Kylie's First Pillow

Sewing Project  #1 With Kylie

My daughter Kylie turned six and for her birthday she got a little kids singer sewing machine.  After opening it and trying to sew on it I realized it was junk! It didn't have a bobbin and only did a chain stitch.  It basically just poked holes in the fabric.  I took it back to Joann's and got her a real sewing machine that was only 40 dollars.  So it isn't the best machine, but it works great for what we need.  

This week we have been working on making a little pillow.  

Day 1: She picked fabric out of my stash and then we talked about the size of the pillow form we had.  We talked about how to measure and what inches were.  After we picked out the fabric we cut it out.   Our pillow was a 13 inches square pillow form.  So we cut out a 4 x 13 1/2 inch strip, 2 x 13 1/2 inch strip and then and then an 8 1/2 x 13 1/2 inch block.  The back was 8 1/2 x 13 1/2 and 9 1/2 x 13 1/2

Day 2:  Today she got to use the machine!  I let her sit with it and showed her all the parts and what they did.  I let her put her foot on the pedal and push, while it was not plugged in, to see how it felt.  Then we sewed the strips together.  I had pinned the pieces together so she had to stop and take the pins out and put them into the pin cushion.  I held the fabric and kept it on the right path.  I did try to let her hold the fabric herself, it did not go well.  So for now she just pushes the pedal and learns to control the machine that way.  Once those strips were sewn together I ironed them and trimmed them to be 13 1/2 inch square.  

Day 3: Then we sewed on little felt flowers and buttons.  We just tied them on with some floss.  She tried to thread the needle, but it was a little to hard.  Then we sewed a hem on the back fabric.  After that I trimmed up the pieces and pinned the pillow together by laying them both right sides facing on the front panel, overlapping the hemmed edges and aligning the raw edges.  Kylie stitched along the raw edges being very careful of the pins and stopping just before the ends for the corners.  She also picked the foot up if we needed to move the fabric.  Soon we will have to do lessons on how to hold the fabric and push the foot down on the pedal at the same time.  But it is a learning process.  She loved it and is begging to make a doll quilt next.  I think she did a great job on her little pillow.