How to Sew a Whip Stitch

A whip stitch is the first stitch I teach my students. It is an easy stitch to learn. And, it is useful.  

There is a rhyme I learned to help children remember how to make a whip stitch. It goes like this. 

Come up through the dot, pull all the way through.
Now, what is the next thing that you do?

Come up through the dot, pull all the way through.
Now, what is the next thing that you do?

Come up through the dot, pull all the way through.
Now, what is the next thing that you do?

And so on, repeating until the sewist remembers what to do.

 
When teaching small people to sew I cut felt into familiar shapes which they sew together and stuff. I draw dots around each perimeter to show the children where to sew each stitch. It’s like the old, pre-school sewing card idea. You can read about why I do this here.  

Now, let me explain the above verse. When the rhyme says, come up through the dot, it means poke a threaded needle through a pre-drawn dot from the back of the project toward the front.

Pull all the way through reminds children that they need to tug on the needle until the thread pulls tightly. They should check to see that there are no extra loops, twists or knots in the thread.

Using quality thread helps reduce the chance of twists and knots. I use a 30 weight crochet thread called Cebelia by DMC.

What is the next thing that you do? This alerts the sewist that the whip stitch process is about to start over again. She needs to whip the thread around the outside edge of the fabric in order to be able to be ready to do what the verse says next which is to poke the needle from the back of her project up through a dot again – the next dot in the line of dots.

Continue sewing stitches by directing the thread over the fabric's edge each time. It begins to look like this...
 

Each new stitch is made by coming up through the next new dot always from back to front.

This stitch is called a whip stitch. 

 

 

Happy sewing till next time!

Your Child’s Sewing Personality

Do you know the answers to these questions?

Is your sewist a Little Miss Perfectionist, or does she enjoy using the "good enough" method of sewing?

Does he get frustrated easily when things aren't working out, or is he able to understand and correct a mistake after you quietly talk about why it happened?

 

Does she like following specific directions, or does she like to invent her own rules?

Is he able to stay on task for a long periods of time, or does he learn in spurts?

What does she want to sew?

Why?

These questions have accumulated over my years working with kids and they are great ones to ask. Some things you can ask directly while others require your quiet observation. 

The answers will determine your role as a guide. The answers will help you know how to proceed with sewing lessons.

First, teach basic sewing safety and techniques until your youngster feels comfy with the tools and techniques (and you know she’s not going to hurt herself). Then, ask yourself the above mentioned questions to know how to proceed.

Expect her responses to change over time. 

Expect yourself as a guide to make a few blunders.   

Follow your child’s lead, and above all and have fun together! 

Till we meet again!

Sue

© Sue Frelick, August 2011

Making Softies Using Cookie Cutters for Templates!

Are you looking for inspiration for shapes for your child to stuff and sew? Why not check out the cookie cutter section at your favourite kitchen supply store? 

Really, there is just about every shape a child could want there; water animals, celestial shapes, zoo animals, seasonal, people shapes, pet shapes, farm animals and more. 

How to choose a shape for hand sewing

J Consider how adept your little one is at sewing.  Beginners can sew simple shapes with straight lines and gently rounded parts while more experienced children will be able to negotiate more intricate shapes.

 


J Consider size.  Sometimes a favourite silhouette may be difficult to sew if it’s small, but try a bigger version, and wow! he’s able to stitch circles around it!

J There is almost always a bump somewhere on the perimeter of the cookie cutter - either the seam on a stainless steel one, or a hanger on a plastic one.  Be mindful of that when you are tracing the shape.  Skip drawing over the bump and fill in later freehand, or fix it up when you cut it out.

 J Speaking of cutting – make sure the cookie cutter you choose is going to be easy to cut around. 

Here are the steps for anyone who isn’t familiar with cutting a cookie cutter shape from felt. 

1.   Pin 2 pieces of felt together.

2.   Trace cookie cutter onto felt with a fading fabric marker. I used a Sharpie marker for this in the past, but it left a line of marker around the shape's perimeter. Some kids didn’t like seeing a line on their finished piece.
 

3.   Make sure there is at least one pin completely inside the shape to hold the 2 pieces of felt together. When you are finished tracing your shape put the cookie cutter aside.

4. Decide if you want to cut inside or outside the line.  You’d be surprised; it will change the final size.  If there are intricate parts like the stem on a pumpkin it will matter.

5. Grab your felt cutting scissors and cut out the shape.  Try to keep the blades vertical. 

By that I mean, try not to let them slant when you cut because then the two pieces of felt won’t be the same size and they won’t fit together nicely...your sewing enthusiast will likely notice and not hesitate in pointing it out to you.  J

Good luck!

Till we meet again! 

Sue

© Sue Frelick, August 2011

Living 3 Feet Tall in a 6 Foot World

Think for a moment how it would feel to learn a new skill that required intense concentration while sitting at a table made for someone twice your size - in a chair twice your size! 

montessori school where children are given a choice where to work, on 
small furniture or the floor - whichever is most comfortable to each child

When very young children use adult furniture they often cannot get comfortable.  Their feet don’t reach the floor; their arms are propped up at uncomfortable angles.

a mom sets up a machine sewing space using child size furniture

In my experience they squirm and wiggle throughout even a 1 hour long sewing session trying to find a comfortable position for their arms and legs; they try kneeling on the chair or sitting on one folded leg while the other dangles, both positions can put little legs to sleep pretty quickly – not very conducive to a fun learning experience is it?

a children's painting space that could easily be made over for hand sewing

When all else fails many will end up standing at the table to work, or try to sew in their laps.  Think about making your child as comfortable as possible when you sew together.

Where does your child sew?

Till we meet again!

Sue

© Sue Frelick, August 2011

Scissor Sharpener

Here’s something important for adults to know. 

Felt dulls!

As lovely a fabric as it is for children to sew, it is hard on blades.  So, when cutting out felt shapes for your child’s sewing projects the scissors are going to need to be sharpened, and often if you sew a lot!   

I use a pair of medium priced, bent handled scissors that I reserve just for cutting felt, and I sharpen them using my handy dandy Fiskars® home sharpener.  It looks like this...

The blades of the scissors slide into the opening on the right, and then are closed and opened as if cutting something.  Do this a few times and dull scissors are ready to cut again! 

There are several home sharpeners on the market.  I tried one other a few years ago; the self-sharpening Wiltshire brand scissors.  They came with a sheath in which they were stored, and that was supposed to sharpen them with every use.  I didn’t find it easy to use at all so I threw the sheath away.  I still use the shears, but with the Fiskars® sharpener instead.  In all fairness, I expect that Wiltshire has improved on the design over the years.  I hope! 

What do you use to sharpen your scissors?

p.s.  What did you think of the owl tutorial from 2 days back?  Too much detail?  Not enough?  Anything unclear in the instructions?  I would like to hear your feedback so I can improve where it’s needed. 

Till we meet again!

Sue

© Sue Frelick, July 2011