My 4 Best Tips for Sewing With Kids

As you may know, I spent a few years teaching kids sewing camps and classes. In total, I had around 80 children come through my sewing studio and finish countless projects successfully, so it's about time I share some tips with you. If you want to help the kids in your life learn to sew, whether they’re your own children, or you want to start teaching sewing classes, these tips for sewing with kids are for you. I’ll recommend the best sewing machine for kids, tell you what other supplies you’ll need, plus I’ll help you learn to just chill and let them sew, ha!

And, if you’re a parent who does not yet know how to sew, but your kids want to learn, this post will set you up for success so you can start sewing right along with them! If this inspires you and you want even more on this topic, I have another post here with all the content I’ve written about sewing with kids, including lots of project ideas.

This post contains affiliate links, which mean that while I am not paid to promote certain items, I will earn a small commission should you purchase items through these links.  For more info, see my disclosure policy. 

Tips for Teaching Kids to Sew

I'm going to jump right in! 

Gather Quality Sewing Tools

I get asked very often by the mothers of my students and others for my recommendation on a beginner sewing machine. My advice is and has always been, DO NOT buy the cheapest machine of any brand. You will only be frustrated. If you've made this mistake and have had lots of problems, let me reassure you, it's not you, it's the machine.

That said, a good machine doesn't need to break the bank. This is the Brother machine I taught my sewing classes on. I had six of them and they were real champs. Here is more on why I like them and why I upgraded from the ones I used to teach on, but basically, they have a few features that I found invaluable when sewing with kids. One is the speed control and the other is that they won’t let you sew unless the presser foot is down! This feature helped me avoid lots of pausing to unclog sewing machines!

Your machine isn't the only tool you don't want to cheap out on. I know the little packaged sewing kits you can pick up for $10 are cheap and sometimes even cute, but you're not doing anyone any favors, as they tend to include the flimsiest of supplies. Here are the basic tools you should have and my recommendations on good ones: 

1. Scissors. I've used many kinds in my classes, but realized the kids were always scrambling for dibs on the regular orange Fiskers scissors. For some reason, they just don't dull or get out of whack like all my other brands did. So now I have six pair of the Fiskers and also the Fiskers sharpener. This eliminated our scissor woes. I also noticed that my younger students sometimes have trouble with cutting and ordered a pair of the Fiskars for small hands. That solved the issue for most littler ones! 

2. A good seam ripper! Unsewing is a necessary skill, so get a good sharp unsewer and replace it when it start to slack off on the job. 

3. Pins. You don't have to be too picky about these, I like quilting pins because they're longer, but any pins will do. Along these lines, Wonder Clips are wonderful to have on hand, although totally optional, because they are sometimes easier for kids to use and they don't get poked as often. 

4. Pin magnets. I use plenty of pin cushions on my classes, but have a pin magnet next to each machine and they're nice because they make it so easier to pick up the piles of pins left on the table and even on the floor! Plus, the kids just think they're fun. Avoid the industrial magnet bowls from the hardware store — they are too strong and can affect computerized sewing machines negatively.

5. Fabric! Ok, I know this is obvious, but what I want to say about it is that kids will take to sewing much more gleefully if you have some cool fabrics in trendy prints.  Think, cactus, llamas and unicorns! The hand-me-down quilting fabrics from the 80's or that box of polyester suiting you were "gifted" from a well-meaning person who found out you sew ... these won't go over quite as well. Let your kids pick out some fun prints, have lots of felt on hand, and see what they can do! 

6. Stuffing. When told they can sew whatever they want, kids will sew a pillow or a stuffed something 99.9% of the time. Ha! Have stuffing. I keep the big box of polyester fiber-fill on hand. I use a coupon from Hobby Lobby or get it at Wal-Mart (for some reason, it costs a ton more at JoAnn's). 

Don’t Teach Them Everything At Once

Others may have another method than me, obviously, but I don't teach the kids to thread the machines when they're brand new. I teach them to use the machine by stitching around lines drawn on a sheet of paper, learning to backstitch, stop and pivot, etc ... and then we get right down to our first projects. I have found that the older girls pick up the threading as they watch me thread and before long, they learn how to do it naturally. Choose projects that build skills incrementally and let them come up with their own ideas too. Before long, they'll start to understand more and more about construction. 

Try Not to Micromanage

Many moms have a tendency to hover, overcorrect and criticize when their kids are learning to sew. Please don't worry so much about "wasting supplies" or not having a perfect outcome. The reason I taught kids and not adults as much is because kids are always just so proud of what they've made! They don't see the flaws, they are just thrilled that they produced something. And when something's a total disaster, they're always willing to try it again, having just learned how not to do it. Relax, moms! ;) Keep your cool. Teaching children a skill like this requires a lot of patience and positivity. 

Provide Inspiration

This is the fun part. There are so many great projects out there that kids can attempt to make on their own, once they know the sewing basics. I know I've mentioned several of my favorite kids' sewing books in various posts, but a few of my favorites are Sewing for Children (perfect for brand new beginners, younger learners or hand sewers), and the We Love to Sew series. There's so much good stuff on YouTube too, including my channel, Pin, Cut, Sew, which I try to keep very beginner friendly! Pinterest is a well spring of ideas, of course. You can follow my "Kids Can Sew" board and find plenty of ideas. In class recently, we made hoop art (check out their creations in the photo below!) and had Pinterest open browsing for hoop art inspiration. So I even use Pinterest in my classes! 

If you want to read more on this topic, be sure and hop over to this post, where I compiled ALL the content I’ve written about sewing with kids. It includes a ton of project ideas, so you won’t want to miss that!

I hope this has helped some of you and given you courage to give sewing with children a try. I know there's a lot of logistics about what classes actually look like that you may have questions about, so I'd be happy to help answer those the best I can if you'll ask me! 

Cheers and Happy Sewing :)