Sewing Monster Tutorial

So I said I would post every day!! Here is a great idea for keeping kids occupied while you sew.

This all started this morning when my absolutely delightful, gorgeous, enthusiastic, helpful, frustrating, sticky beaking three year old desperately wanted to help me sew. He loves pressing the buttons and helping to feed fabric through the machine. This morning I was working on a custom order so he couldn’t help. In the past I’ve given him my pincushion and scraps of fabric and he loves pinning them together. This does mean finding suitable scraps etc etc. Today we decided to make a monster.

It’s filled with fabric scraps and made out of an old sheet. A lovely big ol’ squishy monster head!

You will need:

Fabric (use what ever you have but make sure it can be pinned easily. I used an old bed sheet. Plain colours will make the pinned face stand out more too)

Sewing machine and thread (Could be done by hand of course)

Poly filler/fabric scraps (I used scraps and have been buying cheap pillows and using them as it’s often cheaper than the proper stuff)

Scraps of fabric and pins

How to make a giant monster pin cushion (AKA The Occupier…)

1. Find a small child who wants to help.

2. Get some fabric. I used an old bed sheet. Fold it and get said child to draw the monster’s head. (As you can see I had to adjust the head as he went over the edge!)

3. Stitch the two pieces together, leaving a space for turning and filling. My helper ‘helped’ so this was pretty rough!

4. inside out ready to fill. Top stitch around most of the head now. I didn’t and it was tricky to do when filled.

5. Fill. We used fabric scraps. As you can see from the pic I save everything and have bucket loads (that is my foot in the stripy sock for size comparison!

6. Stitch up opening.

7. Cut up a range of fabric scraps in different shapes and sizes. Give these to said child with a pincushion full of pins and let said child go to town (so to speak!) I have the rule that the pin is either in the cushion, his hand or the monster. This does help to avoid loose pins. I am also using pretty cheap pins with big balls on the end – easier to grab and manipulate (and the colored ones are easier to find! Especially when the cat pulls them out of the pin cushion.

Now whenever I’m sewing and I get ‘Mummy can I help pin?’ I can whip this out (I put the fabric scraps in a zip lock bag) and say ‘Of course my darling. Here you go…)

PS it is also important to have the correct supervision for these sort of projects…

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