Washcloth Crafts, Tips for Teaching Kids to Hand Sew

   Washcloth Bat

TerryGami, 15 Cloth Toy and Ornament Projects for Crafters, Teachers, and Children

The book is now available online in soft cover!

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Washcloth Crafts!
Teaching kids how to hand sew may seem like a daunting task, but it really isn't.  If you can spend a half hour or so showing them the basics, I think you will find that it isn't as difficult as you may think.  It is so easy to thread the wide-eyed needles, and the blunted ends of darning needles or yarn needles eliminate possible finger pricks. Check out the websites below to help out beginners.

 I suppose the hardest part is showing them how to tie a knot in the thread, but that can be found online as can everything else these days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM5n_gmpIrY.   I am guilty of stabbing at the eye of the needle with a long piece of thread! Is it any wonder I like the wide-eyed needles! Here is a video on how to tie off the thread when they are finished sewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UccJCUjTSJA.  

As illustrated in the book, sewing on terrycloth is a little more complicated because the knot will go straight through the wide weave of the material, especially a tiny knot. You have to anchor the thread first. After you tie a knot in the thread, pull the needle through a tiny pinch in the material, as it the last video. Before you pull the knot all the way to the end, pull the needle through the loop created by the double strands of thread, and then pull the thread through all the way through the loop until the thread is anchored. 

For younger children,  if they are having trouble holding and sewing the material at the same time, try using small bag clamps or spring clothespins to hold the material in place as they sew.  Sometimes rubber bands work well, too. Any snags caused by the rubber bands can easily be trimmed off the terrycloth.

Keep the stitches small and the seams will hardly be noticeable at all.  It is easy for kids to get good results when sewing on terrycloth because of the nap or pile in the weave.  

What is nice about sewing, instead of gluing the TerryGami critters, is that, if a mistake is made, it can always be rip it out and you can start again.  In fact, knowing how to rip out the stitches is an important lesson to learn in sewing. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Happy Crafting!

~Terry