This is article is in collaboration with the Yorkshire Fabric Shop
Teaching Kids to Sew
There’s no argument needed when we say that sewing is one of the best ways to spend your time with your children. Sewing teaches them to be more patient, after exerting effort and hard work, and see a breathtaking masterpiece. Here are some tips for teaching kids to sew.
Furthermore, each kid is relatively different from other kids. Some can catch the instructions easily, and some that need more attention. When you teach kids to sew, here are some important things you should remember.
Evaluating their skills
As it directly corresponds to their fine motor mastery, the age of the child will play an important role in what we teach them about sewing. The best time to teach kids is when they reach the ages 6-9 years old.
Each parent and teacher recognises that each child is special and will learn skills and concepts in their own time. Some kids will be ready at age 8 for garment building, and some will be ready at age 12. It’s not either right or wrong, and it’s always a good idea to follow a child’s lead.
Choose the Best Tools and Fabric
Nothing compares to having the best tools and fabrics when you start sewing, no one ones to use rusty scissors or needles when they do some crafty arts in general. The steps will much difficult for children, thus, make them lose their interests.
Getting the best tools, on the other hand, makes it easier for them to obey the directions, and it can also be helpful for them to use the right fabric like curtain fabric, as there are soft ones that are very easy to sew. If you’d like to buy curtain fabrics, there are many choices on the market.
Divide it into Easy Steps
Don’t expect kids to learn the things you teach them right there and then. As kids, small things and noises can easily disrupt their concentration.
Also, learning to sew is learning the art of patience. Often it can be frustrating and very time consuming to sew. Helping children break down tasks into measures that are simple will help improve their confidence and ensure they are not overwhelmed.
We suggest you choose projects that they can easily finish, around 1 to 2 hours, just in time when their interest and attention fades. By doing so, it will make them experience a sense of achievement. It also encourages an eagerness to return next week and build something different.
Allow Mistakes
No matter how good you are in sewing, mistakes are bound to occur, even experience sewer committing errors. It is just as necessary to teach kids how to undo their errors as to teach them how to sew.
Besides that, if your child faces a sewing problem, it is a great opportunity to focus on problem-solving and decide on the best course of action. You can’t always undo errors, and often we have to start again, but that’s just part of the learning process.
Let Them Practice
The more children learn sewing methods, the better they get. In fact, the mastery of sewing takes hours. If your children struggle with a certain method, such as sewing a button, consider giving them some projects with buttons before they know the skill. We also suggest to dot down the development of your children every time to see how far they progress.
Takeaway
These are important things you need to know when you are teaching kids, each of its correspondence on how you respond to the kid your teaching. We hope you’ll take time to review and assess yourself before finally deciding to teach kids so that you can properly teach them.