Sewing is not difficult, but neither is it easy. Learning to sew, however, is a fairly straightforward process. Our goal is to close the gap between what you KNOW how to sew (such as nothing at all in the beginning), and what you WANT to sew.

The Way to Faster Learning and Better Sewing

When it is time for your children to learn to sew, you have two choices:

1. do it yourself - at home, easily, just like you taught them other things.
2. have someone else do it - be it grandma, aunt, paid local classes, or public school.

We here at Show Me Sew .com believe choice #1 to be the preferred method. That's why we developed the DIRECTIONS - SHOW ME SEW series of easy sewing lessons for kids. [Although paying for lessons in a private sewing school that uses DIRECTIONS - SHOW ME SEW is an excellent second choice)

1. learn at the pace of your children - if they are fast learners, move ahead quickly. if they are slow learners, slow down and/or repeat lessons as needed. The end result is a comfortable command of sewing skills.
2. learn in your own home - on your own equipment, in your own space. Ahhhhhh- no parking, no driving, no fast-food-on-the-way.
3. use the money you would have spent on tuition and transportation on other things - like a better sewing machine [see the Beginner Sewing Machine for kids article in the left column], or better quality fabrics.
4. enjoy some of that quality time with your child(ren) while knowing they are learning a life skill.

Sewing is not difficult, but neither is it easy. Learning to sew, however, is a fairly straightforward process. Our goal is to close the gap between what you KNOW how to sew (such as nothing at all in the beginning), and what you WANT to sew (such as the cool clothes you really desire) - one stitch at a time. To do that requires a method that starts at the beginning, and moves ahead one step at a time - like our DIRECTIONS - SHOW ME SEW lesson modules. Standard commercial patterns, even the ones marked "easy", believe you and your kids already know something about sewing before you begin. "Easy" means something different to them and is based on the complexity of the project, not on how easy it is to figure it out. I want you to be able to open a DIRECTIONS - SHOW ME SEW lesson book to page one, read it, say "Hey, I can do that!", and then go do it. Turn to page two, read it, say, "Hey, I can do that!", and then go do the steps on page two. Next thing you know, you are DONE with your project!

I'm Carol Hawkey, and I specialize in breaking down complex tasks into simple steps. Like learning to sew. [If you're interested, there's more about me under "About" in the left column]

Perhaps you've heard of the task where the students are asked to write down "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich", which then the teacher attempts to follow the instructions to the successful completion of said sandwich. And perhaps then you have also heard of the hilarity as the instructions just aren't up to being followed correctly. For example, "put the jelly on the bread" will lead to the teacher putting the jar of jelly on top of the bag of bread.

I was always really good at that task.

When I discovered many years ago that kids learning to sew were being deprived of some basic and simple concepts, I chose to do something about it. I started to use my skills at simplicity to teach kids to sew. It wasn't long before I found myself saying the same things repeatedly as that was just the sentence the kids understood and took action on. I wrote all that down, and it became the "SkillCards" that are included with every lesson and pattern. I also discovered that regular patterns aren't very good for educational purposes - there's just too much to figure out all at the same time. I wanted the kids to follow along on their own, so I developed patterns that were easy to understand.