so excited--kids quilting!!
 

my quilt guild tries very hard to engage kids in sewing and quilting--they are our future! So I'm really excited that during 2017 we will have our annual Kid's Camp in June--it's free, kids are given a free kit of supplies for a project that is easily done during the 1/2 day "camp"! Kids come with a sewing adult and we feed them (pizza) at the end. We usually get about 25 kids of all ages, boys and girls, with this.

Then last year we added a Kid's Corner to the county fair--again, all free, on a drop-in basis, and this time, we supply the sewing adult. We sometimes get an adult seeking out info on our Guild at this, too.

And this year, we are the guild hosting the kids class at a big show, the KC Regional Quilt Fest--it's a first for a kid's class, and again Thanks To Paint Brush Studio fabrics, kids will have free admission (if taking the class) and a free kit for a tote bag! So far we have 7 kids signed up for that--it's been slower, we our thinking is that every effort with kids has to start somewhere!

If you are in a guild I highly recommend that you consider trying any of these events--we really have fun with the kids and many grow up to be strong guild members!

My guild is learning. We had a free Saturday Make a Pillowslip for kids ages 10 - 12 as long as adult was with them. First mistake, Free. Many moms brought their child and the neighbor's child, and their sister's child......
We had kits made up of all different colors and prints. Another mistake. Groups of girls wanted the same print and color that the popular girl chose. Moms huddled together and chatted not paying attention to the kids. Many of the kids didn't want to sew just push buttons and turn knobs on the machine. By the end of the day we were exhausted, annoyed and never wanted to do it again. We learned what not to do. There were a couple of girls that were overjoyed at sewing and wanted to learn. We invited them to come to our sewday but their mothers wanted to drop them off and not stay which isn't allowed.

I agree! Teaching kids to quilt is great fun. Our school district's 5th grade talented and gifted kids have a project, which is to make a quilt. First, they make a class quilt reflecting their time at their home school. Then, they write a story and make a quilt, wall hanging or pillow that tells the story in a quilt. I assisted this year and will do it again next year. It was great fun. Most had never held a needle before.

Below is a sample of their work. (Some had more help than others, but that was within the rules.) I would love to post the photos of the kids sewing, but I don't have permission to do so.

bkay

great projects!

this is a terrific idea. i'm going to share it with my guild's planners

...and who supplies the sewing machines? I would be very hesitant to offer one of mine to be used by a child, unless I was right behind him/her making sure nothing was damaged.....

Most all our members have older beginner level machines not used much so the machines weren't a problem. We had more then enough machines. We had them threaded ready to go.

Loved the pics, thank you for doing this !

I supplied my old Singer Touch and Sew this year. One of the posters on the antique and vintage machine enthusiasts sent me another one, so I'll have two next year. Those guys who love and collect sewing machines always have extras. I kind of settled on the Singer Touch and Sews, as they are cheap, easy to find and use and I know how to fix them if they don't have gear problems. (They aren't collectable.)

Also, Walmart usually has a sewing machine on Black Friday for $60.00. Teachers can get sponsors or grants for this kind of thing, too. Also, I bet I could get 10 sewing machines donated by repair people, estate sale people, Goodwill, etc in a week. Once you tell people what you are doing, if it's for kids, they will help.

bkay

Bkay--great projects--and neat idea on having them create the blocks about their home schools!

In answer to a few questions/concerns--with the kids camp--they must have an adult with them--we do have a couple of exceptions with some kids that are actually already members of the guild and participate in our sewing activities. We've had grandpa's, older sibs, etc--just need to be able to sew. Sometimes the adult has the child sitting on their lap so the adult controls the foot control (speed)--although we also have a couple of kids that prefer to stand to sew and do a great job--gives them better control. With that group, the adult brings their own machine since they know their own machine (hopefully!) Our leader for this is a school principal so she's pretty darn good at organzing and keeping the kids engaged--and also the parents/adults!
With the event at the county fair, guild members bring a machine (and many of us have a cheaper travel machine for classes that we use)and the building we use is A/C and the one for all the textile classes so clean.
Both these use very simple items--rag pillow, drawstring bags, mug rugs, placemats, etc. Ours is a large guild and we seem to always have donated fabric so getting supplies is no problem.

We did mentor a high school FACS classes last year in making a large lap quilt--we probably won't do this again as it was lenghty (9 weeks), full day, and we had to cover almost every day--our volunteers found that hard to be consistent and frankly, some were a little afraid of high schoolers--not a problem for most of us that did actually volunteer and we had some fun with the kids(ok--there were a few boys I wanted to dropkick!). We decided instead to invite our local FACS teachers, Scout leaders, 4H leaders, etc to our kids camp to see how we organize sewing with kids and to get ideas for their groups. We've only had mediocre success with that cause it's in the summer and most of those folks are wanting a break!

And I agree with Bkay--think if you ask people for fabrics and used older machines to use, you will find lots of enthusiasm.

I'd like some suggestions from others on how to get young women (men??) involved in sewing and quilting--I'm talking 20-30 year olds. Many have not learned to sew in school and may not have family members that sew. My guild tries to make our sew days on Sat. to help those that work outside the home (or have young kids and need someone else to watch). I see lots of blogs with young women quilters--but how to get new sewers? We offer 7weeks of beginner classes (end up with a sampler that teaches everything except Y seams and PP--we do get a few via that but they all seem so busy and pulled in 3 different directions--how to other guilds counter that?