Comments on: El & Ellie

By: Eleanor Burns

Eleanor Burns — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:11:07 +0000

Sandra, sounds like your little grandson has a wonderful and patient “grammie”. Continue your enjoyment of teaching him about our love of sewing.

By: Sandra Davidson

Sandra Davidson — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:03:09 +0000

My grandson is three and half and he is about 90% blind but he can see grammie’s sewing machine and loves to play with the buttons so one day I sat down with him and using his little hands showed him what button was for what and about needle and by the end he new how to make the machine go.I of course had the sewing time down to really slow so it didn’t take off on him. He was doing quite well and one day might be able to work it himself.Just enjoy having fun with your granddaughter ,spending time is the most important thing.

By: Sallie Nold

Sallie Nold — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:04:55 +0000

Your granddaughter reminds me of my dear granddaughter, Eleanor,7. She loves to sew with me. Next week she will be visiting me in Maine and I plan to start her on a strip quilt. Up until recently her favorite color was pink and she would only wear dresses…but recently she announced that blue and orange are also her favorites (perhaps because those are UVAs colors (her Mom and Dad’s alma mater)) and that she will now wear shorts and shirts. They grow up too fast!! BTW I am making my first quilt ever…your barn quilt…wish me luck!

By: Jules

Jules — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:49:03 +0000

I have had the pleasure of teaching a friends daughter to sew and was able to get her a sewing machine for her 12th birthday……..she’s great, she knows what she wants to make and figures it out herself, shes made clothes for her teddies etc and now she feels ready to start to quilting and I have to teach her……and last week my 19 year old daughter made her first quilt, the top is all pieced and we have sandwiched it ready for quilting, next week when we both have some more time we are going to start quilting…..I am thrilled shes finally tackled a 60 inch square quilt, shes made a couple of very small projects and I wasn’t sure her attention span would hold out for the big quilt but I learned to go at her pace…….think thats the only tip I could offer you, go at their pace…..I am a bit of a power sewer and can work at it all day but my daughter doesn’t have the same stamina, go at their pace, encourage continuosly and watch the bug bite……they’ll be hooked in no time (as long as it doesn’t feel like work)

By: Carole

Carole — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:53:15 +0000

Eleanor,

This is adorable. My children both love to quilt and my four year old son may actually be more skilled than his 6 year old sister. My only tip rings true for a lot of situations: Ask them what they like, let them choose color, patterns, projects. You know what you love whether you’re four or forty – and often it doesn’t change much over the years! Give children ownership.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:30:17 +0000

Looks like she has a good eye for color. What a doll.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:17:59 +0000

A box of Barbie dolls tucked away somewhere with a bed for Barbie. They make a great size for the miniature quilts and perfect for first time quilters. This gives a great interaction of a reward when the 15 or 20 minutes attention span at that young age of quilting is gone. (Could also use a bigger doll or favorite doll for a bigger quilt size.) The other thing I use is a foldable flannel board just for them. Where they can see the fabric blocks arranged and notice the work that was done the day of their visit. Easily stores away because it is foldable. Hope this helps. Good luck.

By: Mary Shipman

Mary Shipman — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:29:25 +0000

Use your own books! They are great! My girls all qult, My grands all sew, one of the boys is autistic, He picks fabric and a layout, I cut, he sews. He won a blue ribbon at our County fair at age 9! When he is here we sew together.
Next to youngest (10) grand boy ‘hides’ in my sewing room, putting together small scrap pieces. He is learning a lot about color, and is more than will ing to get on the floor to pin after a couple of lessons in how to do it.
They both like my ‘push button’ machine better than the ‘pedal’ one.
Daughter and Granddaughter Emilie took one of the classes offered at your CA store. Em started cutting at 12 on vacation here, we made her mother a Log Cabin in a Day, she has gone on to Irish Chain…
I can’t offer much in the way of tips, just encourage them, let them choose patters colors, layouts. Let tem do what they are capable of, supervise and applaud!