A little background
We homeschool through a charter program that requires us to give our Educational Specialist (ES) samples of new learning each month. Sewing is filed under life skills.
In order to make something that will be useful for my daughter in the future, as well as full-filling our learning records each month, I designed my own sewing program and templets!
I also want to make the sewing projects more relevant for an 8 year old, so instead of the regular "let's make a pillowcase/apron/bag" approach we are making doll clothes and doll accessories. We will also create an LR doc for the ES.
My plan is to have sewing class with my daughter twice a month, which will result in one finished project and one sample sheet. The sample sheet will create a file folder of seams for my daughter. The idea came from my own college sewing class, where we had to create a folder of seams. I find myself going back to the folder to figure out what seams/applications will work the best when I am "free-style-sewing," altering patterns, or simply following a pattern and I don't remember how to create a particular seam.
First lesson
Seam: Basting.
Basting is a good technique to use for little hands, because it is easier to sew on the sewing machine when you do not have to mess with pins. It is a good technique even for big hands when areas get crammed and pins just add bulk.
Basting is done by hand with a thread and needle. Usually the stitches are about 1 centimeter long (1/2"). It is a simple up and down stitch that is easy to pull out when the sewing machine seam is done.
Before we began the dress, we made the sample piece.
Sample Piece
We measured and cut a solid colored strip of fabric 15cm x 32cm (6" x 12.5"). Solid colored is best, so you can see the seam clearly. Also pick a color thread that stands out. We chose pink fabric and black thread. I drew a line 1 cm in from the edge, which is common seam allowance. I folded the fabric unevenly, so it showed that we based two pieces of fabric together. Sophia even basted along the line.
She pinned the sample on the sample templet, added a description, and slid it into the clear sheet protector. We will make a copy of this and bring it to our ES. Done!
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| Basting the sample piece |
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| Writing down what basting is and how it is used. |
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| Learning Log Sample |
Sophia wanted to sew matching nightgowns for her's and her friend's American Girl Humes. (Other people call them dolls, but my daughter came up with the word Hume, because Cecile and Marie-Grace are not really human and not really dolls, they are something in between, hence the word hume. :)
I found a few old t-shirts that would make great nightgowns. I should mention that we try to not waste stuff... and if we can upcycle, recycle, whatever cycle, we will!
1. Sophia traced an AG t-shirt on a piece of paper, we added some length, and voila, we had a pattern. We folded the paper in half, vertically, and cut it out, making sure each side was symmetrical.
2. Next Sophia traced the pattern, with a 1 centimeter (1/2") seam allowance onto the t-shirt. Since this was her first time sewing on the machine, we decided to cut out a square instead of the exact pattern. We felt that it would be easier since she would have more fabric to hold onto while sewing on the machine, and there would be more room to make mistakes. It turned out that this was a great way to go.
Since t-shirt cotton fabric does not ravel, we decided to not worry about the edges and left them raw.
3. I marked the areas for seams with short pencil marks. Sophia threaded a needle with black thread. We chose black, this way it would be easier to identify the basting thread and she would not by mistake pull out the actual seam when we were all done.
She thought it was funny that we did not need to knot the thread but instead she made sure to keep a long tail so the basting would not come undone.
4. When she was done basting it was time for the machine! The first seam was sewn by my daughter while she sat on my lap. I pressed the peddle and she guided the fabric. The next seam she felt comfortable enough to press the peddle herself.
We created the habit of locating the starting point for the seam, turn down the needle, lower the foot, and and press the peddle! The look of pride was priceless :)
We also made sure to do a couple of backstitches at the beginning and the end of each seam, to secure the seam and make sure the seam will not come undone when the humes get dressed.
5. After all the seams were completed it was time to cut off the extra fabric. We made sure to follow the original pattern's pencil marks, and to not cut the newly added seams.
6. Here is the completed project! Night gown and LR sample!
My daughter and her friend decided to add appliques to the night gowns. They used Repositional Paint by Pebeo.
Now lets see what our ES says about the LR sample... I will keep you posted!
