It’s Handsewing Month over at Sew, Mama, Sew! Earlier this week, they blogged about handsewing projects for children (http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=867). My son expressed some interest in sewing this past winter, right after his 6th birthday. I gave him some burlap and embroidery floss on a big needle and taught him the basic idea of making a stitch. Before that day, he had only practiced sewing on lacing cards. He has three sets of lacing cards! He was given one set by my mom, the other by my grandmother, and the other from a friend. It’s funny because I am sure that my mom and grandmother, the two women who taught me how to sew, well remembered how much his mommy enjoyed her Holly Hobby lacing cards. In fact, they are still up in the attic. Mine were only cardboard and are a bit tattered from use. His are wooden and so nice! I remembered my mom letting me sew on burlap and I think that this piece was left over from those days. It’s great because it has big holes for the needle to slip into. Then he made his own paper pattern for his initial and practiced pinning the pattern to felt and cutting it out. Then he stitched it onto the burlap. I helped him turn this piece of stitchery into a little bag so that it had a purpose. He sat on my lap and we used the machine together. He loved using the machine and asked to make another project shortly after.