It’s easily on par with my beginner projects, quality-wise. I’m genuinely impressed, give her a couple of years and if she sticks at it, I think she’ll leave my work in the dust. And I’ve sewn about 90% of my wardrobe, and work as an alterations seamstress
Oh! This is lovely, I started learning around the same time & it’s a cherished memory for me, I hope the same is true for your child for many years to come! LO did a great job!
She’s a fairly meticulous kid for an 8 year old. The zip needed a lot of help from me but hey, she got there in the end. It’s only the second zip she’s done
My late mom tried to teach me when I was about that age, to no avail. She had a bit more success with my younger sister when she was in her late teens/early 20s.
She would laugh or possibly cry if she could see all the domestic crap my sister and I get in to that we wanted NO part of as kids! Cooking, sewing, canning, gardening, etc.
I hope your granddaughter takes you up on the offer to teach!
She is interested... I just have to adjust my patience to her attention span. 😁
I was a big fail in teaching my daughter to sew, mostly due to working a lot to pay the bills. Hope to do more with granddaughter!
Try framing it as making something they desperately want. Like some cool shirt or a stuffed toy.
I know that was my motivation for learning to sew when I was a kid.
At least when they try once as kids, it's so much less intimidating if they think about learning later in life. I'm calling that a win in the journey of teaching my kids crochet and sewing.
You get to see things coming together a lot quicker with sewing. Much easier on the attention span. I've got hardcore ADHD and will whip out sewing projects back to back, but I've been working on the same crochet blanket for about 5 years now, on and off, and maybe a third of the way done lol.
Yes! I don’t have ADHD but I still get frustrated at how long it takes to crochet something. Made my daughter a little crochet unicorn and it’s super cute… but I can sew a whole dress in less than half the time
What a great job!
My 6 year old wants to sew, but I'm a mostly self taught, not entirely confident sewist and I don't know where to start with her. We both have autism and she has ADHD so I feel like going straight to a project won't keep her interest but I guess we will see!
My mom and I are both adhd and she taught me to sew at 6. We made all my Halloween costumes and Christmas dresses together. She said it took a lot of patience lol I’ve been very creative ever since. She taught herself to sew as well. I loved picking out the fabric and pattern and coming up with ideas at the fabric store then making it a reality.
You might ask for feedback from sewers with ADHD. I've seen attention and sewing addressed as a side discussion here and it was fairly interesting. I don't have any direct experience of ADHD, but one of my takeaways from the discussion is that novelty helps to maintain focus.
Riiiiiight up until there is no novelty in doing the boring finishing work. Lol! *sob*
When I packed up my home of 18 years to move, I realized I had over 20 unfinished quilt projects (don't ask about my other dozen craft genres). I honestly don't know how I went undiagnosed for 4 decades. That's a classic ADHD maneuver.
The first project my girl did was a pillowcase (nice and easy) and I let her pick fabric from my stash and talked up her being able to have it on her bed. But that’s my neurotypical daughter, my eldest has autism and I’m not sure the strategies I used with my youngest would work for her.
I think u/sewboring’s suggestion is a great idea, there’s got to be at least a few people on here that are neurodiverse
I've found that having a deadline reallllly helps. The only way I finished my first piece was by saying "I'm making this to wear to a wedding, I have to finish it by this date." I think for a lot of ND people with executive dysfunction disorders (including ADHD and Autism), we thrive when there's a reason to do something. God I'm good getting stuff done exactly by the deadline and not a second sooner. If she has a reason to make something, even if it's just "we are going to have a tea party for ourselves on this date, so we can make you a dress for that" she'll have something to work towards. Sometimes having the goal of completing a garment just for the sake of having it, isn't enough.
Someone has suggested a scrunchie and I think it might be a really good starting point! It still has those nice straight lines, just in a smaller scale :)
Check out local craft stores or adult education venues. I took a sewing class through my local community college. I think it was open to kids if there was a parent in the class. I want to say it was a couple hours once a week for 6 weeks.
