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For years people have commented to me, that their grandmother sewed, but now she is gone. No one in the family knows how to sew. They have her sewing machine, and a basement full of her left over fabric.

Why didn’t these matriarchs pass their sewing skills down to the next generation?

For generations these skills were passed down, as the older generation taught the young ones. With the industrial revolution, with women entering the workforce, they spent less time in the home learning to sew.

How to teach kids basic sewing skills

Looking for some unique ideas on how to incorporate sewing into your homeschool?

Download the Sewing Inspiration for the Homeschool

Truly the best place to start would be to learn to sew yourself. For everything there is a purpose. You have to know why you want to learn to sew in order to take the time to learn. Maybe it was your grandmother who sewed and you want to pass on the tradition. However, there is a bigger picture. It is highly unlikely that you or your children will sew their own wardrobe for life. Instead sewing skills can be most beneficial for repairing store-bought clothing or other textile items that you own. Learning these skills will save them money in the long run and help them reduce textile waste.

The best thing to do is to start small. (Just like anything else.)

A cute drawstring backpack like this one was the first project I tackled with my kids, My youngest was only abou 4 years old.I ended up doing most of the work, but just the early exposure to sewing was beneficial

3 Textiles Lessons Your Kids will love for your homeschool

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Teach on a computerized sewing machine

For younger children coodinating speed with the foot pedal is challenging. I have a Necchi sewing machine with a start/stop button. All of my kids have found this to be much easier to learn than a traditional foot pedal. This Janome on amazon is also a push to start machine which has great reviews!

Child Sewing Machines

Find a simple pattern

I find that starting with pajama pants is the simplest.

Recently I used the pajama pants pattern above for an 8 year old student and she did beautifully. When buying a pattern make sure that it is for cotton or flannel. Some pajama pants patterns call for knit fabrics, in my opinion I think it is better to start kids sewing withe fabric that doesn’t stretch as that adds an added layer of complication.

Another great pattern for tweens is this jump suit. My 10 year old daughter made it with some help. There are a few quirks. For example there could be more seam allowance where the elastic pocket it. But over all I would give it 4 stars.