Lillian Sews: Basic Skirt

I think I mentioned that Lillian asked for a sewing machine for her 5th birthday.  Well, she asked and she received.  We got her the Brother CS6000i from Amazon and so far it’s a fantastic machine for her!  I will write up a little machine review like I did for mine, but for now I just want to talk about the basic skirt that she made.

We used the standard method of creating the skirt, but I did serge some of the edges with her on my lap so that it was a little quicker than ironing the hem and elastic waistband.  Since she is only 6, I did all of the cutting with my rotary cutter and ironing, because I’m just not comfortable with her doing them yet.  Maybe in a few years I’ll feel comfortable having her cut and iron, but just not yet.

I let her pick out the fabric from my stash and she chose this flowery fabric.  I think it’s perfect for a skirt and am pretty sure that I planned on making a skirt out of it when I bought it!  I guess we think alike.  I then took her measurements and cut out the fabric.  We then got started.

I showed her how to thread her machine, including how to wind the bobbin.  We then used wonder clips (her favorite thing) to keep the fabric from shifting while she was sewing.  I usually just line up the edges and try to make sure they stay straight, but thought it would be easier for her using the clips.

I then instructed her on where to line up the edge of the fabric on the machine.  Prior to this skirt, she did do some practice sewing on paper and scrap fabric, as well as make a tote bag, which I will probably show you later.  I was next to her the whole time watching her sew, but she did all of the work.  I was super impressed with how straight she was able to sew.  I gave her pointers along the way on how to keep the fabric straight and lined up.

A feature of her machine that I love is the speed control.  It was nice to have it set on the lowest speed so that even if she pushed too hard on the foot pedal, I knew that the machine wouldn’t go any faster than that setting.  It is a very slow pace, but I think it was a great speed for a child learning to sew.

I think she did a fantastic job making her very first skirt.  She did get distracted easily, but that doesn’t surprise me.  I hope she learns to love to sew even if it’s years down the road.  She always tells others that her mommy made her shirt, skirt, whatever she is wearing that I made, so I hope she can feel even better when she tells someone that she made it!

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop and Amazon so I get compensated for any orders placed through the links in this post.