Handicraft Skills For Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers Easy
Teaching handicraft skills for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers is so hard and useless! Right? Wrong!
Did you ever exclaim as a kid with great exasperation, “When will I ever need geometry in the real world?”
I won’t argue the question of which traditional school subject will be useful, but I am here to say that handicrafts are by definition, useful!
So why have you not added them into your homeschooling?
“I simply don’t have the time to learn, plan and teach handicrafts! If I can just have tutorials there when I need them, then I would add them in!”
I have waved my magic wand and poof! There are a slew of tutorials waiting your pleasure!
(Click here for free embroidery lessons! Continue for hand sewing lessons. I also have some embroidery patterns at my Etsy shop)
Today we start with the basics. We will learn to:
- Thread
- Knot
- And learn the basic hand sewing stitch there is, the running stitch
- A quick tip on how to include kids younger than 8 in this lesson
Examples Of The Usefulness Of The Running Stitch
Last month, my 7 year old defeated the dragon in the annual St Michaelmas festival. He made a sword and a golden cape. Not only did he defeat the dragon, but he proudly showed me his cape that he made, with his own needle, and with his own hands!
The golden cape was made using all the skills your child can learn in this blog post. Pretty cool uh?
Just yesterday, my husband came back from Costco with all 6 children exhausted because finding the right sized fire man costume proved to be more difficult that defeating the dragon! The problem was that my Oliver, the fire man hopeful, was either to small or to big for all the fire man costumes that were left.
Such hardships no 5 year has ever had before, until big sister, age 14, came and saved the day by saying she would temporarily alter the length of the pant legs. How did she do this amazing feat? By using the running stitch to shorten the pant legs!
Rejoicing was heard throughout the house, and Oliver was happy once more.
How To Easily Buy Supplies
“But, but, but, I can’t have my children follow this tutorial yet! I don’t know what materials I need or where to find them!”
If this is you do not worry for I got you covered! Click right here to pick up my free shopping guide and see all your worries fly away! In this guide you will learn:
- Learn what needle(s) you need for your different aged children
- Learn what fabric you need
- Learn about scissors and thread
- Where to find everything you need
- Photos to make everything clear and easy to understand
Read on so you can give handicraft skills to your children while be easy on you!
Handicraft skills for you Charlotte Mason homeschoolers is on the way!
Prepare Your Fabric
Cut your white fabric 10″ by 7″ inches. At the top left write, (I recommend using pencil) “Running Stitch”.
Underneath draw a line from one end to the other, leaving room at each end.
Now let’s thread and knot your needle!
How To Thread And Knot Your Needle
If you have your needle in your hand, pick it up. On one end you will find a hole, the other end you will find the pointy tip. The hole is called the “eye” of the needle. This eye is where the tip of your thread needs to go.
Measure your thread from the tip of your middle finger, down to your elbow. Cut your thread.
If the tip of your thread is fraying, making it difficult to put inside the eye, simply snip this off and try again.
Once threaded, pull thread through about 4-5 inches and still shorter than the other strand of thread.
If the eye of the needle is really small it can be hard to thread which is why I suggest the needle size that I do in my free shopping check list guide found here.
Once your needle is threaded it is time to knot. There are many ways to do this but today we will stick to just one method.
Grab the end of your thread, wrap it 3-5 times around your needle, pull down until you reach the end.
How To Sew The Running Stitch, A Great Handicraft Skill
You have learned how to thread the eye of your needle, your thread is knotted, and now you are ready to start stitching!
On a square piece of white cotton fabric, use a pencil or pen to write “Running Stitch” and a straight line under and across.
On the far right of the line, pull your needle from underneath and pull all the way through.
Now I want you to think of a stone skipping on the water. This is a good visual for the running stitch. A little ways away poke your needle down just a bit, and back up, and down, and up and down around 3-5 times, now pull all the way up. Can you see the “skipping rocks” on your fabric?
That’s it! Repeat until you come to the end.
Now we will learn how to knot the end.
Finish With A Knot
Just like with the starting knot, there are different ways to sew a finishing knot. This is the one I use most often and is simple to do.
Go in and out just once. Pull gently. Leave a small loop and pull your needle through this loop and finish pulling. Repeat once more. Push the needle down right next to the tip of the knot and pull all the way through. Cut the tip.
All done!
Quick Tip For Sibling 7 and Younger
Use burlap for younger siblings. When our children first learn to write they need to write in big letters. As they get older they learn how to make smaller and smaller letters.
It is the same with sewing. using burlap with it’s large wholes in the perfect way to get a young child used to sewing.
Learn about burlap and other supplies that are perfect for younger children in my free shopping guide.
To Sum Up
Surprisingly easy wasn’t it? This blog post was all about teaching your children how to:
- Thread a needle
- Knot
- Learn the running stitch
- And a tip for mom to include younger children in this lesson.
Now your children know how to make their own super easy cape, or how to temporarily fix, to long of pant legs, and so much more!
Handicraft skills for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers can be fun and simple. I hope you let me continue to help you on your journey!