Whew! With my son's wedding and Sewing Expo behind me I finally have time to get back to my blog. I hope to keep up with it a bit more regularly and offer lots of fun sewing ideas. I'll share some wedding pictures in the next few days so check back!

For today, I thought I'd share another sewing project I did with my grandaughter, Grace. We decided to make a potholder!

First, Grace went through my fabric stash and found some she liked. Naturally, she chose a cheery yellow! She cuts paper well, but even 7" scissors are a bit much for her to handle so I did the cutting. Grace lined up, pinned, sewed and clipped corners and turned. Just because your child may be too young to handle an entire project don't dismiss it altogether. Let them do what they can while you do the rest. They'll still gain many skills in the process.

I trimmed away extra padding from the seam allowance. I also pressed the opening closed and held it for her while she hand whip stitched it closed.

She drew lines on with wash-out marker, and quilt stitched all layers together with the sewing machine. She has gotten very good at turning corners and backstitching. Not bad for a four year old!!

As you can see, she is very pleased with her creation! What a joy to be able to instill a love of sewing at such a young age!

A note from me:  I usually cut my potholders 9"square.   I like large potholders.   I quilt all the layers and  use a quilt binding.  For younger students, just stitch all layers, fabric right sides together, and turn like a pillowcase, then quilt it after turning right side out.

For kids projects, I have them use 2 or 3 layers of Warm and Natural cotton batting.  When I make potholders I  have found the following to work well:  old terrycloth towels, old blankets, old cotton quilted mattress pads. (Frugality and recycling at the same time!) Keep this in mind if you have a daughter interested in putting together some nice, inexpensive Christmas or birthday gifts!

The blue washout marking pen is best to use for marking light colored fabrics.  I use a sliver of soap to mark lines on darker fabrics.  Both come off easily with a damp cloth.

If you have a project to share that you've done with a young seamstress I'd love to hear about it (and see it!) Happy Sewing!