Home Ec Projects
 

Hi, I'm a homeschooler and have been sewing with my daughters for years, so I have their sewing classes down. The tricky part is that I have a terrible black thumb. So, my DD's BFF's mom, who is a great gardener is going to teach my girls how to garden and I will teach her teenaged daughter how to sew. I want to teach her lessons that encompass many aspects of sewing, not just garments and quilts. I want to use lessons with applique and how to use fusibles, maybe do a few bags and things like that. So far I've come up with:

*An advent calendar wall hanging that uses applique, straight line quilting and hand sewing.
*A snowman ornament that teaches hand sewing and the blanket stitch.
*Embroidering a pre-printed block to teach hand embroidery.
*Making an apron with machine embroidered name on the front.
*Making a pillow with a Christmas Tree on the front to teach sewing with ribbons and machine sewing buttons onto fabric.

As you can see, I'm trying to come up with projects that will teach a few techniques per project. She has VERY limited sewing experience. Any thoughts?

Pillow cases and pj bottoms are always fun and easy...

Great idea. How about little zippered purses to learn how to put in zippers. There are several levels of zippers you could extend to from just a simple zippered coin purse.

I homeschooled for 17+ years and my friends and I co taught each others' kids too. It created a lot of fun and expanded their skills.

I was just looking at this post and thought you might find some ideas to build sewing skills using this person's tutorials.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/links-r...e-t257000.html

when you're done with her, she'll e an expert. Lucky her to have you as a teacher

clothing is a good place to start, like someone suggested pj pants. taught my son that at 7.

Tote or simple purse!

I got to judge the 4 H sewing projects this year. Putting a zipper into a purse or even a pillow, also French seams. they were both a big one with their projects.

Check some online sampler quilts that teach new skills with each block, and when she is done with all the blocks, she has a quilt she made to show for it, and remind her of the different lessons.

At our Homemakers Extension Office we had a summer project teaching kiddies to sew. We started with sitting them at a sewing machine teaching them the parts of the machine and how to thread it. Then had straright lines drawn on paper and without thread had them "sew" on the lines, progressed to circles and then free motion. After a this session we gave them a certificate and they loved it when... we signed the certificates to take home to their parents. The children ranged from 4 yrs (yep, 4) to teenage and included boys. I loved helping teach them. At the end of a week they had sewn in zippers, made aprons, strip pieced handbags and even a dufffle bag plus a few did their own designed items. For me, it was so much fun!