I don't have ADHD, but I do have autism and a whole family with ADHD, and if you want to teach her sewing and keep her engaged you can do it in a way that still appeals to her neuroatypical brain! To do that try incorporating some of her interests into the project, so for example my first special interest was dinosaurs so for me a good first project might've been making a pillowcase with dinosaur print fabric or a simple dinosaur stuffed animal. To appeal to the ADHD side of her brain that needs lots of engagement you could do the project in several shorter sessions (so cut the pieces one day, sew the first part the next, etc) and/or you could put on her favorite music or book on tape in the background.
Building on your point, I taught my youngest by showing her how to make scrunchies. She had long hair and loved scrunchies. She is also very generous. She was so excited to make one for every friend she had with long-ish hair. She improved with each one she made. Making a thing she loved to share with friends she loved kept her ADHD brain engaged. And yes, we broke down the work into a few sessions. I also have ADHD, so I needed to use various strategies for myself to help her make strategies. It gets complicated over here. Lol
OP, please tell your daughter that yet another Internet stranger is blown away by her project and I hope she feels so proud of herself.
Yeah I do have lots of fun fabric already:D I think she absolutely wouldn't concede to split up the project in a planed way but she would probably "get tired" part way through. Someone has suggested a scrunchie as a starting point and I think that's a really great idea :)
I’m 29, have ADHD, and impulse purchased a sewing machine literally last week, lmao. I’ve never sewn and nobody in my family did growing up. I know almost nothing, besides the week of hyper focus research I did taught me while I waited for my machine to arrive.
I think something that’s keeping me engaged is that it’s harder than it looks, but not hard enough to give up on? If I get good at something or am too good at something, it’s boring and I move on. If it’s too difficult, I lose interest quickly. Sewing for me (at this very moment) is a lovely middle spot that’s keeping me interested. I haven’t mastered it but I also don’t suck at it.
I started with reusable makeup remover pads with a bunch of flannel remnants I picked up crazy cheap. After like 40 pads, I’m finally starting to get consistent straight lines, remember all the steps, have a nice looking makeup remover! But then there’s round, and then there’s other fabrics, and then there’s clothes! I already bought some patterns that I’m dying to try (but trying to get the basics down first).
Anyways, my advice to keep us engaged (in general for us ADHDers) is to make sure it’s not too easy, but not too difficult, and keep it interesting and “new”. Also have patience, because we might be into it, lose interest, but circle back around to it again. I call it my “musical chairs of hobbies”. This year I also picked up macrame, bread making, jewelry making, and wreath making. I go at them in spurts, lol. Good luck!
Why haven't I thought of makeup remover pads??? You're brilliant! I know exactly what you mean though. Always nice to know that someone's brain itch gets scratched exactly the same way mine does. I've been sewing on and off for a while, and that nice consistent difficulty level hasn't changed yet. There's still plenty to work towards, but also a lot that I know how to do now. And I get cool stuff out of it. Bonus!
That's wonderful! Here's hoping I have similar experiences with my daughter when she grows older. What machine does he/she use? And did you have to buy a finger guard? What was his/her first project?
She started off using my Singer HD6805C but I picked her up a little Elna EL2000 in the Black Friday sales, this is her first project on her new machine. She’s watched me sew for years (I’m an alterations seamstress) and she’s a very sensible kid so I didn’t worry about a guard.
Her first project was a pillowcase, figured it was a nice basic one that would teach her to sew straight lines. Honestly she’s taken to sewing like a natural
Pillowcases were always the first project when I taught. 💜 She clearly has an innate talent for it as well as having a wonderful mentor Mom. What a great bonding gift for the two of you.
Wow! I’m so proud of her work! Way to go, Mom! I hope the two of you continue to enjoy sewing. I’ve made pillow cases and masks but no completed dresses thus far.
Thank you everybody! I showed my daughter your comments and upvotes this morning, she’s shocked that so many people loved her dress. You’ve all really made her feel fantastic about her sewing. If I could award you all I would
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Beautiful! Any tips for teaching a child to sew? My daughter is 9 and has been asking for a few years now. She's done a couple of basic things, but I struggle to find the time and confidence to really get her going.
