First Stitches...

Olá! Here in Portugal in some weeks will be celebrating Child's Day, on June 1st. The same day is also celebrated in many other countries. So I thought of showing you some pieces made by children and explain why I believe their first stitches are very important...

Many, many years ago little girls learned counting and reading at the same time when they learned how to embroider....

Embroidery requires counting, develops concentration and logical thinking and has benefits on reading and writing by developing fine muscle coordination. Artistic skills are also at play. Deciding which pattern to embroider (sometimes making their own drawing), which colors to use and which stitches suit the image is a very powerful way of developing creativity! And of course all of us that have already taught a child how to embroider know that it is so important to be gentle- that embroidering teaches us to be patient, to be focused and to accept our own mistakes and the importance of correcting them. Most of all, stitching is great fun! And we want our children to have fun!!!

I believe that from age 5 beyond the use of needles is safe and children may start embroidering on cardboard, for instance. By painting and hole-punching the cardboard a child can make their own lacing card. Finished works can be framed, glued on a notebook or given as anniversary cards...

These cards were made reusing cereal boxes and you won't need much more material to try this with your children. They can make their own patterns, but as I was doing this at a school it was easier to make the motifs with molds. Children had to hole-punch and than use back stitch to embroider the pattern. Coloring was very fun, too!!

These photos show a class I had some time ago with 5 year old children.

At the end the teacher summed up what kids had learned: "we learned how to: thread the wool yarn, knot the end, embroider back stitch, and secure the stitches. We also learned that sometimes we make mistakes and that is very important to go back and try again. It was very fun!"