Teach hand sewing or machine first?

[Cadam]

dd is 6yo and wants to learn to sew. I am mediocre at best but I have a machine and can sew a straight seam, I embroider so I have hand needles as well. Should I just let her start with hand sewing randomly or have her make something (what?), get a little kit or help her learn to use the machine?

[Brindee]

I'm not a sewer either, but I know a tiny bit.

I had my dd do hand sewing first. She'd use two small pieces of material as she learned to stitch, just to stitch. I also taught her to sew on a button.

Then she did other little things. She ended up sewing a small wall hanging quilt (Approx. 12 inch x 12 inch) by hand for her grandma, who loved it!

Then my neighbor lady across the street VOLUNTEERED to teach her to use the machine, and would come over and teach her. They made a fuzzy material large-squared child siz quilt, which was a GREAT learning experience! My dh likes snakes, so they made him a snake sewed, stuffed, stitched together. They did other little things as well! I was sooo appreciative of her doing that! Maybe you can find someone like that???

[KatieinMich]

My thoughts are that they are very different skills, but work together ultimately so teach them both.
One skill does not build on the other necessarily.
If she is ready to use a machine, then work on that. A small quilt or pillow would be a place to start.
You can start by having her sew on paper..follow along the lines. Straight first and then work on curves.
Be sure she understands how to start and stop the machine, what the reverse is..etc.

If she wants to sew by hand, then have her sew on some buttons just to learn how to thread the machine, tie knots, etc.
Really, who sews by hand, unless you are talking about learnign to embroider, needlepoint etc.

[Colleen in NS]

dd is 6yo and wants to learn to sew. I am mediocre at best but I have a machine and can sew a straight seam, I embroider so I have hand needles as well. Should I just let her start with hand sewing randomly or have her make something (what?), get a little kit or help her learn to use the machine?

I'm starting with hand sewing, just so dc can see a progression of skills.

I found a great series of books in the library (thanks to another poster here) by Winky Cherry. They teach beginning sewing skills in a progression, with great pictures, and detailed, understandable instructions written for the child, and in rhyme! They are for ages 5 - 11. Once a child has some of these skills, you could check out other lib. books for other project ideas.

Titles:

My First Sewing Book - Hand Sewing
My First Embroidery Book - A Name Sampler
My First Doll Book - Hand Sewing
My First Machine Sewing Book - Straight Stitching
My First Patchwork Book - Hand & Machine Sewing
My First Quilt Book - Machine Sewing

[Tammyla]

I'd go with hand sewing. Felt squares and a needle and thread can produce lots of projects. They are very inexpensive and easy to work with.
A few ideas are...

draw string bags
dolls
puppets
an envelope purse/bag
flags
and so on..

[Kuovonne]

Have you asked your daughter what type of sewing she wants to do or what she wants to sew? That might make a difference in the type of sewing.

Personally, I would start with hand sewing. I am biased because I started learning to sew by hand, although all my sewing nowadays is on a machine.

Hand sewing requires more thinking about what you are doing as you are doing it. You think about where you are placing each stitch.

You see how small, neat, even stitches are important for holding the fabric together. You gain respect for how sharp the needle is when you accidentally poke yourself, yet you are unlikely to poke hard enough to do any serious damage.

If you make a mistake, hand sewing is much easier to rip than machine stitching.

It is also easy to pick up and put down a hand sewing project without having to prep a sewing machine.

With hand sewing, you don't have to work around short legs that don't quite reach the foot pedal comfortably.

Of course, ymmv, and I'm not yet brave enough to start eaching my DD how to sew.

[Rosie_0801]

I'd have her make a little shoulder bag to carry her hanky in. First, handsew a little heart or her initial for decoration, just using running stitch, then sew it up on the machine. Add a braid or something for the handle. If she's still enthused, make a new pillowcase, take up quilting, make a simple skirt and keep it going until the enthusiasm runs out!
:)
Rosie