The Children Rock It!

I had the BEST time ever teaching kids on Monday at Creative House.  It was the first time I had taught children how to free motion stitch.  I was nervous.  I mean really...  This could be a disaster.  Needles would smash, machines would get jammed... imagine the chaos!  It's challenging enough helping seasoned adult sewists to learn how to free motion sew. 

Boy was I wrong.  

Boy did I underestimate them.  

Speaking of 'boys' I had three boys signed up for "Doodle with your Sewing Machine".  They were all being pulled from school to come to this Monday morning class that I had expected homeschoolers to snap up.  In the end, one boy couldn't come so his sister took his place.  The kids ranged in age from 9 to 12.

My expectations: It will take an hour or more to talk, show examples, guide them through converting the machines to free motion sewing, and do a demo for them before they can began stitching.

In reality: it took them 5 minutes to learn to convert their machines.  They spent the next hour and a half sewing and sewing and sewing some really cool pictures.  NO ONE BROKE A SINGLE NEEDLE.  No machine jammed.  No one had tension issues.  I did no instruction beforehand about coordinating speed of foot & hands... they just went right to it!  It blew my mind.  I went around and gave them tips as they sewed, adjusted some speed settings, and taught them how to pull up the bobbin thread & snip tails.  They were fearless.  It was awesome.

he jumped right in... endless ideas and no fear

I asked them, "do you know how long it takes for adults to get to this point!?  You took five minutes."  One boy shrugged and replied, "Ah... it's evolution."  Well then.  Maybe the little dude has a point.

whipped through pages - they didn't want to stop sewing : )

I showed them some Youtube videos of  'P. Nosa Sewing', which they loved very much.  He's a free motion doodle artist who tours and has a solar powered sewing machine that is also hooked up to a bicycle for power on cloudy days.  You should google that.

the snowman and his train of thought : )

The biggest difference I saw between adults and children was SO clear.  When the kids had trouble, they would stop and say, "what did I forget to do?" or "what did I do wrong?".  Then they would repair the situation, and restart.  When grownups hit a snag, they tend to throw their hands in the air and say, "something is wrong with this machine!"  : )  I think we could learn a lot from the children.

THANKS KIDS!  YOU ROCKED IT.