Learning Fiberarts!
This marks the end of the first weeks of the camps I’m running with Montgomery College, and I’m wrapping up one of my cornerstone camps, String Theory. String Theory is a sampler camp: giving the children a taste of spinning, weaving, sewing and knitting. The hope is, at the end of the camp, students will have found something they’re interested in, and pursue it further. I thought it’d be helpful to have a reference post of resources for children – and ongoing fiberarts learning.
Sewing
- My First Sewing Machine Book is a great resource for kids wanting to learn to sew with a machine.
- Sewing 101, Revised and Updated: Master Basic Skills and Techniques Easily through Step-by-Step Instruction is written for adults, but is also a great book for kids starting out. I like that it’s spiral bound – so it sits open easily if you’re following the patterns step by step.
- My First Sewing Book: 35 Easy and Fun Projects for Children Age 7 Years Old + (Cico Kidz) is a good book with short, easy to finish projects – which is essential when you’re first starting out.
- Sewing Machine Fun for Kids is another solid book with a good project range.
- A Kid’s Guide to Sewing is a great book for the simple fact that is has pictures of actual kids sewing and doing the projects.
Knitting
- Kids Knitting: Projects for Kids of all Ages is really geared towards kids of 10 and under, and some of the projects are very much geared at very young children (5-8), but is still a great resource with some solid projects.
- My First Knitting Book has good pictures and gives a nice foundation to learning how to knit.
- Kids Knit! Simple Steps to Nifty Projects is a helpful book – and has a nice section on learning how to read patterns.
- Knitting for Children: 35 Simple Projects Kids will Love has a nice progression from easier to more difficult projects. It’s specifically aimed at children 8-12, which is the perfect ages to move through knitting.
- Knitting: Learn to knit with 6 Great Projects: this is the book I learned how to knit from (along with a helpful mentor. I love the Klutz books.
Weaving
Learning to Weave
- Kid’s Weaving is where it’s at. It’s one of the only book that is weaving and geared toward children, and it’s solid.
- You Can Weave is older, and harder to find, but a good resource.
My mother in law and her brother (he lives with her) both knit and Gabriel (my oldest, who is 7) has started to express some interest in knitting and will sit and knit some on whatever they are working on when we visit them or they come over to watch the younger two kids.
Amanda,
We’ll have to make a time to get together and do some knitting then!