Now that the school holidays and Christmas are almost here, I thought a post on sewing and creating with children would be very timely! Sewing is such a useful life skill, whether it be the basic ability to sew on a button and repair your clothes or more advanced garment making, and learning at a young age gives individuals so much confidence in their abilities, as well as developing their creativity and just being fun!
I have already reviewed Learning To Sew by Barbara Snook and Simple Embroidery by Marilyn Green in my first post on embroidery books (See: https://candeloblooms.com/2018/08/07/books-on-embroidery-part-one-general-guides/).
Another excellent sewing primer for children is :
Busy Little Hands: Sewing: A First Craft Book For Parent and Child Illustrated by Douglas Hall 1988
Written specifically for children, this book has a very child-centred approach with simple instructions and fun pictures of mice and rabbits engaged in the task. Basic sewing skills are taught from enlarging patterns and using a needle threader to patchwork, tacking, oversewing, hemming and pleating, as well as a range of simple stitches, including back stitch, blanket stitch, herringbone stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch and cross stitch. There are some lovely easy projects from leaf needle cases and prickly hedgehog pincushions to butterfly mobiles; costumes, masks, hats and crowns; and drawstring bags and patchwork night cases. It’s a delightful little book and very appealing to young children.
Once the basic skills are mastered, the next two books by quiltmaker Yolanda Gifford are wonderful for inspiring creativity and imagination and a love of fabric and colour.
Fabric Fun For Kids by Yolanda Gifford 1995
After introducing basic stitches (running stitch, back stitch, overstitch) and materials (vliesofix; embroidery thread; and fabric textas, markers, dyes and paints), Yolanda launches straight into the 24 projects themselves, including hanging pillows, cushions, bags, pictures, runners, Christmas decorations, quilts, toys and glove puppets and rag baskets.
Each project has a materials sidetab; clear instructions and finishing notes, patterns and diagrams and full-colour plates of the finished article.
When my eldest daughter was younger, she was inspired by the pattern Ellie’s Bird (seen on the book cover below) to make her dad a felt panel of a king parrot.
My girls also made the Christmas tree pillow and picture; the heart pin cushion; and Jake’s Four Patches, as seen in the photo below.
I could easily make the chook runner; the flower cushion; the Nick-Nack Sew a Patch bag and the Home Sweet Home panel myself! The projects are an excellent indicator of the popularity of Yolanda’s home sewing classes for children.
Simply Applique by Yolanda Gifford 1997
Yolanda’s second book is similar in presentation to her first book, but focuses on applique, using non-traditional methods and lots of freedom in colour, design and structure to portray children’s artwork on quilts, table cloths, curtains, cushions, bags, banners and family portraits and postcards.
While written for children, it is an equally wonderful book for beginners to the wonderful world of applique!
I love Yolanda’s use of bold simple shapes and bright colours and would love to make her family portrait and postcards; her appliqued curtains; her animal cushions and banner; her red and white embroidered cot quilt; and her love quilt, seen on the front cover of the book.
Steiner education also have some wonderful books for encouraging imaginative play and creativity in children. Here are three of my favourites:
Toymaking With Children by Freya Jaffke 1987
Imaginative play is so important for the development of creativity, as well as developing basic life skills and this little book is packed with wonderful ideas from building sets, shops, dioramas and landscapes to making dressing up costumes, crowns, puppets, gnomes, toy animals and dolls, including doll clothing, houses and furniture and using natural materials to make toys like pine cone birds, bark boats, wooden animals and log trains.
Below is a photo of my youngest daughter’s make-believe fairy, which kept her occupied for hours in the local park, while our car was repaired during a family holiday.
There is also a large introductory section on the meaning and importance of play; the three stages of play; appropriate toys for each stage; and outdoor play.
Feltcraft: Making Dolls, Gifts and Toys by Petra Berger 1994
Felt is a wonderful medium for children to sew, as it is strong, firm and colourful; does not fray at the edges; and is easy to cut out into different shapes. Starting with simple embroidery stitches and instructions on making hair, the book describes a wealth of toy materials, construction methods and projects including:
Wooden standing dolls: Gnomes; a royal family; Saint Nicholas; an angel; a mother and baby ; hazelnut children; a wooden doll with moveable arms and legs and matchbox dolls;
Felt Dolls: Basic model; gnomes; woollen dolls; flower children and blossom fairies; finger puppets; and walking dolls;
Dolls with pipe-cleaner frames: Basic model; Christmas gnome; jester; man; and the man in the moon;
Animals and birds: Duck and swan; a bird; a seal; a butterfly mobile; a snail; cats, dogs and mice; a horse; a rooster; simple felt pictures and books;
French knitting and crochet: a picture and bag;
Felt gifts: Balls; jewellery; a gnome and a clown brooch; bookmarks; comb cases; scissor cases; egg cosies; purses and little gift boxes.
