Sewing 101

Each time Ben sees me sewing he begs me to teach him. So, when I saw a paper card sewn online, I decided it would be a good Valentine's Day project and beginners sewing lesson too.

I couldn't help but think of Tim the Tool man Taylor and his cry "more power!" on the old sitcom Home Improvement. Ben loved switching back and forth between a zigzag and straight stitch as well as changing the stitch length. Many times. On the same card.

At one point he forgot to lift the sewing machine foot off the material and I told him to "lift the foot" I didn't realize he was - lifting HIS foot. Oops. My fault. We had to stop and go over the names of the machine parts.

He was actually very careful and good with the machine. I, on the other hand, discovered that it was MUCH easier to watch from behind a camera. It kept me from taking over or correcting every mistake and from being so uptight about those little fingers being so close to that fast moving, sharp needle.

Here's a sampling of the cards. I've really got to learn to take better pictures.


These were a little too girly for his taste, but were some of my favorite. He was very particular about which fabric to use for each person.

This transformer card is a good example of his use of the different stitches and lengths. He really loved moving those knobs and back stitching!

He very excitedly told me "I love sewing! What if I got to do this for my job? That would be fun!" So, I had to look it up. A male seamstress is actually called a sartor, seamster, or tailor. So, there you have it. My little sartor. Happy Valentine's Day!