child's fabric scraps jewelry

i mentioned that daughter #4 commandeered some skinny string scraps off of me and determined to make necklaces out of them. well, she did that and made some bracelets, too.

she decided if she sewed two strings together that she could make a loop large enough to get around her head for a necklace. out came her smaller tapestry needle and some embroidery floss. i helped her make some x's to secure them together. she had the general idea of how to shape the x's, but i had to give some guidance.

sometimes, i have to help her hold her pieces as she works. usually when she's getting started. often, if any kind of precision is needed, i'll help her place the needle in position (although she's getting better at her fine motor ability to do this and should soon be independent) and she pulls the needle and thread through.

 

we secured the first side with three x's.

then she added a button for flair. she joined the other side together all on her own with "stripes," as she called them, while i was talking to my seester and her necklace was complete!

she wanted to give it to her grandma, but i gently talked her in to keeping this one for herself, partly because she'd used one of my heather bailey scraps for it. i said it might be perfect for her dress-up box. she responded, "dress-ups?! no! this is more like for church." i guess she thinks it's pretty fancy.

next she cut up some more strings and made a bracelet "for grandma." i showed her how a bracelet would have to fit over the wearer's hand and she used mine to measure her scrap loop. then she stitched it all by herself. i had to help with knot-tying and explain that each section had to be sewn separately, but she got it assembled mostly on her own.

i don't know how much use these jewelry pieces will actually get, but i love that she created them herself. and it's opened the door for me to teach her more about other ways to use these scraps to make similar items. very cute.

and it has now been gifted to grandma, who "gave me three hugs and said she didn't know i could sew this good!" thanks, grandma, for the confidence-boosting gratitude.