My kids all want to learn to sew, and so we are on a sewing adventure, and they hope to end up with new quilts handmade at their own hands!  Join us as we sew through the summer each week!  Sewing with Kids — week 1, week 2, and week 3.

Owen and I have been talking about making a monster, and finally took an hour to do it!  Look at this face —

He’s so happy to have “made” a new friend!  Here’s what we did:

I taped a few blank pieces of paper together, and asked Owen to draw his monster.  He started with the eyes, and legs, then I encouraged the addition of a head and arms.  Simple and fun sketches are perfect!

Then we cut him out, to use as a pattern.  He added the mouth, and mustache too!

Owen picked out two blue fabrics that he wanted to use, and we pinned him down, and cut him out.

Pattern weights would have been handy here, but we made the pins work, and kept his fingers away.

Using the scraps, we cut out the eyes, and a mouth in a smile.  Then using the Lapel Stick to put them in place for applique.

Owen sat on my lap at the sewing machine, he’s 4, and not quite ready to take on the machine yet.

I encouraged him to help me steer the fabric around the applique pieces, but after that he was ready for me to finish sewing the project for him.

So we pinned the right sides together, to sew around it.  I left the bottom open, and we added legs with the remaining scraps.

He’s pretty excited to have him turned right side out!

I pressed the seams flat, and we started stuffing him!  I added a little bit to the arms for him, and let him have at the rest.

I cut 3″ strips from the scraps, folded the right sides together and sewed up the sides.  One is slightly longer than the other, but it adds to his charm!

We added a bit of stuffing the sewed across to make feet, then finished stuffing and pinned them in the bottom.  I had previously pressed under about a 1/2″, then sewed legs in place as I closed up the monster.

One happy boy with his monster!  The key to this project, was letting him have creative freedom, and me not trying to make it perfect.

Have you been sewing with your kids?  I think next week I’ll put a linky up to see what all of you have been up to with your kiddos!

Happy sewing – Amy