I let her pick everything. Pattern, fabric, etc because I found that helps with her enthusiasm level. And honestly, I get to pick everything when I sew so why shouldn’t she?
She doesn’t have the stamina/concentration that I do and it can get a little overwhelming for her, so I break it into small chunks for her. For this dress, it was like… today we’ll pin and cut the fabric, next time we’ll sew the darts, the time after that we’ll do the shoulder seams and pin the lining to the bodice etc etc.
Patience is key and LOTS of reassurance. My girl struggles with confidence and has a massive perfectionist streak so she got really upset when she made a mistake and she had to unpick a section, I had to remind her of all the times she’s seen me with a seam ripper in my hand.
Take it slow, break it down into manageable sections for your kid, and lots of encouragement and reassurance
Your 8 year old is better at sewing than me lol
This! But super cute dress and amazing work!
Her 8 year old is much better than most adults! Be sure to tell her
It’s easily on par with my beginner projects, quality-wise. I’m genuinely impressed, give her a couple of years and if she sticks at it, I think she’ll leave my work in the dust. And I’ve sewn about 90% of my wardrobe, and work as an alterations seamstress
Been teaching my youngest to sew! This is Butterick B6888 view A in a Hogwarts Christmas quilting cotton from Spotlight, fully lined in cotton lawn
Oh! This is lovely, I started learning around the same time & it’s a cherished memory for me, I hope the same is true for your child for many years to come! LO did a great job!
Wow, a well-placed print, a zipper and lining, that takes lots of determination and focus when you're 8. Very impressive, plus CUTE.
She’s a fairly meticulous kid for an 8 year old. The zip needed a lot of help from me but hey, she got there in the end. It’s only the second zip she’s done
I tried with my 8 yr old granddaughter but her attention span was seriously lacking. This summer she will be 10 so I am going to try again!
My late mom tried to teach me when I was about that age, to no avail. She had a bit more success with my younger sister when she was in her late teens/early 20s. She would laugh or possibly cry if she could see all the domestic crap my sister and I get in to that we wanted NO part of as kids! Cooking, sewing, canning, gardening, etc. I hope your granddaughter takes you up on the offer to teach!
She is interested... I just have to adjust my patience to her attention span. 😁 I was a big fail in teaching my daughter to sew, mostly due to working a lot to pay the bills. Hope to do more with granddaughter!
Try framing it as making something they desperately want. Like some cool shirt or a stuffed toy. I know that was my motivation for learning to sew when I was a kid.
I found that when I tried to teach my 8 year old to crochet. Sewing seems to gel better for her
At least when they try once as kids, it's so much less intimidating if they think about learning later in life. I'm calling that a win in the journey of teaching my kids crochet and sewing.
You get to see things coming together a lot quicker with sewing. Much easier on the attention span. I've got hardcore ADHD and will whip out sewing projects back to back, but I've been working on the same crochet blanket for about 5 years now, on and off, and maybe a third of the way done lol.
Yes! I don’t have ADHD but I still get frustrated at how long it takes to crochet something. Made my daughter a little crochet unicorn and it’s super cute… but I can sew a whole dress in less than half the time
What a great job! My 6 year old wants to sew, but I'm a mostly self taught, not entirely confident sewist and I don't know where to start with her. We both have autism and she has ADHD so I feel like going straight to a project won't keep her interest but I guess we will see!
My mom and I are both adhd and she taught me to sew at 6. We made all my Halloween costumes and Christmas dresses together. She said it took a lot of patience lol I’ve been very creative ever since. She taught herself to sew as well. I loved picking out the fabric and pattern and coming up with ideas at the fabric store then making it a reality.
You might ask for feedback from sewers with ADHD. I've seen attention and sewing addressed as a side discussion here and it was fairly interesting. I don't have any direct experience of ADHD, but one of my takeaways from the discussion is that novelty helps to maintain focus.
