Sowing While You Sew--Week 4 Guest Post

I am so excited to have my first ever guest post today and I am glad it's Gina from Party of Eight Our Story.  She always has the nicest comments and when I first checked out her blog a while back, I was impressed with how much she can accomplish with a houseful of kids.  While I'm impressed with her sewing skills, I'm doubly impressed by her amazing quilts.  You should check them out!

One thing I wanted to focus on as we teach our children to sew is that sewing is a skill that can be used to benefit others.  The pillow case is the perfect thing to start with.  Gina mentioned where they will be donating theirs and tomorrow I'll be giving you some more ideas to get you headed in the right direction.

So without further ado, I present Gina and her adorable, productive daughter, the finished products and the amazing work her daughter did!  The fabric they chose is so much fun.

Hi! I am Gina and I blog at Party of Eight Our Story. I am so happy to be here at Daisy Chain Creations and to be a part of  "Sowing While You Sew". I was very excited about the series when Sally first introduced it as I would love to pass the love of sewing to my four girls. Two of my girls are interested in sewing right now and two are too young. Many days last summer when my kids were out of school they would work on their projects at the kitchen table while I sewed. My then 7 year old twins were always interested in what I was making and they are at an age where they want to be like mom ( I am going to hold on to that for as long as I can because we all know that might disappear as the teen years get closer). One of my girls practiced stitching straight lines using my sewing machine and they both did a couple of simple embroidery projects. I wanted to capitalize on the girls' interest in sewing so we got them a simple sewing machine for Christmas. Nicole had stitched together some purses by herself but I had not guided her through a project to teach her the correct technique. Sally's series gave us the perfect opportunity! Our project began at the fabric store where we usually spend an hour and a half and go through the store aisle by aisle. My girls are attracted to pretty colors and soft to the touch texture. The color grabs our attention first but then it has to pass the touch test to see if it is soft. We have a fun time looking at all the fabrics and it usually takes a while to narrow our selections down. Nicole chose fabric for a girl pillowcase. Since we will be donating the pillowcase to our local Children and Family Services I wanted to make a pillowcase for a boy too.

It is basketball season at our house so we had to make our pillowcases in 2 sittings due to lack of time. This might be a good option for kids with shorter attention spans. We used a pillowcase we had on hand as a pattern. I did the cutting and Nicole did the pinning. She did a good job and learned she needed to get the wrinkles out and worked on keeping the raw edge even with raw edge. We worked with flannel which I think helped make this process easier.

She learned to use the back stitch lever at the beginning and end of her stitches. We put a small piece of contrast fabric between the pillow case cuff and the main body of the case so she got to learn a basting stitch, too. There were times her stitch was off course a bit but I am very proud of her good effort.

This was Nicole's first time using an iron. I am a firm believer in pressing stitches after they are sewn. She was very excited to iron and I was a little nervous. She did a great job and was cautious.

Nicole felt the whole experience was very fun and was so excited to make something for another kid to use. I have a serger so the inside seams were serged. Nicole got to learn some sewing fundamentals and it was a boost to her self esteem to know she could sew something like mom. She is already planning out her next project and I have a stack of flannel for her to turn into pillow cases for her brothers and sisters.

Thank you Sally so much for this fun learning opportunity and for encouraging others to sow seeds for the love of sewing!!

Hi! I am Gina and I blog at Party of Eight Our Story. I am so happy to be here at Daisy Chain Creations and to be a part of  "Sowing While You Sew". I was very excited about the series when Sally first introduced it as I would love to pass the love of sewing to my four girls. Two of my girls are interested in sewing right now and two are too young. Many days last summer when my kids were out of school they would work on their projects at the kitchen table while I sewed. My then 7 year old twins were always interested in what I was making and they are at an age where they want to be like mom ( I am going to hold on to that for as long as I can because we all know that might disappear as the teen years get closer). One of my girls practiced stitching straight lines using my sewing machine and they both did a couple of simple embroidery projects. I wanted to capitalize on the girls' interest in sewing so we got them a simple sewing machine for Christmas. Nicole had stitched together some purses by herself but I had not guided her through a project to teach her the correct technique. Sally's series gave us the perfect opportunity!

Our project began at the fabric store where we usually spend an hour and a half and go through the store aisle by aisle. My girls are attracted to pretty colors and soft to the touch texture. The color grabs our attention first but then it has to pass the touch test to see if it is soft. We have a fun time looking at all the fabrics and it usually takes a while to narrow our selections down. Nicole chose fabric for a girl pillowcase. Since we will be donating the pillowcase to our local Children and Family Services I wanted to make a pillowcase for a boy too.

It is basketball season at our house so we had to make our pillowcases in 2 sittings due to lack of time. This might be a good option for kids with shorter attention spans. We used a pillowcase we had on hand as a pattern. I did the cutting and Nicole did the pinning. She did a good job and learned she needed to get the wrinkles out and worked on keeping the raw edge even with raw edge. We worked with flannel which I think helped make this process easier. 

She learned to use the back stitch lever at the beginning and end of her stitches. We put a small piece of contrast fabric between the pillow case cuff and the main body of the case so she got to learn a basting stitch, too. There were times her stitch was off course a bit but I am very proud of her good effort. 

This was Nicole's first time using an iron. I am a firm believer in pressing stitches after they are sewn. She was very excited to iron and I was a little nervous. She did a great job and was cautious.

Nicole felt the whole experience was very fun and was so excited to make something for another kid to use. I have a serger so the inside seams were serged. Nicole got to learn some sewing fundamentals and it was a boost to her self esteem to know she could sew something like mom. She is already planning out her next project and I have a stack of flannel for her to turn into pillow cases for her brothers and sisters.