For this section, old clothing can be used for fabric instead of buying new fabric.
**Accessibility option**
A sewing machine may be used instead of handsewing for any girls who may need the accommodation. They create accessories for sewing machines that allow no use of legs and reduced use of hands and arms. All sewing machines are different, so you’ll need to do extra research on how to operate and thread the sewing machine you have.
If girls are unable to handle a sharp object like a sewing needle, activities one, two, and four can be done by poking holes where the thread needs to slide in and give girls a yarn needle or they can use their hands to lead thread through the holes.
I would not recommend this activity for younger girls or those who may get bored quickly. I would suggest creating something in a later activity if you have this problem. Picture instructions for this activity are found (insert where they are found).
Each girl will need: one needle, 2 5” x 5” pieces of fabric, scissors, and thread. Have a pin cushion for the girls to use. Safety is important, and both sides of needles can be sharp; thimbles are recommended for girls who are younger or might need them.
Put the needle into the pin cushion. Take the end of the thread and slide it through the eye of the needle. Roll out some of the thread, take the edge of the thread, and pull it until the edge overlaps with the pulled-out thread. Cut the thread and knot the two sides together. You should have a loop of thread on a needle. That is how you thread a needle.
Take the needle out of the pin cushion and pick one of the squares of fabric. Put the needle through the piece of fabric until the knot hits the fabric. Flip the fabric over and put the needle through the thread again, around an inch away from the original stitch. Pull the thread through until it hits the fabric again. It should be tight. Repeat this process until the end of the piece of fabric. Cut the thread off the needle with a long tail. Put the needle back in the pin cushion. Now you should have the loop separated. Tie the two strings together three times and cut the remaining tail. You have created a running stitch. You can use this stitch to connect fabric by repeating the steps, but going through both pieces of fabric instead.
Thread the needle. Now, take both pieces of fabric and place them lined up on top of each other. You can use pins if you have them and place them along the seam of the fabric (the side that is connected together). (insert where the pin demonstration will be) will have the right way to put pins in. (If you don’t have pins but want the same effect, painters' tape works as well.) Put the needle through both pieces of fabric near the seam until the knot hits one side of it. Leave about a ½” gap between the thread and the edge of the fabric, or it may fall apart. Take your needle and loop it to the other side of the fabric. The needle should stab back through the piece of fabric that has the original knot again. Pull the thread tightly. Repeat going through the opposite side of the fabric and creating the loop. Do this all the way down the connected edges. Once you get to the end, repeat the loop one last time, but instead of pulling the thread loop tightly, put the needle with the thread through the loop. Now pull the thread tightly. Do that a couple more times to get a tight knot. You have a ladder stitch. If you flip your two pieces of fabric inside out, the thread shouldn’t be visible.
If this is the one activity you are doing for this section, learn the stitches in activity one to teach the girls. You will need either the running stitch or ladder stitch for the pillow case (ladder stitch is recommended). A running stitch may need to be taught for decorating.
Most pillow cases need to be around 20” x 25”, so you will need to give girls two 21” x 26” pieces of fabric, scissors, a needle, a pin cushion they can all share, and thread. Have the girls line the two pieces of fabric directly on top of each other. If you have pins, line them around all the edges besides one of the shorter sides of the pillow case. (insert where the pin demonstration will be) will have the right way to put pins in. (If you don’t have pins but want the same effect, painters' tape works as well.) Remember, a pillow case needs an opening. Have girls thread their needle (taught in section 1) and using the stitch of their choosing, sew around the pillow case, except the one side. Remember to keep around a ½” space between the stitches and the seam of the pillow. Make sure the knots made at the beginning and end of the stitching are on the same side of the fabric. Once the girls have finished tying your pillow case, have them flip it inside out. The side now facing you is the outside of the pillowcase.
You can allow girls to decorate the pillow with fabric paint or sew on patches or letters. If you choose to give them the option of sewing on letters, make sure they don’t sew all the way through both sides of the pillowcase. If you would like to you can learn some techniques in the instructions of activity three. Now you have completed your pillowcase.
