FREE E-BOOK! Teach your kids to sew with a pair of jeans

 

I have now made the second of my sewing e-books available for free download!

'Teach your kids to sew with a pair of jeans'

I made a YouTube video explaining a little about what the book contains and showing the items you can make using the tutorials contained within.

To read more about my e-book, click here.

The link to download the book is also on that page.

I've decided to make this e-book available for free-download to try to encourage as many kids (or adults) as possible to use what they've got and learn a new skill.

I encourage you to download this e-book and have a try at sewing any or all of the tutorials within. My kids had a lot of fun learning, and made some fun and useful things along the way.

I'd love if you shared this post, or the YouTube video and help get this e-book out there and as help as many people as possible to learn, teach and encourage others to sew - especially kids!

It is so empowering to make something for yourself. I have tried to make the tutorials as clear and simple as possible with lots of photos.

So click here to read more about this FREE e-book and to download a copy for yourself!

Thanks for your support!

Teaching your kids to sew

Over the years my two girls have shown an interest here and there in learning to sew. This interest comes and goes but I always make sure to grab the moments when they're keen and interested and help them give it a go and learn. I believe that learning to sew - and other crafting skills are valuable ones for kids to learn.

But back to my girls sewing. Over the years, they've made a few things pencil cases are always a favourite:

Roll up pencil cases

Lined and zipped pencil cases

I've encouraged them to design their own things too - here's ...well..ok, another pencil case, designed by my younger daughter:

And a cuddly turtle, designed and made my by youngest.

There were other things they made - it just seems to be the pencil cases I took pictures of!

Then a couple of years ago, I decided to put together an e-book which was a short course for kids to learn to sew. Something with a bit of structure to help kids (or indeed adults) learn some basic sewing skills which would enable them to sew all kinds of different things - particularly learning to follow tutorials as there are so many great tutorials available online now - you can learn to make just about anything!

My girls agreed to be the 'pattern and tutorial testers' for my book. After I had written each individual tutorial, I would give it to them to try and follow and make the item themselves. They would then be able to give me feedback on what they found easy or difficult and I could adjust the patterns and tutorials accordingly.

I decided to incorporate my favourite thing and one I'm passionate about into this learn to sew book too - clothes upcycling.  So the contents of this e-book can be made using an old pair of jeans and some co-ordinating fabric.  

My girls both had a pair of coloured jeans that they'd grown out of that they wanted to use - and they chose their own matching fabric to use with them.  

We had a lot of fun with creating this e-book together, and the girls learnt a lot about sewing too!

Here are all the things they learned to make following the tutorials in my e-book. Those in the picture below are the ones I made as examples while I created the tutorials - and I also used a coloured pair of jeans!

This e-book is available as a FREE PDF download.

To get your copy just click here.

So why not help your kids learn a useful lifelong skill and make some fun things along the way.

Happy sewing and upcycling!

Can your kids sew?

This is an e-book course I developed to teach kids to sew. 

 It uses a pair of jeans as the main fabric for the nine projects included in the book.

I chose a pair of jeans because I personally love sewing with denim, it's strong, hard wearing, looks great and only improves with age.  Sewing with old clothes is also a very eco- and budget friendly fabric source option, which is something I feel strongly about.  It teaches kids to use what they've got for sewing resources - the tutorials making use of all parts of the jeans from the zip to the pockets and even the waistband!  

Most people have an old pair of jeans at home that they can use for this, or there are always plenty of second-hand jeans for sale in charity and op shops for just a few dollars.

The nine tutorials in the book build up skills and techniques gradually, but each project is achievable for kids to make either by themselves or with a little help from an adult.

Through the course of the book, kids will learn skills like appliqué and putting in zips; and also how to read tutorials and patterns that use both written instructions and photos to make each step clear and straightforward.

My own two daughters, aged 10 and 12 when the book was created, were been my pattern testers for this book. It was great to see their sewing confidence grow as they progressed through the tutorials. They started out with the super simple and very fast project - tissue pouches.

and then went on to make things like bags, soft toys and zipped pouches!

By the end of the book, once all the tutorials have been completed, the sewer should have the confidence to be able to browse through the endless sewing tutorials available online - both here on my blog and on many other fabulous blogs and sites - and try making lots of new things!

To download your FREE PDF copy of this book to teach someone (or perhaps even yourself) to sew, for just

Click here

Thank you for your support of my blog and my sewing tutorials. I would love to hear from you if you use this book to help kids (or adults too)  to learn to sew!
Happy Sewing!

How to teach your kids to sew

Can your kids sew?

My kids have shown an interest on and off for years and I've helped them make things here and there.

But finally I decided it was time to add a bit of structure to their sewing learning - while still trying to keep it fun.

So I created a series of tutorials to help kids learn to sew using a pair of jeans.  

My girls used a pair each of coloured jeans they'd grown out of.

By sewing with an old pair of jeans, the kids also learn about upcycling and making use of materials you have, as well as learning a series of sewing techniques that are gradually built upon so that by the end of the course they should have enough knowledge and competency to tackle most free sewing tutorials you find online!

One of my daughters' friends has also been testing out the tutorials in my book. Here are some of the first things she made.

A fabric basket and tissue pocket.

And a cute pencil case!

Apparently, she enjoyed the sewing so much that her mum had to take her to the charity shop a few weeks later to buy her another pair of jeans to sew with! 

