Learning to Sew

I find so much joy in creating things for my family that I want to pass that love onto my children. Sewing is one of the skills that I think is so important to learn. Even boys can benefit from having some knowledge of sewing. Coming up with doable first projects can be difficult. My mom made a boa scarf for all of the girl grandchildren one year for Christmas It would be a perfect first project because it is really flexible and forgiving.

To make a boa scarf:

• Measure the child that is going to wear the scarf. The scarf should reach to the wrist so measure from one wrist around the back of the neck to the other wrist. (or just measure to the back of the neck and double the measurement ☺) For Princess H. the measurement was 45". This measurement will be your length.
  
• Decide the width of the scarf. We made Princess H's scarf 9"wide. That turned out to be plenty wide it would have been better to have it 6-7" wide. For a toddler like Pumpkin, I would guess 4-5" wide would be plenty.
• Cut three fleece rectangles using your length measurement and your width. (in our case it was 45" long x 9 " wide ) You can use three different colors and that is very cute (school colors maybe???) or just use one color which is what we did because that's what we had.

• Stack up the three fleece rectangles and pin the outer edges to help hold it all together and mark the center line going down the length of your scarf.

• Depending on the age of the child learning how to sew decide how much help to give. A. is 9 and had no problem sewing all by himself. Princess H. needed some help, but that might have been partly because we used our treadle machine so I helped her. Sew straight down the line you drew in the middle backstitching at the beginning and end to secure the stitching.

• Stitch again approx 1/4" on each side of the stitching already done so you have three rows of stitching altogether.

• Cut from the edge of the fleece through all three layers toward the stitching lines down the length of the scarf on both sides to make a fringe. We made cuts about 1" apart, but you don't have to measure. Don't cut through the stitching. I had to do the cutting because three layers of fleece can be a bit much for a child. 1" cuts made a chunky looking scarf. If you want the scarf to look more finely textured make the intervals between cuts smaller.

• After you have cut the fringe on both sides hold up one end and shake so the it gets nice and fluffy.

There you have it! If you have any questions about this project feel free to ask. Have fun sewing!