In short, I am busy: Maker Workshop: Sewing Machines

Equipment

• 6 Singer heavy-duty sewing machines
• Sewing supplies supply cart
• pins, needles, thread, bobbins
• fastenings and trim
• measuring tape, pencils
• Ironing board and iron

Supplies

• Fabric

Resources

• Sewing practice sheets
• Guidelines (I need to update these)
• Books
• Sewing School (multiple titles)
• Books by Jane Bull
• Sew Creative by Jennifer Colin
• Kid's guide to sewing by Sophie Kerr
• Super simple sewing for kids by Curto
• Creative kids complete photo guide to sewing by Bergeron

Notes

• I have recently resumed beginning sewing workshops, after the generous donation of 6 new machines to replace the cobbled-together mess of donations we were using. We put together a cart with our all our basic supplies to simplify setting up as well.
• Ideally, you will have one trainer to each learner, but with groups it's just not possible. I've mostly been running these with my associate and an experienced volunteer. That's for beginning groups. I also do one-on-one "book a librarian" sewing.
• After MUCH experimentation, this is the best format for a beginning group - explain the basics of how a machine works to the kids. If they can't listen to this, they're definitely not ready to sew. Then I set them up with the straight line sheets and have them practice. Really little ones, (4-6) can usually do one or two lines and then I congratulate them on what a great job they've done, give them their sheet, and shoo them out to the play area. (yes, there are four year olds with the hand-eye coordination to use a sewing machine - just really depends on their physical development)
• Next older group of kids should be able to grasp the basics and can then be left to practice on their own, preferably with a parent keeping an eye on them. Once they've completed a couple practice sheets, they can either move on to the more complicated practice sheets or to sewing on scrap fabric.
• Final project for beginners is a simple bag - we have precut squares, they decide how long they want the handle to be, iron and pin the hem on the top, sew across it, then just the three seams to make the bag.
• The trickiest part is shooing out the kids who are really not developmentally ready - either they don't have the physical coordination or they don't have the patience - but they really want to make a thing. I either coax their parents into handling this, or suggest they check out our circulating machines and practice at home.

Evaluation

• 2-25-22
• Attendance: 25?
• Notes: This was a homeschool co-op and we ran the kids through on an assembly line. Two got to the point where they could make bags and one took themselves to that point even though they really weren't ready lol. Another was content to just practice stitching - note, try to thread the machines with colored thread so they can get that contrast in stitching. One four year old was surprisingly competent - really excellent motor control.
• 2-19-22
• Attendance: 9
• Notes: One child who was really not ready - did not have the patience. My volunteer very kindly worked with them. Two more kids who practiced well. Two more kids who have experience and just wanted to hang out with us and use our supplies - they made aprons off their own bat with a little help.
• Lots of things I did not track
• 11-9-18
• Attendance: 10
• Notes: My director and my teen aide helped out. I wasn't able to get the Singer working, but another attendee donated a practically new Brother! So we have four working machines of our own and three from the consortium. I packed up the Singer and the two Brothers in most need of repair/cleaning for the Friends to take to be refurbished. We made a lot of pillows and people are excited about the idea of book-a-librarian for sewing and more workshops next year.
• 11-2-18
• Attendance: 17
• Notes: I had two helpers this time, both of whom I taught how to use the machines before the program started. We had too many people - some came in without registration and some because I forgot the program started at 4:30, not 4, and that nobody was coming... We had a Singer donated, but it's in rough shape. One of the Brothers is pretty clunky too. The Friends are going to pay for two machines to be refurbished, so I'll probably start with these two. I'm thinking about doing book-a-librarian for sewing...
• 10-19-18
• Attendance: 10
• Notes: After saying I wouldn't do this again without a helper, I... totally did. We had a teen after hours scheduled tonight and I overbooked. Luckily, although I was kept busy threading machines and helping, there were only two kids who hadn't used a sewing machine before. My adult attendee very kindly helped me clean up afterwards too! I will have two helpers for the next two sessions in November, hopefully by then I will have fixed whatever is wrong with one of the machines so we'll be back to our full complement of 6.