Sew a Monster Friend – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere
Sewing is a useful skill to have, for both boys and girls
alike. A great way to start learning about sewing is to make something with
felt. Felt is very forgiving, inexpensive, comes in lots of fun bright colors,
and you don’t need to worry about raw edges. If you just need a good rainy day
activity, and are not quite ready for sewing lessons, this can even be done
with Tacky glue instead of stitching.
Monsters are fun to make because if they turn out looking a
little strange, or goofy – well, that what monsters are supposed to look like!
Start by having your child make a simple drawing of what
they might like their monster to look like. Emphasize for them to keep it
simple. While thirty eyes and twenty arms might look cool, actually trying to
cut out and sew them may not work so well, you could suggest maybe five eyes
would be enough.
Next, you can let your child pick out a few colors of felt
to use. Again, try to help them keep it simple.
Using their drawing as a guide, cut out the shapes you’ll
need to make the monster. You, as the grown-up will have to make the call if
this is a step your child can do on their own or one you’ll do for them. Any
parts that you want to stuff, make sure to cut out both a front and a back for,
this would include at least the body.
Simple chain stitches can attach any embellishments to the
body of the monster. If thin parts like arms or antenna are needed, I would
just keep those as a single layer of felt, and sew them into the seam between
the two body layers.
Sew around the outside either with a chain stitch or a whip
or blanket stitch, making sure to leave an opening for stuffing. After the
monster is stuffed to your satisfaction, go ahead and sew the stuffing hole
closed.
As an extra little sewing lesson, I like to have the kids
use buttons for eyes. It’s always useful to know how to sew buttons on! If you
want to make a no-sew monster, just use Tacky glue (it works much better than
Elmers on felt) to glue on the decorations, and a line of glue around the edge
for the seam. You’ll want to let the body seam dry before stuffing so it doesn’t
pull apart once you start to add the stuffing, then just close the stuffing
hole with a line of glue as well.
Ta Da! A little monster friend!
