Maia’s first sewing project

Maia has become extra crafty recently, she literally heads for the craft table as soon as she gets up in the mornings and starts drawing, gluing, and cutting, only stopping briefly to get dressed and eat a little breakfast. She continues with whatever ‘project’ she is working on until I manage to drag her to the car and off to school… as soon as she gets home its much the same again (only the battle to get into the bath and off to bed is much more difficult!)

Recently she decided she wanted to make something extra special for both her Nanas for mothers day, so after much deliberation (yes really) we decided on a sewing project… the sewing machine has been getting a lot of use of late, so I guess that was part of the attraction. Agreeing on a project proved a little more difficult. I wanted some thing that was going to be useful (for nana) and at the same time would be achievable for a five year old with no sewing experience… I suggested a few options and we decided on a place mat which they could put on their dressing table.

A check through my fabric stash yielded no suitable results (really Mum, THAT is not cool), so we went to the fabric store specially to buy something ‘just right’ and Maia picked out a lovely print with babushkas on it, which we paired with a plain blue drill cotton.

Together we measured and cut out the pieces. I pinned them for her and drew a line around to guide her sewing (just follow the line and try to keep your needle on it).

I was super impressed at how well Maia managed. I have a sewing machine with a variable speed setting which made it easier – I set the speed at super slow, so any deviations from the line could be corrected without too much damage 🙂 There were still a few nervous moments when her fingers got too close to the needle (and one where her foot accidentally shot off the machine – while my fingers were under the needles sorting out a tangle!!!)

Once the seams were complete we turned the placemats right side out and she spray starched and ironed them, and then sewed the entire way around the right side with a zig zag stitch to finish. There was a little unpicking, but it wasn’t noticeable when they were finished.

They turned out beautifully and she was so proud to give them to her Nanas – who of course loved them!

She’s now bugging me to make something else… but my machine is getting a lot of action (from me) as it is, so Im thinking about resurrecting my old machine and getting it serviced so she can use that 🙂