Linnaea has been begging me to teach her to sew for a while now. I’ve had her climb onto my lap and help hold fabric while I sew things, but that just wasn’t cutting it anymore. She wanted to sew on her own.
Of course, I couldn’t imagine letting her sit on my machine and sew away, so I started looking for kids sewing machines. I found a cute little toy machine for just $20 and thought I’d struck gold! She was so excited when I brought it home. The excitement ended quickly when we discovered that it was impossible to thread, barely held fabric together, and was so loud that she couldn’t hear me instruct her as she went.
Back to square one. Sitting on Mom’s lap, “sewing.” While out thrifting with my Mother-in-law (one of our favorite things to do!), we stumbled upon a little machine meant for mending clothes. Great! A simple machine, perfect for a kid! And just $10! I rushed home to show Linnaea what we’d found…. And then struggled with the thing for several hours trying to convince it to sew something, ANYTHING. No go. UGH!
With Linnaea’s birthday coming up, we decided it was finally time to just commit and get her the real deal. Find her a real machine that she could actually learn on. And that’s when we found THIS beauty! The Janome was everything I’d been searching for. Just the right size, a guard so her little fingers don’t get hurt by the needle, and simple to use. Most importantly, it works!! And, you can’t go wrong with the fun colors!
As soon as she opened her present, she was ready to get started! And it didn’t take us long to get sewing. We’ve started following along with a little series on The Mouse House blog called “Little Stitchers,” which begins with teaching kids how to sew straight lines and progresses into easy projects that they can complete with the help or mom or dad!
My girl is a natural. It makes my heart happy to see her enjoying something that I am passionate about. What a fun hobby we can share together ❤
What did I learn in this journey? Skip the toy machines, and the “as seen on tv” machines. Go straight for the real deal. You’ll waste your time and money messing around with machines that will only frustrate you in the end. The Janome was the perfect find for us, but here’s a list of a few other recommended starter machines if you’re looking for something a little different!
Super Stay At Home Mommy! 