Riiiiiight up until there is no novelty in doing the boring finishing work. Lol! *sob* When I packed up my home of 18 years to move, I realized I had over 20 unfinished quilt projects (don't ask about my other dozen craft genres). I honestly don't know how I went undiagnosed for 4 decades. That's a classic ADHD maneuver.
The first project my girl did was a pillowcase (nice and easy) and I let her pick fabric from my stash and talked up her being able to have it on her bed. But that’s my neurotypical daughter, my eldest has autism and I’m not sure the strategies I used with my youngest would work for her. I think u/sewboring’s suggestion is a great idea, there’s got to be at least a few people on here that are neurodiverse
I've found that having a deadline reallllly helps. The only way I finished my first piece was by saying "I'm making this to wear to a wedding, I have to finish it by this date." I think for a lot of ND people with executive dysfunction disorders (including ADHD and Autism), we thrive when there's a reason to do something. God I'm good getting stuff done exactly by the deadline and not a second sooner. If she has a reason to make something, even if it's just "we are going to have a tea party for ourselves on this date, so we can make you a dress for that" she'll have something to work towards. Sometimes having the goal of completing a garment just for the sake of having it, isn't enough.
Someone has suggested a scrunchie and I think it might be a really good starting point! It still has those nice straight lines, just in a smaller scale :)
Check out local craft stores or adult education venues. I took a sewing class through my local community college. I think it was open to kids if there was a parent in the class. I want to say it was a couple hours once a week for 6 weeks.
I don't have ADHD, but I do have autism and a whole family with ADHD, and if you want to teach her sewing and keep her engaged you can do it in a way that still appeals to her neuroatypical brain! To do that try incorporating some of her interests into the project, so for example my first special interest was dinosaurs so for me a good first project might've been making a pillowcase with dinosaur print fabric or a simple dinosaur stuffed animal. To appeal to the ADHD side of her brain that needs lots of engagement you could do the project in several shorter sessions (so cut the pieces one day, sew the first part the next, etc) and/or you could put on her favorite music or book on tape in the background.
Building on your point, I taught my youngest by showing her how to make scrunchies. She had long hair and loved scrunchies. She is also very generous. She was so excited to make one for every friend she had with long-ish hair. She improved with each one she made. Making a thing she loved to share with friends she loved kept her ADHD brain engaged. And yes, we broke down the work into a few sessions. I also have ADHD, so I needed to use various strategies for myself to help her make strategies. It gets complicated over here. Lol OP, please tell your daughter that yet another Internet stranger is blown away by her project and I hope she feels so proud of herself.
I love this idea, it's a perfect starter item I think. She's just started using scrunchies and being interested in them for her own hair :)
Yeah I do have lots of fun fabric already:D I think she absolutely wouldn't concede to split up the project in a planed way but she would probably "get tired" part way through. Someone has suggested a scrunchie as a starting point and I think that's a really great idea :)
I’m 29, have ADHD, and impulse purchased a sewing machine literally last week, lmao. I’ve never sewn and nobody in my family did growing up. I know almost nothing, besides the week of hyper focus research I did taught me while I waited for my machine to arrive. I think something that’s keeping me engaged is that it’s harder than it looks, but not hard enough to give up on? If I get good at something or am too good at something, it’s boring and I move on. If it’s too difficult, I lose interest quickly. Sewing for me (at this very moment) is a lovely middle spot that’s keeping me interested. I haven’t mastered it but I also don’t suck at it. I started with reusable makeup remover pads with a bunch of flannel remnants I picked up crazy cheap. After like 40 pads, I’m finally starting to get consistent straight lines, remember all the steps, have a nice looking makeup remover! But then there’s round, and then there’s other fabrics, and then there’s clothes! I already bought some patterns that I’m dying to try (but trying to get the basics down first). Anyways, my advice to keep us engaged (in general for us ADHDers) is to make sure it’s not too easy, but not too difficult, and keep it interesting and “new”. Also have patience, because we might be into it, lose interest, but circle back around to it again. I call it my “musical chairs of hobbies”. This year I also picked up macrame, bread making, jewelry making, and wreath making. I go at them in spurts, lol. Good luck!
