Dream Pillow

The dream pillow project is for homeschool and Chickadee's first time to hand sew! She chose the same fabric she chose for the beanbags we made for homeschool in the fall: hot pink with white polka dots. I sewed down the side I'd leave open for her to fill and sew shut. Then I folded it in half and sewed the other two sides together. We picked some calming dried herbs from my stash: chamomile, lavender, rose petals, and lemon balm.


Then I pinned it closed, and tucked the ends into the fabric. I threaded the needle and knotted it so that she wouldn't lose the needle from the thread for her first sewing project. I will say the negative is that mistakes are more difficult to fix, because you can't simply pull out the thread to the point of the mistake. She didn't quite understand the pulling the thread all the way through on each stitch before starting the next stitch.


She was so excited to start the sewing part of the project, because she felt it was a big deal to be able to hand sew on her own.


I let her do it on her own while I stayed nearby to help with struggles. She used the overcast stitch as advised in the curriculum. She was really proud when she reached the end of the line.


I feel like she did well for her first time hand sewing.


We needed to go back and close the gaps so the herbs would stay in the pillow. It took a couple of tries for her to figure out what was needed. We sat right next to each other and took turns doing the stitches. It was hard for her to coordinate just where the needle should go on the closer stitches. Once she slowed down and figured out what was needed, she was so proud of herself!


Being able to switch gears from letting her have some independence to try her hand at sewing to snuggling up on the couch and working through the details together is one thing I love about homeschooling! I also switched gears on the needle and thread to give her that experience, and in the end, I think it made things easier. She actually only pulled the needle off the thread a couple of times near the end.


Now she's ready for sweet dreams.

Pre-needle Felted Ornament

On the 13th day of Advent, the fairies left a note instructing us to use some wool roving to make a pre-needle felted animal ornament.

Girlie chose a reindeer cookie cutter and bright pink and purple roving for her ornament. We stuffed the wool into the cookie cutter and sprayed a little bit (less than you think) water mixed with a tiny bit of Dr. Bronner's peppermint liquid soap.

The next step is using a chopstick to mash it down into the cookie cutter and start working the fibers together. We've done this before as part of our Waldorf homeschool curriculum, and it feels like a soggy mess at first. We added a bit more wool to help soak up the moisture.

The cookie cutter will need to be turned over while keeping the wool inside. I simply placed my hand over the top of the cookie cutter and turned it over cutting board and all to keep it together. That way the chopstick can work the wool on both sides.

Continue turning and poking until the wool is dry and mostly together. In the couple of times we've done this, we had some wool that just wasn't sticking. Maybe we added the wool too late into the wetting and poking process. We tried using a fork, but to no avail. Both times, I simply touched it up with a felting needle to get the wool to stick.