If this is the one activity you are doing for this section, learn the stitches in activity one to teach the girls. You will need the running stitch for the patches.
Have girls bring their Girl Scout vest and patches they need to sew on to the meeting. Girls will need their vest, the patch(es), a needle, thread, scissors, and a pin cushion they can share. Thimbles are recommended for this activity, especially if girls have iron-on patches. Iron-on patches have a plastic back that is hard to stick a needle through and can cause the needle to push back against fingers. Pins are also recommended for this, but painter's tape can be a substitute. Painter's tape is recommended for younger girls. If you don’t use either, your patches may not be straight.
The first thing you need to do is set up the patch on the vest. Take the patch and place it where you want on the vest. If you are using pins, put them through the patch and into the vest (insert where pin demonstration will be) will have the right way to put pins in. If you are using painter's tape, put it around the patch, and keep a small spot without tape. If you are using neither, you will need to start sewing the patch differently.
If you are using the pins or tape, thread the needle and flip the vest over. Find a spot where the pins don’t go through or the space you left blank of tape, and put the needle through the back of the vest into the spot you have placed. Pull the thread until the knot hits the fabric of the vest. Now, do the running stitch around the entire vest. Remove pins or lift tape as you go. Once done, tie it off and put the remaining thread.
If you aren’t using pins or painter's tape, the recommended way is to go through the front of the patch. The knot will be on the outside of the vest. This gives you a base to start your stitches. Do a running stitch around the patch and tie it off at the end. You may try to use the technique for starting the patch that is used with the pins, but you are more likely to poke yourself, and it will take multiple tries.
Now you can have girls repeat this for multiple patches. Once they are done, they will have learned how to sew on their patches and have no excuse not to do it themselves.
If this is the one activity you are doing for this section, learn the stitches in activity one to teach the girls. You will need both types of stitches to create the stuffed animal.
For this activity you will need an outline of an animal that you would like to create or have girls draw their own outline. Cut out the outline and use that as your pattern. You will need a needle, thread, a pin cushion, the pattern you wish to use, scissors, stuffing, and whatever extras for decorating you may want.
For the plush, you’ll need to cut out fabric to the size of the pattern. You’ll need to cut two. If you want to use buttons or thread to make a face on your animal, sew them on one of the sides before you sew the pieces together. Place the two pieces of fabric together, pin them if you would like to. If you have sewn any face details on your animal, make sure they’re in the middle of the two pieces of fabric; you shouldn’t see them right now. Use the loop stitch around your animal, remembering a ½” seam allowance. Keep a small hole around ½” to 1” wide and tie off your thread. Use the small hole you have to flip your animal inside out. Stuff your animal with stuffing to however full you want it to be. Thread a new needle and start a loop stitch from the inside of the animal and sew the stuffed animal closed. Now would be the time to use fabric markers for girls to color on their stuffed animal.
If this is the one activity you are doing for this section, learn the stitches in activity one to teach the girls. You will need the running stitch to embroider.
Each girl will need a 10” x 10” piece of fabric, or if you would like to embroider a piece of clothing, you may use that instead, a needle, a pin cushion, thread, an embroidery hoop, and a pencil.
Separate your embroidery hoop; if your hoop has a screw, you will need to unscrew it first. There will be an inner hoop and an outer hoop. Place the inner hoop on your working surface. Place the square of fabric over the inner hoop, and then place the outer hoop around the fabric and inner hoop to secure it in place. Put the screw back in if you have one. The fabric should have the tension of a drum when flicked. Draw the design that you hope for onto the fabric. The easiest designs would be straight or diagonal lines creating a pattern. Go onto the back side of the fabric you are using and put your threaded needle through to where your line begins. Pull the thread until the knot hits the fabric. Find the end of where your line is going to be on your design and push the needle back to the other side. You can tie off the thread there or go to your next line and do the same technique. That is how to embroider a line. This can be used to make many shapes and patterns. You can use the running stitch in your design to create separate lines. You may do your own research on the other shapes you can create using embroidery to create specific designs.