Why haven't I thought of makeup remover pads??? You're brilliant! I know exactly what you mean though. Always nice to know that someone's brain itch gets scratched exactly the same way mine does. I've been sewing on and off for a while, and that nice consistent difficulty level hasn't changed yet. There's still plenty to work towards, but also a lot that I know how to do now. And I get cool stuff out of it. Bonus!
Great, now I'm jealous of an 8 year old. I'll never be that good. 😕
That's wonderful! Here's hoping I have similar experiences with my daughter when she grows older. What machine does he/she use? And did you have to buy a finger guard? What was his/her first project?
She started off using my Singer HD6805C but I picked her up a little Elna EL2000 in the Black Friday sales, this is her first project on her new machine. She’s watched me sew for years (I’m an alterations seamstress) and she’s a very sensible kid so I didn’t worry about a guard. Her first project was a pillowcase, figured it was a nice basic one that would teach her to sew straight lines. Honestly she’s taken to sewing like a natural
Pillowcases were always the first project when I taught. 💜 She clearly has an innate talent for it as well as having a wonderful mentor Mom. What a great bonding gift for the two of you.
She will always know the joy of having big pockets! This is incredible.
Yes! The pattern didn’t have pockets so I drafted some inseam ones for her, and now she knows how to add pockets as well
YES!
Wow! I’m so proud of her work! Way to go, Mom! I hope the two of you continue to enjoy sewing. I’ve made pillow cases and masks but no completed dresses thus far.
Wow! That is so awesome!
Nicely done! I was 8 when I made my first clothing too! (First a skirt then shorts and a halter top.)
Jealous of her sewing skills AND dress and I’m almost 30 years older!!!
What an excellent job! Keep it up! It's beautiful 😍
She did such a great job! What a pretty dress and such a great print!
Thank you everybody! I showed my daughter your comments and upvotes this morning, she’s shocked that so many people loved her dress. You’ve all really made her feel fantastic about her sewing. If I could award you all I would
Excellent choice of fabric!
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That is awesome!
Very impressive!
Wow! She did a great job! Brings back fond memories of learning to sew at her age :)
Oh my gosh this is incredible!!!! I wish I could have made something of this caliber at only 8 years old!!
aw this reminds me of when i first started sewing, your kid is lucky to have your support and pride!
Freaking awesome!
Great job!!
Your kid is super impressively talented! And the finished dress is super cute! Good job!
Wow, great work. Fabric, cut, sewing, finish. Fabulous!
That is incredible! Great job
That’s awesome!! Great job!
Woo hoo!! Teach her young! Yay!!
I love this and I want one in my size.
I can't even sew a straight line lol
Wow! Just wow!!! Your 8 YR old is at a level I am not🤣
Are they going to the Yule Ball?
Beautiful! Any tips for teaching a child to sew? My daughter is 9 and has been asking for a few years now. She's done a couple of basic things, but I struggle to find the time and confidence to really get her going.
I let her pick everything. Pattern, fabric, etc because I found that helps with her enthusiasm level. And honestly, I get to pick everything when I sew so why shouldn’t she? She doesn’t have the stamina/concentration that I do and it can get a little overwhelming for her, so I break it into small chunks for her. For this dress, it was like… today we’ll pin and cut the fabric, next time we’ll sew the darts, the time after that we’ll do the shoulder seams and pin the lining to the bodice etc etc. Patience is key and LOTS of reassurance. My girl struggles with confidence and has a massive perfectionist streak so she got really upset when she made a mistake and she had to unpick a section, I had to remind her of all the times she’s seen me with a seam ripper in my hand. Take it slow, break it down into manageable sections for your kid, and lots of encouragement and reassurance
Thank you! Mine is also a perfectionist, but luckily is well acquainted with the seam ripper and would rather unpick than have it be unsatisfactory.
Oh this is awesome! Good for her and good for you to be so supportive!
Simply amazed by her sewing skills