Sewing with Children

Judy Martin taught sewing to children on Friday August 28, 2026.  The free workshop was one of three two-hour events put on the the Little Current United Church as a kind of Art Camp.  The other two were painting and beading.   Cotton printed fabric, embroidery floss in many colours, and needles were donated by the local community for the children to use.  Six children attended, the youngest was 7 1/2 years but the others were around 10 years.  Four adults were also present and acted as assistants.       

We began by choosinig two fabrics and one skein of floss.  We cut a background shape out of one of the fabrics, and a smaller shape to layer on top of it from the second colour.  Most of the participants cut out circular shapes for the top cloth (applique).  In the example above, the yellow is the background shape and the red is the shape that was appliqued.

Skills: 

1  Cut a piece of embroidery floss the correct length for hand sewing, and then separate two strands out of the six strands as we only use two strands at a time.  Thread the needle and make a knot on the tail end.  Don't double this thread. 

2  Sew the two shapes together with the knot on reverse side.  Use the running stitch.

3. When complete, make a loop knot on the reverse side and cut the thread.

The next thing to do is to choose a third fabric to sew with a seam to the first fabric. Judy cut a green triangle for her 3rd fabric in the pictured example.  

Skills: 

1.  Place right sides together so that the edges line up.  Use pins to hold them together.

2.  Draw a seam line to make a guide to stitch into about 1/4 inch in from the edge.  Washable marker is a good tool for this.  

3.  Thread your needle with two strands of floss, and tie a knot at the end. 

4.  Use the running stitch and sew the two pieces together with a seam.

The final skill was the back stitch.  The back stitch makes a strong solid line on both sides of the cloth.  

The two hours spent with the children was very rewarding.

Hand sewing is much more complex than we realize.  Especially the knots!  

Judy wishes to thank Whitney Bruno, minister of Little Current United Church for inviting her to take part in this event.