Photos from the sewing party this weekend. Six girls, ages 5-6. We worked on the tooth fairy pillow project and all sewers successfully completed their project (with help from me and super helper Nora, who learned to sew as a girl in her Waldorf school).
Each girl was given a sewing kit with their name on it. Inside they had the basics; needles, threads, pins, buttons, scissors, and measuring tape (all from a craft store). The girls selected their fabric from Purl Soho's handy precut packet of wool felt, and each choose a color of thread. Picking the colors was a big deal so provide a range of felt if you ever do this at home.
The girls followed a pre-cut wax paper template that I drew and outlined their fabric with tailors chalk. Perfection wasn't the aim but general accuracy with the given materials was encouraged. After the fabric was cut, the girls tried to cut a heart shape. Some girls wanted to use my heart template, others made their own. Once all fabric and the heart shapes were cut, we threaded needles and began to practice the up and down (running) stitch on scrap fabric.
Then they were ready to sew.

This young sewer couldn't stop and made another pillow all on her own, even though her friends ran outside to play. Very impressive!
Whenever I work with younger kids I am always so surprised at the staying power of a sewing project. We spent over 2 hours on the project. Yes, this age group needs supervision every step of the way but their comments and wonder at making something themselves is worth the work. So sweet!