So if you'd like to get your kids sewing, in a fun (and cheap) way - just using materials and fabrics you have on hand. Then do take a look at my e-book - there are more details here.

The book is available as a FREE PDF download.

Simply click here to get your copy!

It would make a great gift for someone - perhaps packaged up with an old pair of jeans to get them started!

Happy Sewing!

Teach your kids to sew

Over the years my two girls have shown an interest here and there in learning to sew. This interest comes and goes but I always make sure to grab the moments when they're keen and interested and help them give it a go and learn. I believe that learning to sew - and other crafting skills are valuable ones for kids to learn - you can read my reasons why in my post:

Top 10 reasons for learning to sew

But back to my girls sewing. Over the years, they've made a few things pencil cases are always a favourite:

Roll up pencil cases

Lined and zipped pencil cases

I've encouraged them to design their own things too - here's ...well..ok, another pencil case, designed by my younger daughter:

And a cuddly turtle, designed and made my by youngest.

There were other things they made - it just seems to be the pencil cases I took pictures of!

Then last year, I decided to put together an e-book which was a short course for kids to learn to sew. Something with a bit of structure to help kids (or indeed adults) learn some basic sewing skills which would enable them to sew all kinds of different things - particularly learning to follow tutorials as there are so many great tutorials available online now - you can learn to make just about anything!

My girls agreed to be the 'pattern and tutorial testers' for my book. After I had written each individual tutorial, I would give it to them to try and follow and make the item themselves. They would then be able to give me feedback on what they found easy or difficult and I could adjust the patterns and tutorials accordingly.

I decided to incorporate my favourite thing and one I'm passionate about into this learn to sew book too - clothes upcycling.  So the contents of this e-book can be made using an old pair of jeans and some co-ordinating fabric.  

My girls both had a pair of coloured jeans that they'd grown out of that they wanted to use - and they chose their own matching fabric to use with them.  

We had a lot of fun with creating this e-book together, and the girls learnt a lot about sewing too!

Here are all the things they learned to make following the tutorials in my e-book. Those in the picture below are the ones I made as examples while I created the tutorials - and I also used a coloured pair of jeans!

This e-book is available as a FREE PDF download 

Simply click here to get your copy.

So why not help your kids learn a useful lifelong skill and make some fun things along the way.

Happy sewing and upcycling!

Tomato Pincushions

When browsing the internet, deciding what kind of pincushion to make for my girls, I found lots of pictures of tomato pincushions. I'd actually never seen one before, but have since learned that many original pincushions were tomato shaped, and many people still have tomato pincushions passed down through generations of sewers!

So not only are they a traditional type of pincushion, but I also learned that a red tomato at a window helps ward off evil spirits, and one on the mantel piece attracts wealth and abundance! (Source)

So this definitely seemed a good choice of pincushion to make for my girls.

I found this brilliant video tutorial from Martha Stewart showing how simple it is to make one. Take a look...

Aren't they just the cutest, simplest pincushions ever?

I made one each for my girls 

as part of sewing kit bag gift sets that I made for each of them

I gave them these gifts to say thank you for being such awesome pattern testers for my new e-book.

Have you ever seen a tomato pincushion? Or do you have one of your own perhaps?

Personalised Needle Book - A Tutorial

I made these needle books for my girls as part of a sewing kit gift I made to say thank you for pattern testing the tutorials in 

my new e-book.

They are super simple to make. I used denim scraps from old jeans (white and blue) which makes the needle cases nice and sturdy.

To make this needle book you will need,

1 piece main outer fabric 16 x 10 cm (6.25 x 4")

1 piece inner fabric 20 x 14 cm (8 x 5.5")

Scrap inner fabric and fusible webbing for initial

2 pieces felt for pages 12 x 8 cm (4.75 x 3.25")

1 piece stitch in velcro 2.5 cm (1") long

First iron your fusible webbing to your fabric scrap, draw the mirror image of your initial letter, cut out and place on your main outer fabric piece. 

Fold this piece in half to find the centre of the front cover. Iron then appliqué stitch into place.

Now place this outer rectangle face up on top of your main inner piece which should be facing down. In this case your fabrics should be wrong sides together.

Double fold the inner fabric over the edges of your outer fabric like this. Pin into place.

Continue this all the way around. At the corners, fold one side in as shown in this photo, then continue to double turn the edges on the next side.

Pin then stitch this 'binding' in place close to the inner edges.

Add your velcro

First cut your velcro in half lengthways. 

Then lay one side each on the inner edges of your needle book cover. Pin then stitch into place.

Stitch around each velcro rectangle twice to make sure it's secure. The stitching will get tugged every time the book is opened.

The pages

Fold your main book cover in half and place a pin in the centre.

Then take your two felt rectangles and fold them in half both together and place a pin in the middle.

Now place your felt pages inside your needle book cover, matching up your centre pins.

Stitch into place along the pin lines.

That is your needle case finished and ready to add pins to.

I used the same fabrics as the girls sewing kit bags for these needle cases, so that everything matches.

My girls love their sewing kids and needle cases - I'm looking forward to doing lots more sewing with them!

This tutorial is also available as a free PDF download here.

If you want to see how to make the sewing kit bag shown in the picture above, you will find that tutorial here.

If you liked this tutorial - there are over 100 sewing tutorials for all kinds of things and all levels of sewing ability. Do take a look at 

My Free Tutorials Page