Spend some quality time creating together
During these days when we’re staying at home and adjusting to the current social distancing situation, many parents are finding themselves looking for good ways to keep their kids occupied with healthy activities. While homeschooling is certainly important while schools remain closed, there’s only so much time in the day that schoolwork can take up! And, we of course want to look for other options besides TV, time spent online, gaming, etc.
As with other aspects of our current situation, like the opportunity to build self-care into your daily routine or to get to those great books you’ve been meaning to, it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with your kids by exposing them to a new skill. You can share time being creative on the sewing machine and teach them something new!
And, of course, as we all know – whatever you do with kids needs to be a fun project to inspire some interest. It also needs to be easy, not too frustrating, and even better – something they can incorporate into their daily playtime and routines. I’ve picked five fun and easy projects to sew with your kids that come with free information and instructions. You’ll have so much fun exploring these together, and will end up with a sweet and wonderful reminder of the experience.
Library Book Bag
First, we have a pattern for a library book bag. Everyone needs bags like these, and they can be used for anything – sports equipment, shoes, pajamas for sleepovers… Pick a fun comic fabric or anything playful and easily create this bag in one afternoon.
Sew this fun book bag with your kids using a free pattern featured on the Zen Chic blog. Picture by crazylittleprojects
Sleeping Bags for Stuffed Animals
Next, we have these adorable sleeping bags for stuffed animals. These are so fun! This project would be great for younger kids, and they’ll love making these little sleeping bags with your help. Later, they can play with their stuffed animals and puppets and put them to bed in their little handmade sleep sacks.
These adorable sleeping bags for stuffed animals featured on the Zen Chic blog are a perfect project for younger kids.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXANDRA GRABLEWSKI
Monster Pillow
This monster pillow is so cute and easy to make. It’s sewn using felt, so you can cut the fabric without any fraying and can create little extra details like the eyes and teeth. There’s also a pocket in the front where you can leave a little extra pocket money for your teenager – if they help out with the chores of course! It’s also a fun spot for a sweet note, your child’s favorite trinket or even a great place for the tooth fairy to find those precious lost teeth and leave a little something.
This monster pillow made with a free pattern featured on the Zen Chic blog is easy to make and makes a fun place for keepsakes, notes and a little extra spending money. Picture by thelongthread
Stuffed Toy Snake
This stuffed toy snake is so cute – I can just imagine children wrapping it around themselves in a playful way, throwing it, and having all kinds of fun playtime. It’s made from soft fleece and it will definitely inspire your kids to cuddle with it.
These fun and soft toy snakes made with a free pattern featured on the Zen Chic blog will inspire all kinds of fun playtime. Picture by Make-it-Love-it
Inspire your kids with five fun and easy sewing projects featured on the Zen Chic blog.
Your Child’s First Quilt
Last but not least you can teach your kids how to sew their first quilt! The other day, I saw an Instagram post saying “thank you for teaching me how to make a quilt!” The handwriting reminded me of a child around 6-years-old, and I was moved regarding what a wonderful opportunity this would be. It would be a perfect project for kids 6 and up, including and especially teenagers.
It would be so sweet to sew a quilt with your mother, aunt or grandmother and then use it to cuddle under together. I found a pattern that is very easy to sew because it has no matching points where you’d need to be very accurate or exact. It’s a perfect “first quilt” pattern – and it’s free! It’s the IN COLOR pattern and you can download it by clicking the button below.
The pattern simply calls for larger rectangles pieced together. Part of the fun of this project would be letting your kids pick their favorite colors for the quilt. You could then show them how to efficiently cut layers of fabric with one cut, creating multiple pieces in just a few minutes, and do the cutting together.
Next, you’d stitch the straight lines without any pressure whatsoever to be too accurate and in the end, perhaps after a weekend, you’d have a beautiful beginner quilt top.
You could then do a little bit of quilting with your domestic sewing machine, help out with some binding and there you have it – a unique and special experience with a wonderful outcome and memories with your child that will last a lifetime.
This free beginner quilt pattern featured by Zen Chic is a perfect project to do with your kids. This is an example using a pattern by Denyse Schmidt.