My daughter is in Kindergarten. She brought home an
assignment around two weeks ago: "Make a butterfly with
your family. The butterfly should include factual things
about butterflies (e.g. 6 legs, antenae, etc). You should
work together to create it. Bring it to class in two weeks
and show us what you have made. Use any materials: paper,
pipe cleaners, the sky is the limit."
A while back we got my daughter a book, "Sewing School." It
is full of projects and lessons from first principles on
how to sew, mostly by hand (some of the later chapters do a
bit of an intro on using a sewing machine). She has already
made a small pillow (~10" diameter, round), a pin cushion
that looks like an apply, and a small stuffed animal. So,
we thought it might be fun to make a homemade stuffed
animal butterfly.
We had all of the supplies already, and did not need to go
to the store for anything. My wife created the pattern, with
my daughter, on paper. They cut out the wings together, and
my daughter whip stitched the first wing about 2/3 of the
way around. I finished it up. She stuffed it. I ended up
doing almost the whole second wing (her focus drifted and
then she got sick and just didn't feel well, but it was due
soon). We did the body together today, mostly with me sewing
and her cutting and stuffing. I sewed the wings on using a
backstitch so that they would be pretty solidly attached.
She picked out notions (ribbons and such) to use for the
legs and I attached them using regular thread (we had been
using a special kind of embroidery floss that doesn't split
that the book had recommended for children for the rest of
the butterfly). She added "gem stickers" for eyes, and we
used some pink felt for the antenae. Oh! The wings are on
some fabric my daughter picked out awhile ago: outer space.
Nebulae, stars, etc. Really pretty. The body is from an old
sheet we stopped using and cut up for fabric. It is a green
sort of color.
I think it came out really well! If it was a project I was
doing on my own I would have done the seams on the inside
and would not have used a whip stitch, but that--and the
running stitch--was the stitch she was most comfortable
with, and she liked having the color of the stitches on the
outside. I don't know how long it will hold up, but I am
pretty sure none of the other kids will have hand sewn a
stuffed butterfly (I am certain they will have also done
super cool stuff that fit what they do with their family).
I like that she, my daughter, is learning skills like this
at her age. I sure wasn't. Her focus is that of a 5/6 year
old, so she did not do the whole thing... but she made very
meaningful contributions to the design and construction. I
am really proud of her, and of what the three of us made
for this project.