The Nature Corner: Celebrating the Year’s Cycle With a Seasonal Tableau by M van Leeuwen and J Moeskops 1990
After a brief discussion on arranging seasonal tableaux and basic techniques for making dolls and marionettes with sheep’s wool, cotton, felt, cardboard cones, wire and wood, as well as creating faces and embroidering hair, this lovely book follows the seasons and special celebratory periods with instructions for all the elements of seasonal tableaux from:
Early Spring: Mother Earth and root children;
Spring: Spring fairies; flower children; felt dandelions;
Easter, Ascension and Whitsun: Hen with chicks; hares; sheep with lambs; paper flowers; Whitsun doves and a Whitsun wedding couple;
Summer: Beehive with bees; Summer fairies; grass wreaths; and sandcastles;
Autumn: Pumpkin child; toadstools; teasel hedgehog and spider; a boy with a kite; and a spider web;
Hallowe’en and Martinmas: Lanterns; gnomes; and mice;
Advent and Christmas: Saint Nicholas and assistant; an angel; sheep, oxen and ass; crib figures- Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus; the shepherds and the three kings;
Winter: King Winter and Mrs Thaw.
It is a wonderful way to develop and promote an appreciation of nature and the seasons in young children.
My final book, Baby Crafts by Juliet Moxley 1995, looks at sewing for children and contains 25 wonderful creative projects to make for babies, exposing the latter to the wonderful world of colour.
They are divided into four categories:
First Needs: Moses basket; cot quilt; laundry bag; nappy stacker; travel seat; sleeping bag; night dresses and caps; and rag doll pyjamas case;
Bathing and Playtime: Fish bath mat and mitts; bath robe; cardigan and beret; play mat; painting smocks; and a very cute crazy patchwork teddy;
The Nursery: Torn paper frieze; painted toy box and chair; a delightful wall hanging with pockets based on the tale of the Princess and the Pea; a cot and quilt cover and an animal mobile using reverse applique
Photo of animal patches for mobile
Special Occasions: A beautiful christening robe and pin cushion; some very appealing Christmas stockings; painted plates; and a cross stitch sampler.
While directed primarily at adults, some can be achieved by children like the torn paper frieze and the painting projects. It’s a lovely book and is a great way to generate a love of bright colours and start young children off on their own creative journeys.
I particularly love the flapper wax doll heads, the cloth mask faces made in Belgium and the antique French boudoir half dolls.
After an introductory chapter on making the basic cloth doll, Creative Cloth Doll Couture focuses on costumes and accessories.
Many of their patterns can be sourced on websites like: 
The chapter on animals starts with notes on wiring, manes and tails, ears and eyes, horns, decorated heads and moveable legs before describing a variety of separate animals: a dachshund, reindeer, cow, horses and deer, a sitting cat and a tiger, a lizard and toad, and a magical griffin.
While many of the toys shown in the colour plates look a little dated now, the use of modern materials and bright colours would totally revolutionize their appearance and I love the bold black-and-white designs in this book. It allows for plenty of individuality and creativity in the execution of its patterns.
Countryside Softies by Amy Adams 2011 is another favourite toymaking book with 28 very cute and whimsical woollen creatures made out of recycled felted old jumpers or blankets, though I prefer to use ordinary felt, having had to do a major clean-out of my severely-clogged front-loading washing machine after trying to felt an old jumper. I think having an old top-loader expressly for felting would be ideal!
There are introductory notes on fabrics and stuffing materials; washing instructions and storage; and sewing and stuffing with detailed notes on materials; patterns and step-by-step instructions for assembling and stuffing each project.
They are lovely patterns and I am keen to make more, especially the mice (little grey mouse in photo above); the donkey; and the African elephant.
Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Soft Friends From Cast-Off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori 2005
It resulted in a further Mother-and-Daughter workshop for Mothers Day, where my two daughters and I made three delightful dolls based on Helen’s pattern Petal and Flower Bud. Jen made a green doll, Caro a blue doll and mine is in the middle!
In late August 2000, I treated myself with a good friend to Millenium Madness, the first Doll-O-Rama Cloth Doll Symposium at Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, in Brisbane, Queensland. It was wonderfully stimulating and creative! See if you can find me!
