Happy Mail & a sewing session with a five year old

There was much awesomeness in my mailbox yesterday. The very lovely Katy sent me two sewing books! See and Sew is a sewing book for children which is perfect because I have just started to teach Luna a few basic sewing skills (more about that later) It's a lovely book with lots of cute vintage illustrations,  basic (embroidery) stitches and clear instructions how to make simple projects. Most kids will probably need some help from their parents with most of the projects I think. As an extra Katy added Cath Kidston's Sew book with 40 cute and easy projects. Thank you so much Katy!

These are a few strips I made together with Luna on my Husqvarna. We are making a little doll quilt for her toy horse. First she chose some fabrics from my scrap stash. Luna actually requested Heather Ross Unicorn fabric but I only have one little square left and she quite happily settled for a purple and green extravaganza instead. ;)

I then cut the scraps in 3 inch squares and let Luna  'design' the lay out on the floor. The lay out got mixed up again when she brought the squares to the machine but that's o.k. Sitting on my lap,  I let her guide the fabric through the machine, back stitch at beginning and end and raise and lower the foot. I also let her use the pedal while I was sewing to give her a feeling of pressure on the pedal and speed of the machine.

Does that sound like a good first lesson for a 5 (nearly 6) year old in using a sewing machine? Next time we are putting the strips together to finish the quilt top. Do you sew together with your kids? I thought it was fun but I must admit that it definitely helps that she really wants to learn how to sew!