My sister (Karen Terrens) is a professional long-arm machine quilter and makes show winning quilts. (I hope to show you a quilt she has entered in the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Show later this week!). We have also encouraged our own children to make quilts.
Way back in January 2005 (Summer Holidays) my sister and I ran an informal one-day quilt making workshop for our children. We planned a simple quilt for them to machine piece. We had three children(two boys, one girl), two sewing machines, and a whole lot of concentration.
My sister and I did all the rotary cutting and the pinning, however, each child chose their own fabrics, prepared their own layout of blocks and completed all of their own sewing.
January 2005
The day ended with a completed quilt top made by each child. These quilt tops were subsequently machine quilted by my sister. They are much loved quilts, and I am sure one day they will look back upon these pictures fondly. (Apparently it isn't all that cool for teenagers to sew - permission to post these photos required some negotiation!)
I hope my future kids want to sew too :) My mum is terrible at any kind of craft and always tells me she's thankful I never took after her haha!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! I come from a family of non-crafters but hope to change that with my kids. I have a quilt waiting to get quilted by a long arm quilting, I must get your sister in laws details!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter (3,5 years) loves to watch me sewing... I hope she will be "contaminated";)))
ReplyDeleteSounds like they had a great time and should be very proud of their fabulous efforts! They really look great. Our girls learned to sew these holidays too and love it. I must be a bit mean though because they only made doll sized ones!
ReplyDeleteMy son was very keen when younger & made a quilt - but as a teenager it's no longer cool!
ReplyDeletegreat to see the young ones stitching, I see you use a lot of linen in your quilts, is it the same weight as the cotton?
ReplyDeleteI am asking as I have very old linen (antique) from germany, not very wide but many meters and would like to try and use it, love the look of your quilts.
cheers
Christine
How fun to have family members in on the act! I learned to sew on my mom's heavy old Singer. She wasn't a quilter, but I always liked to sew. Now my toddlers walk into the guest room and say "Mommy sew? Mommy makin-a big quilt!" I hope they still find it so intriguing when they're old enough to learn to use the machine! :-)
ReplyDeleteLiz @ teeny tiny quilts
The quilts are wonderful!!! Well done! It is great to share your passion with the next generation. Here in Pennsylvania, kids want to learn how to quilt; even the city kids are crazy for whatever fabric our guild can donate to them. Hope your teen outgrows that! Thanks for the inspiration this ho-hum Monday!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great craft to teach your kids! I hope to do the same someday ;-) And even the boys! Good for them!
ReplyDeleteHow lucky you are to be surrounded by such a crafty family. I have one aunt who lives far away that is a beautiful sewer/quilter, we often say we wished we lived closer so we could sew together.
ReplyDeleteGreat day you had with the kids. Great memory and quilt they will treasure for years to come :o)
I love to see young ones learning to sew. What fantastic jobs they did, and very creative block arrangements too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I have done work with foster children and this would be a great idea to do.
ReplyDeletehow sweet!! some girl scout troops have classes @ the shop i work at and i just love to see young people learning how to sew!
ReplyDeleteHow very FUN!!! They look great. I have had my younger son help design things on quilts I've made for him. It's very fun!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of fun! I was able to get my son to help with some cutting an pressing with one quilt. He actually liked it. These quilts look great! They did a wonderful job.
ReplyDeleteDo the different layouts reflect their personalities? Random, symmetrical?
ReplyDeleteGreat job mom/auntie.
it is fun when they share your same interests...my daughter has made some quilts and loves to arrange my blocks for me...it saves me agonizing over where to put them
ReplyDeleteI love that you do this with family. Families are like quilts, afterall!
ReplyDeleteCar Seat Blanket
It is Sew fabulous to see the next generation of quilters getting started on this lifelong appreciation of this art form. Way to go guys and gal!
ReplyDeleteTerrific! I love to see both boys and girls working hard at the sewing machine.
ReplyDeleteYAY!!!
ReplyDeleteI love to see the next generation of quilters coming through.
Hooray for boys sewing.
Hooray for teenagers sewing.
You and your sister are ace.
When my kids are a bit older (they're 3 and 5 currently) I hope to do a similar thing with them.
Andi :-)
That is so cool that you took the time to teach the kids. They should start a trend of making it cool for teens to sew! My daughter took lessons years ago for a bit and has made a few things. My son was interested but said it was the scariest thing he has ever done!! This boy rides snowmobiles, snowboards off of cliffs, camps in ice caves, and flies thru the air on a wakeboard and he thinks sewing is scary. Go figure. I just tell him I am a thrill seeker. :D
ReplyDeleteWow! thats great! I've been asking my niece if she would like to learn but when it comes time, she would rather be outside scraping her knees! maybe in her 20s! I love this; kids sewing!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! My kids don't really care about sewing but my 20 yr old son will hand sew on a patch or hand stitch a side seam in his skinny jeans to make them skinnier on the bottom and when he comes home he'll ask me to sew over those seams with my machine...guess I should get him a little sewing machine of his own!:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope my girls will take up sewing as well
I love your pic and the quilts! My 15 year old son will sew, but he needs to pretend he is driving a rally car ... kids
ReplyDeleteVery sweet! Even though it isn't cool now, I'll bet that's a fond memory for all of them. Maybe they'll be interested when they're grown.
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