Top 5 Things I Learned from Teaching Kids to Sew

I started teaching 4th graders to sew last fall. I volunteer with Girls Inc. of Central Alabama and they gave me free rein to design an after-school program however I wanted. I was thrilled, so I immediately wrote up the first three lesson plans. It was clear within the first ten minutes of the first class that my lesson plans were totally wrong. Having worked at a pre-school for several years, I knew I had to adapt. From that point forward, I tried to let them direct our lessons. This is what I learned in the process.

1. I had planned to open with a lesson on how the same fabrics can be put together in many different ways. It was a simple lesson on design, but also creativity, tolerance, and individuality. In my mind, it was deep and important. Honestly, they could not have cared less! They wanted to immediately jump on the sewing machines and learn the mechanics. I ditched the introspection and walked them through the machine parts and the threading process at least 50 times in those first few weeks.

2. I was frustrated the first two weeks because I didn't feel like they were learning the basics. I kept saying the same things over and over. When I wasn't repeating myself, I was breaking up fights over fabrics. I worried that I wasn't doing a good job teaching them. I worried that they were going to get bored and chaos would break loose. Chaos with sewing scissors. Yikes. But then week 3 came along and all of the sudden they were sewing straight lines at a moderate pace. They were threading the machines themselves (sometimes even correctly!). They were reminding each other to put the right sides together and to lift the lever before pulling. Best of all, they were talking to me about the fabrics they loved and people they knew who quilted. It took some time, but it was like their awesome little brains were working through everything I had been trying to teach them, even when we were not together.

3. It was about that same time that I found out that they were talking about sewing club with other adults in their lives. Once the kids started talking about our lessons with others, they learned additional things about their family history with quilting, the history of quilting and the Underground Railroad, and cultural meanings behind particular patterns and designs. I had hoped that we would talk about these things at some point in the lessons, but was beyond delighted when they brought these topics up themselves. They shared stories and new insights with each other and let me glimpse into how they see the world.



4. My adult brain gets very caught up in designing quilts that look good. I think a lot about how the fabrics will come together and which layouts make the most of the fabrics I love. The kids do not design their quilts this way. They select fabrics based on how the colors and prints make them feel and then put them together however they happen to be found. They are so happy to see progress and don't worry so much about which piece looks better where. I was so inspired by them that I recently made a new quilt in the same style. It's great to be reminded of a younger, freer, more organic creative mind.

5. All in all, despite my worries and desire to plan out everything perfectly for the kids, they seem to enjoy our time together most when I just relax and let them go where the spirit takes them. Even if it means that they make a table full of "pockets" during some lessons. This week will be my final sewing club meeting for the 2018-2019 school year and I'm going to miss them more than I imagined I would. Their lives change quickly and I know some of them won't be back next year. Regardless, I hope they all find something to carry with them as they go.