I just bought my granddaughter the new Elna Lotus. She's turning 7 in about a week - this was an early BD gift so she could start working on stuff to enter in the county fair in August.
Her first project that fed her ego in a BIG way was a simple sundress. I'm talking SIMPLE! Walmart sells that puckered sundress fabric that also already has a ruffled hem done. So we're talkin' one side seam and a set of turned shoulder straps.
. She pinned on a fabric flower ($2 at Walmart) ... And she was soooooo proud of what she made!
Our most difficult issue was finding REAL scissors that she could work with her little hands. After really crappy experiences with Fiskars & a few other brands ( all chewed fabric instead of cutting) , I finally found that Gingher sells a 4" pair of rounded tip scissors - so they look like typical school scissors, but are heavy and have that glorious "dressmaker shears" feel of true Ginghers.