In my free sewing with kids e-course I suggest teaching kids ages 8+.  So these past few weeks, as Lenna has been begging me to teach her to sew, I diverted her attention elsewhere, assuming she wasn’t ready.  She is only three, afterall.

But she persisted.  And I gave it a go.  You should have seen the process, trying to set her up at a sewing machine.  She’s a very small three-year-old, so I had to set up several books on her chair, and prop the foot pedal on her stool + books, as well.  It was awesome.

I took out the needle and explained the presser foot + feed dogs to her (using the concepts from this lesson) and she understood it so well.  I just watched, as she’d try to sew with the presser foot up, and quickly realize why it wasn’t working, and then would lower the presser foot before trying again.  Before I knew it she was exploring the machine.  She was using the reverse stitch, and telling me how it goes backwards, and adjusting the speed on the machine.  I watched her concentrate.  I watched her learn.  It was such a new experience for both of us.  A very good one.

While I didn’t think she was ready at first, I wasn’t surprised that Lenna loved sewing (can you call it sewing if we didn’t use a needle and thread?)  But what I didn’t expect was that Bev would wind down from her usual turbo mode and sit to listen and learn, as well.  Bev wasn’t strong enough to operate the foot pedal, so I had to help her with that, but I’ve never seen her so focused on anything.  Ever.

I think this has opened us up to a whole new world.  What else are they capable of?  What else can I be teaching them?!