A few months ago, Finn (who will be 10 in 2 weeks) expressed interest in sewing something himself. Not wanting to squelch his creativity, I bought him a pattern (Simplicity 3553) and allowed him to pick out fabric to make his own pajama pants. He found a royal blue tie-dye fleece that he loved and I went with that since it would mean we wouldn't have to worry about finishing any seams. I had him read the instructions and take his measurements, and the pants got cut a few weeks before Christmas. And then they sat in my sewing room for a month.
Fast forward to this week when our local Chik Fil A was having a pajama party night and kids wearing pajamas got a free kids meal. Finn didn't want to wear any of his store-bought pajamas (too embarrassing), so I encouraged him to sew the pants he had started on last month. I got out my old/back up machine and gave him a brief tutorial on how to stitch forward and reverse and keep your seam allowance correct and let him go. It was nerve wracking (would he sew through his finger? would the seam allowance be even?) but I realized that this was HIS project and I needed to let him experience the success and failures that come with sewing. Yes, the seams got a little wobbly at times and he did poke himself with pins frequently, but in the end he had a great fuzzy pair of pants that he was proud to have made himself.
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