In the afternoon, I've been leading an "Advanced Sewing School" for tweens (kids going into 4th grade - 8th grade). Man, after teaching kindergarten all year, these girls are a whole different breed - what a change! They are cracking me up and the creativity is unbelievable! Above they are showing off their machine sewn tote bags.
The big excitement in this camp is sewing machines! They are in love with using machines independently. Most kids have their own machine from home and I have several for them to use as well. 
This week, I have learned a lot about using machines with kids and will share more soon. As we all know, using a machine is not always fun...there is a lot of frustration involved. One girl called the seam ripper, "My new best friend."
Above are the zippy pouches! I love them and so do the campers - they tore through 30 zippers in a flash. The zippers are handsewn in, and then they could chose to hand or machine sew the rest of the pouch.
Skirts were a must - I love the lace at the bottom of this one. We used the "My Very Own Skirt" pattern in the upcoming Sewing School book.
The tote bag is another pattern from the book, but machine sewn. It was easy and fun.I also used the tote bag as a chance to talk to the girls about hemming. Each day I had a "lesson" about something, we did a project together, and then they sewed what they wished. The flow worked well. Can't believe the week is almost done!
It looks like sewing school is going really well. You do such great things with the kids. I love the zipper pouches. I think my kids would love to make some of those. I am also excited to hear more about using machines with kids. We have been toying with the idea of getting Emily a sewing machine for Christmas or her next birthday. I know she would love it.
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