How to Teach Sewing to Boys

I've been wanting to teach my boys how to sew for at least a year now but I knew they weren't really interested in sewing.

I knew the first step in teaching them to sew was to get them to WANT to sew so I had to pick the right project.

I looked up a lot of beginner projects and thought that perhaps they'd enjoy sewing stuffed animals since my younger two still collect so many of them.

I knew that I needed a simple project so they would be successful at it and have a good memory associated with sewing.

I knew I wanted to start with sewing by hand so I needed lightweight fabric that wouldn't be hard to sew, large needles that would be easy to see, guide, and thread, and thicker thread then normal so they could keep track of their stitches.

They LOVED it and completed their projects in an afternoon.



I found this wonderful kit on Amazon that included all the supplies needed to make 5 felt animals and it turned out to be a wonderful first sewing experience. 

Craftster's Sewing Kits Woodland Animals Craft Educational Sewing Kit for 7 to 12 Age Kids

I let each boy decide which animal they wanted to make and we settled down to work.  Since neither one of the younger two boys wanted to make the bunny, I used the bunny to demonstrate.  

We opened our packages and laid out all our supplies; putting the features in place.  We glued on small parts like eyes and noses while using pins to hold the parts that we needed to sew together. 



We began attaching the two pieces of felt together using a running stitch.




Once we had all of our pieces attached to the front of our stuffed animal we laid the front of the animal on top of the back side of the animal and held them together using pins.  Like this:


I taught the boys a simple blanket stitch and helped them get their stitching started.


The instructions wanted us to stuff the animal near the end but the boys thought it would be hard to get stuffing into some of the hard to reach places like ears and tails so they stuffed a bit as they sewed.




We made sure we had stuffing in all the right places and finished off our blanket stitch. In just a couple of hours they each had their own stuffed animal completed. 






It was a lot of fun and the pre- cut/ pre- punched supplies made this a nice and quick project.  A perfect first introduction to sewing.  

I told them next time we can get fabric, cut out our own animals and I'll teach them how to use the sewing machine.

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Comments

  1. Kym ThorpeApril 25, 2018 at 7:56 AM

    Wow!! Great job, guys!!

    Being able to do some basic sewing is a valuable life skill. My 19yo son is a Civil Air Patrol Cadet Captain and he learned how to hand-sew to do his own uniform repairs and add new patches etc to his uniforms. Pretty fun to see this big construction worker with hands the size of a small island handling a needle and thread, but he can do it! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3April 25, 2018 at 11:39 AM

      That's great. I do hope to teach them skills like sewing on a button, their karate patches, etc. as we go. I am so thankful I learned how to sew as I am constantly hemming pants or making repairs on clothing and stuffed animals.

      Delete
  2. Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan TooApril 25, 2018 at 8:42 AM

    Those are so cute, and it's such an important skill to know! My 13 year old son just learned how to sew in home ec. He ended up making a drawstring bag and was so excited about it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3April 25, 2018 at 11:40 AM

      Oooh! That is a great project idea!! I bet I could find some Pokemon or other fabric that they'd just love and then we can talk about cutting out patterns and it would be nice straight seams for running through the machine... thanks for the idea!!

      Delete
  3. Bri RundeApril 25, 2018 at 4:46 PM

    These are adorable, and I LOVE that you are teaching your boys to sew! So excited to stumble across another homeschooling mama blogger!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3April 25, 2018 at 5:57 PM

      Thank you! I know it's a life skill I use a lot and figured it wouldn't hurt for them to at least know the basics. :)

      Delete
  4. Sheltie TimesApril 26, 2018 at 8:43 AM

    I love the idea that the first kit comes with the holes it just makes one less early challenge. Sewing is an important life skill and it is a great gift you are giving them to be able to handle basic life skills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3April 26, 2018 at 3:59 PM

      I loved that it had holes too I was afraid that they might have a hard time with the needle and get frustrated but this kit really took the work out of it so we could just focus on the skills.

      Delete
  5. Lydia FilguerasApril 26, 2018 at 8:16 PM

    What a great resource you've found. With the prepunched pieces there's no pressure to make super neat stitches but instead focus on the action of the needle and thread. Thanks for sharing with us at Creatively Crafty #ccbg :)

    ReplyDelete

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