teach your children

While shopping for muslin at JoAnn's yesterday, I decided it would be a great time to teach my children the fine art of embroidery.  This can be as simple as you want it to be.  We headed over to the needlepoint section of the store and picked up a few embroidery hoops, needles and some embroidery floss.  I let the girls pick four colors each.  For less than $10 we were ready to go!  I have a stash of muslin (bleached and unbleached) at home so we didn't need to buy fabric.   For our first design, I put the fabric in the hoop and then drew a heart in the middle.  I started each of them with a heart. 

They picked the which floss color to use.  I threaded their needles, tied one end, and showed them in a few stitches how it goes.  Ashley took off and finished with no problems.  Alona had a hard time keeping the thread in the needle but finished quite well.  Natalie had trouble but got the idea.  She almost finished half her heart before she wanted me to take over.  I tied the floss when they finished.  They were all so very proud of their accomplishments.

We are just doing a running stitch to begin.  If you aren't familiar with embroidery stitches, you can find them easily by googling it.  I liked how Needle 'N Thread has so many free resources.  This is the page with the basic stitches.  They also have how tos for more stitches than just the basics.  They also have some free patterns.  They thoroughly enjoyed learning to "stitch" and asked to do more today.  I asked each of the girls what they would like to "stitch."  Ashley wanted a flower (she wanted a tulip but didn't tell me until after I started drawing on her fabric and I don't know how to draw a tulip).  Alona wanted a giant star.  Natalie chose a triangle.  I threaded their needles again and tied the end of the floss.  None of them needed any help with the stitching this time.  Ashley didn't get to finish hers as she is using 3 different colors and I didn't get a chance to thread the last one for her.  I think she is probably about ready to add another stitch to her repertoire.  I am thinking the back stitch.

I used about a size 4 needle with 3 of the six strands of floss that are in DMC embroidery floss.  This size needle had no problem going through the fabric (too bid a needle and it can be hard for children to pull the eye through).  The kids haven't mastered threading a needle yet, so I do that for them.  Tying the knot in the floss can be difficult as well, so I am doing that for now as well.  Keeping the designs simple is essential for young children.  Ashley is ready for more detailed designs.  I am not sure about Alona yet- I will let her set her own pace.  Natalie is content with basic shapes.  The key (with my kids, at least) is to do it when they are ready, let them choose the colors and designs, and make it as fun as possible!  This is a great way to keep them entertained during the HOT summer, since we are stuck inside all the time and they love TV and computers a little too much.