 

I wanted to make sure she remembered how to backstitch and I had her do that a few times. 

This machine has a finger guard by the needle but she doesn't need that anymore. If the young person you are helping needs a guard like this, I suggest taping a piece of yarn or cardboard on the front of the machine so that it hangs down in front of the needle. 

When their finger hits that, it's time to stop and re-position their hands. It's kind of like the tennis ball hanging in the garage so you know when to stop. (Oops, no picture of that. I'll have to take one the next time I do that.)  

Quinn sure is concentrating here. I often have to remind new quilters, young and old, to breath. I'm not joking here. They will be so busy concentrating that they hold their breath.

And they need practice pinning, or clipping in Quinn's case.

I don't know yet what she'll be doing with her pieced strips, but I'm sure she figure out something.

Who knows, maybe she'll make something like the two 4-H girls.

If you have the opportunity to help a new quilter, especially a young one, I suggest you give it a try. Just look at how happy and proud can you make someone. I think the grandmas were pretty happy and proud too!

I've linked this post up with Sew Cal Gal's - It's All About the Kids blogging event. (Thanks for the info Sharon!) 

Click HERE to see Sew Cal Gal's page and HERE to see the link-ups that have been posted so far.