I have to declare my bias right up front, before I go anywhere else. This is my seven year old, the eldest of our smalls. She is an awesome kid, one of the most intelligent, creative and capable people I have ever met. She is a deep thinker and is kind and funny and well, just super. Also, it’s a long post. If you make it to the end, I applaud you!
This Thursday just passed, the Mr headed off with the middle small in tow for three nights to visit family. The biggest small and the smallest small were home with Mumma for the weekend and Miss 7 decided we would use our time to make a quilt for her bear.
On Thursday before school, she raided the scraps and laid out a strip quilt. That very night, we set up in the kitchen and got to work. Within an hour of showing her how to use the machine, she had made a quilt as you go quilt about 12″ x 14″ and then added in some extra quilting – there are snails in one of the fabrics and she wanted to make a snail trail. Bear is now warm and cosy.
I honestly (naively) thought that would satisfy her quilting bug and she would get distracted by other things for the weekend. Wrong.
My Amitie Textiles stash builder parcel arrived Friday and she snatched it up and then spent her Friday night fondling fabrics, mixing and matching the stash builder pack with some scraps from my sewing room and talking about making a quilt using triangles.
Saturday morning, she woke up all bossy like and asked me to start cutting for her. I did as I was instructed (while I’m ok with her using the sewing machine, the rotary cutter is a whole other step for me). I cut out all the pieces as per her direction and she set to sewing.
By Saturday afternoon, we had a completed quilt top. It was made with such fun, care and passion and it was a beautiful way to spend a weekend. The seams are not quarter inch, the points don’t meet and there are some strange extra strips in there to make up block sizes but you know what, I think this is just about my favourite quilt in the whole of everywhere!
The final three seams I had to sew for her as the top got too heavy and bulky for her, but I am so darn proud of this child and think it’s an amazing effort! The quilt is now basted and we started watching “Machine Quilting Negative Space”, a class with Angela Walters on Craftsy for ideas on quilting designs – sketching is happening as per the class instructions and I expect, like everything else, this next task won’t phase her nearly as much as it does me!
This exercise was really nice to spend time sewing with my girl but I have to be honest, it was also REALLY tough for me! There were many moments I had to breathe deeply to stop myself from interfering. To remind myself of the capable person I was working with, to allow her the freedom to create without limits and to show her that I respect her judgement.
The lessons I learnt from sewing with a small :: Breathe deeply, let go, have fun and stop thinking about the rules! Oh, and hide the glitter glue and the nail clippers from the two year old because when you are focusing on stitching, she is decorating the bedroom carpet and trimming her nails!
Do you sew with children? How much do you allow them to do? And, what lessons have you learnt along the way?
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I really admire you for not interfering. As old as I am I’m not sure I could do it but we are soon to find out. My almost 11year old granddaughter wants to learn how to sew and knit. I can’t wait to let her go on the sewing machine with my huge stash at her disposal. I love your blog.
I’m wondering if you have had your granddaughter sewing yet? I would really love to hear how you manage letting go to the process. It has paid off here in so many ways, I really encourage you to bite your tongue as much as you can, I really did have bite mine along the way (not a metaphor!). Good luck, Jxx
Oh Jules! I LOVE this post & the quilts! Pure Joy :)
Thanks Gorgeous!! It was joyful.
I love both her quilts! Good for you for letting go and trusting her! She did an amazing job! How awesome!
Thanks Wens! I can’t even tell you how hard it was for me to bite my tongue but I’m so glad I did!
that is absolutely an amazing quilt top! i love the spontaneity and improvisation. yay for kid art!
Hi C. I think kid art is often fabulous because they’ve not learnt all the societal expectations that adults work to. I hope to encourage more of this so they are all confident artists and can continue to explore their own ideas even when they become conscious of the pressure to conform!
wonderful!!!!!!!!! (and I am laughing about the glitter glue. We have nail polish on our hallway carpet)
Haha! The nail polish went all over the bathroom basin a few weeks ago here too. I think I need to learn to put locks on doors but that just seems all to hard!
That child is amazing. What a wonderful quilt!
Thanks Marion, I’m certainly impressed, it’s one thing to make a bear quilt and I had no doubt she was capable of that, but this has blown me away!
Beautiful quilt! Well done! A good example of a modern improv!
Thanks Jean :) Yes, it is definitely improv! Which is right up my alley – all those rules exist for a reason I’m sure, just that I’ve not yet discovered the reasons!
That quilt top is amazing! It’s very joyful!
My thesis was on sewing with young children in therapy and it’s very hard not to intervene. You want them to learn techniques while encouraging creativity. Good job mama!
Really Jen?! Your did a thesis on sewing?! You are amazing!