Weekend Kiddie Project: Sewing Cards

This was the project Beeper and I dug into this past weekend: sewing cards. Sewing cards were on my mind for a few reasons:

1. Beeper recently has shown interest in helping me with my sewing
2. Beeper's pre-school teacher recently told us he needs some concentrated focus on further developing his fine motor skills
3. I did the post on the See and Sew book and they had some sewing cards in there

So, sewing cards seemed like the right project at the right time for us this past weekend. And, also, they are easy-peasy. Really. Just follow the instructions below....

Kiddie Project Materials:

• a paper hole punch
• several sheets of card stock (I buy mine at Paper Source--so many colors, it gives me tingles)
• Yarn (thrifted--those plastic bags full of the remanants of skeins past are perfect for this)
• Craft glue (I use Mod Podge)
• A printer of some sort
• Clip art (Need some of your own? I will happily send you a document with my clip art images if you leave your email address in the comments section below--10 clip art images in all)

Step 1: Creating Sewing Strings
First off, cut some pieces of yarn into about 24 inch lengths. I used a variety of colors just to add to the kid-appeal and also, just cuz I like color. Then knot one end--you need some decent sized knots hereso they will not pull through the paper punch holes when in use. After that, pour a little craft glue onto a slip of paper and dip about 1-2 inches of the unknotted ends of your yarns pieces into the glue so it is nicely coated, but not dripping and blobby with glue. Then lay the strings on a piece of parchment paper (or a cookie sheet will work too) to dry--really, anything you will be able to peel them off from later.
Step 2: Make the Sewing Cards
Select some simple clip art and insert into a document--I think simple black and white images work best. I used some basic black and white wood-cut style clip art as I wanted to print these on a variety of colors of card stock, (You can also draw your own images if you are arty like that and have the time and motivation.) Size your images so they will be big enough that you can have many holes around the permiter to sew through-- I found making them 1/2 to a full page size worked best. Also, the bigger the image, the sturdier it is for sewing since it will not bend in half as easily. Print out your images on the cardstock and cut out around the image--leaving a 1/4 inch perimeter around the image (this will give more space between your punched hole and the edge of the sewing card--so it won't tear upon use).
Then punch holes about an inch apart just inside the edge of the image. And VOILA! Sewing cards and hours of entertainment for the kiddies. These were so simple we even made an extra set for Beeper to bring to his pre-school (see Beeper pre-school teacher? We're doing our damnedness to address the fine motor concerns, okay already? We're not bad parents, really.).
Also, Beeper loves them. They were the first thing he wanted to do when he got up this morning. Warms my heart to see the little guy riding around on his sewing training wheels with these cards.

And remember, you can leave a comment at the end of this post along with your email address and I will happily send you a document with the clip art images I used for this project. And I promise, no strange SPAM emails will start coming to you after giving me your email address.