Last Christmas, my niece asked for a sewing machine! I was very excited because my daughter has yet to express an interest in learning to sew (although, as my husband points out she has a mom who sews so she doesn't need to sew). I gave her a couple of patterns and money towards a machine...she pooled the rest of her Christmas money and purchased a basic Singer.
So this summer (before the dreaded back to school rush) we spent an afternoon sewing. She had been playing around with the machine at home and getting to know it, but had yet to sit down with anyone who really spent time showing her the parts and completing a full project. Being self-taught, I feel the easiest way to learn how to sew is to just do it...dig into a project and learn as you go. There is so much to sewing that you can't learn it all ahead of time.
After raiding my stash and finding a print that worked, we opened up her pattern and got to it. We started with simple pajama pants....Actually, we started with a lesson on threading the machine (she had done it a few times, but practice makes perfect!). After getting the threading and machine setup out of the way, I put her to the task of reading through the pattern instructions...completely! I then turned her loose with the scissors. She cut out her pieces (even making the adjustments for length) and we began pinning. It took a little bit of work with the seam ripper to completely grasp the importance of guiding a straight stitch, but in the end she got it. The leg openings were hemmed requiring the use of a seam ruler and iron. She created the casing at the waist and threaded the elastic through, stitching the ends together and completing the project. The smile of accomplishment on her face was priceless!
