How to Teach Kids to Sew
I’ve been teaching my 3 (now 4) and 5 year old to sew over the last year—threading needles, making simple “quilts” and doll clothes, and eventually moving from hand sewing to the sewing machine (for my 5-year old). In just a few months, what started as another activity to add to their afternoon quiet time rotation turned into a whole business for my daughter of making homemade rice heating bags to sell (she sold over 70 last winter!).
A lot of friends have asked me about teaching kids to sew, and truly, it has not been nearly as difficult as I would have thought! We started simple with real tools, slowly giving them more freedom. Sewing just a few afternoons a month has given them great skills and boosted their creativity.
My kids are not geniuses, just regular kids! They are by no means making complicated patterns by themselves (yet), but they’re building up their skills and doing a little more by themselves each month.
Here are the steps and tips that have helped me most in teaching my young children to hand sew and (eventually) use a sewing machine.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can view our full disclosure here.
6 Tips For How to Teach Kids to Sew
1. Start simple. A (real) large needle and some scraps can work wonders.
The best way I’ve found to teach my kids to sew is to give them sewing tools. A large needle, some thread, and a small scrap of fabric.
“Aren’t you scared??”
No, not really! Kids can handle more than we think. My kids have never poked themselves (enough to bleed) or gotten hurt with a needle, at least not so far!
Grab a set that has assorted needles (like this one) and start by giving them the thickest needle with the biggest eye.
We DO make the rules very clear to help keep them safe (see #3 below for our rules!).
I started my kids off by giving them a small scrap of fabric folded in half and let them just sew up the side. They loved it! My 4-year-old (boy) still loves to cut out different scraps of fabric, fold them, and sew around the edges to make a “handkerchief” (that’s what he calls it, at least!). Having a bag full of random fabrics keeps it interesting for him!
You can totally start with lacing cards and threading large beads if you want to, but honestly, my son has never really been into any of these things. Kids love to do the real thing!
When it comes to how to teach kids to sew by hand, I found that just giving them a (large) threaded needle and some fun fabric is really the way to do it. At least for young ones—they don’t need a lot of direction, just oversight. They’ll figure out how to have fun with it!
Teaching them to focus on a detailed craft has been a great addition to their afternoon quiet time routine. We don’t sew every day (since it takes more help from mom), but it’s always a treat to have a project list on queue and pull the sewing things out a few times per month.
(Some of their other favorite afternoon activities that don’t require help are crocheting, rubber band bracelets, Lincoln Logs, Picasso Tiles, Duplos, and coloring.)
2. Let them make something real. (And don’t stress if it isn’t perfect.)
While my four-year-old is content with lacing on scrap fabric pieces, my daughter (5) wants to create something real. She started out with hand sewing 4″x4″ blocks together to make a quilt for her doll.
Then, she cut a little dress for her bunny, sewed up the sides, and cut out slits for the neck and arms.
Are they perfect? Not at all! The edges will fray soon, and the quilt has no backing!
The goal here is to give them a love for making the project, not squash them because things aren’t quite lined up. 😉 As they grow, they will learn how to do the more intricate steps, but for now, they are loving sewing (and I’ve already seen them improve so much)!
After my daughter became pretty comfortable with hand sewing, she wanted to move on to the machine. She had already “helped” me make multiple easy baby blankets by doing things like trimming the loose threads, pinning, and turning right side out.
The next step was to explain to her how the machine works and have her press the pedal while I guided the fabric.
The first project I gave her to “own” was rice heating bags. They’re very simple and she was able to make a lot of them, which helped her solidify her skills. (As I mentioned above, she ended up selling over 70 of them for $5 each!).
Making a small project that we could make over and over worked really well because I was able to slowly transition from me doing most of it to her doing most of it! For the first few, she was basically just pinning, pressing the pedal (while I guided the fabric), and filling the bags with rice.
A dozen or so bags in, she was doing pretty much all of it (with me standing over her shoulder to make sure she was safe, and do quality control!)!
3. Make the rules clear.
This is so important! When we first started, I was watching every single move my kids made! Now, they can hand sew by themselves while I’m doing something across the room. But we only moved to this step when I was confident they could obey the rules.
Here are some rules that we implemented right away:
- Your needle goes into nothing except your fabric. Not your clothes, not the couch pillow, nothing!
- You’re not allowed to touch mommy’s scissors. I will help you cut when you need help. (Now, they often cut their own thread, but I’m right next to them.)
- You only get one needle and you can’t lose it. When afternoon quiet time is over, the babies will be up and crawling on the floor. We can’t have missing needles strewn about! I only give them ONE needle and it MUST come back to me.
- For machine sewing: Your finger goes nowhere near the needle, and you MUST be able to lift your foot immediately if I say “stop”.
My son needs reminders on these sometimes, but they have learned that if they want to sew, they must follow the rules.
4. Teach them to do as much as possible themselves. (But they don’t have to do it all!)
As I mentioned above, my daughter’s first exposure to sewing was when she was about 3 and started watching me make baby blankets.
Then she started helping me pin.
Understanding what the different tools were in the sewing kit.
Threading a needle.
Cutting the thread.
Tying a knot.
Cutting the fabric.
Start simple! One new skill per lesson is plenty (maybe even too much, sometimes!).
5. Ease into using a machine.
Thinking about how to teach kids to sew with a machine can be intimidating. Machine sewing does have more potential for injury, so I’d suggest not rushing into it if your child doesn’t have some level of understanding the potential danger. I have not yet started my 4-year-old son on the machine. 🙂
But, teaching my daughter was also not as scary as I thought! Start with a simple straight seam. A little doll blanket would be perfect – just sew up the four sides.
But before even getting them on the machine, take time to explain it! Show them how it’s threaded, how to go backwards, and what the main buttons and switches do (I’m thankful I have a pretty old and basic machine!).
Threading a bobbin on the machine is also a great first job for kids!
Then, practice having the child press the pedal while you guide the fabric. Practice telling them to “stop” or “go” or “go backward” and make sure they have good control and coordination.
Once they have good foot control, you can let them try to guide the fabric, making sure they know where their hands can go and where they can’t.
I let my daughter know that sewing through her finger would feel VERY bad!
Again, doing a small project over and over was a great way for her to learn. Homemade rice bags are super simple and only cost about $1 each in materials. Plus, they make great gifts. And people are very forgiving when it comes to potentially crooked stitches if they know it was made by a child!
6. Keep it novel.
My kids are stoked every time I pull the sewing supplies out during the babies’ nap time. We keep it exciting by:
- Only sewing a few times per month.
- Keeping a collection of different scrap fabrics.
- Keeping sewing sessions to about an hour or so at most.
- Keeping a list of easy projects to look forward to. Together, my daughter and I have made baby blankets, rice heating pads, hooded towels, a grocery bag holder, and a simple dress. On her own, she likes to hand sew things like small quilt tops and doll dresses and skirts.
Pin This Post for Later!
Our Favorite Easy Sewing Projects
My style is easy! Here are some of my favorite patterns that are quick, fun, and don’t have to be absolutely perfect. 🙂