We were given a showbag of goodies, including a cute sun badge, each one unique. 
Geraldene Just was next with her highly creative Shellyback Bogles, mythical creatures who arrived from Scotland as stowaways in the convict ships’ ballast and went on to colonise the drains and sewers of Brisbane. Because they lived in dark places, their colours were dull and neutral, their character relying more on textures and feel.
Another very happy and joyful dollmaker, who shares my love of colour, is another American dollmaker, Patti Medaris Culea (
I would also highly recommend this book as an excellent beginner’s guide to basketry and weaving with natural materials. It starts with a large section on natural materials: the leaves of agave, arum lily, bulrush, cane grass, canna lily, corn, cymbidium, Hemerocallis, dianella, ginger, gladioli, iris, cliveas, kangaroo paw, lomandra, phormium, kniphofia, and a variety of rushes and palms; and the stems of box thorn, native hibiscus, lavender, wattles, elms and oaks, kurrajong, paperbark and casuarinas, clematis, coral pea, dodder, ivy, jasmine, lawyer vine, lignum and wisteria, including a description, harvesting and preparation notes, and availability. It’s a wonderful sideline for gardeners, as you can use all your prunings and old leaves to great effect with zero waste! Below are photos of Monbretia (on the left) and Kniphofia (on the right), whose strappy leaves are perfect for basketry materials!
This little paperback describes the huge wealth of legends and traditions surrounding them; the basic plaiting technique; and all the different designs: the traditional dolly or Neck; a variety of Countryman’s Favours; the Glory; the Mare; the Staffordshire Knot; the Cambridgeshire Handbell and Umbrella; Horns; the Crook; the Crown; the Suffolk Horseshoe; the Pickering Chalice; the Yorkshire Candlestick; the Essex Terret; Mother Earth; Heredfordshire and Welsh Fans and Scandinavian Christmas Ornaments. While there is a small amount of basic instruction, it is more a theoretical book, but does give a good idea of this craft’s long history and traditions.
Magic Lanterns by Mary Maguire 2002
This lovely book has instructions for a wide range of lanterns from simple and colourful paper bag lanterns, Chinese lanterns, carved squash, punched tins and frosted jars to tin foil garden flowers, weird icicles, flower fairy bells, stars on sticks and crescent moons, willow fish, Christmas lights and whimsical goblin night lights. It discusses materials and equipment; safety and illumination; and the basic techniques for creating and covering structures. I could make any one of these delightful, magical and highly creative lanterns!
This book covers everything you need to know about glass bead making:
Intermediate techniques include: Applying enamels; reduction frit; encasing beads; altering bead surfaces with mixed media (baking soda, mica powders and etching cream); shaping and sculpting (furrows, cutting hot glass, sculpting with a graphite paddle, pinching glass with tweezers and making large-hole beads); adding metals to beads (leaf and foils; silver stringers, shavings and fine wire; and copper tubing); and gravity beads, millefiori and dichroic glass. The beads in the photo below were made from recycled window pane glass and were Caro’s first experience with glass-making.
The Advanced section includes notes on: Fuming; hollow beads; sculptural techniques for making winged hearts, spiral seashells and Aegean urns; and making decorative canes (millefiori or mosaic glass, latticino and murrini), including numbers and letters, eyes and portraits and flowers. More of Caro’s homemade glass bead jewellery…..
Each section is supported by wonderful full-colour gallery pages showcasing all these techniques and types of glass beads and there is a trouble-shooting guide at the end of the book, as well as a pattern and instructions for making a ventilation hood.
Backyard Mosaics by Connie Sheerin 2002
Helen holds one day classes at the Geelong West Community Centre, where I also attended a second workshop to make two Birds on a Stick.
Making mosaics is very addictive and limited only by availability of materials! Because we have moved a bit, carting broken tiles and china and heavy bags of grout and cement is not really an option, but now we are settled, I may start to amass my materials again! I certainly plan to make a mosaic one day with all the broken bits of china, glass and ironware, which we have unearthed in our ex-turn of the century-blacksmith- garden!
For more about the use of mosaic in gardens, see my post on Artists Gardens: 
A very comprehensive and detailed book, similar to the glass bead making book in its depth and scope. While I love the concept of making my own tiles, it is probably another lifetime for me, but I did enjoy looking at all the beautiful artistic tiles featured in the book. The next book is much more my skill level and I can definitely see myself making some of the projects!
The possibilities are endless and further inspiration is provided in a gallery in the back, as well as a metric equivalency chart. This really is such a lovely book and highly recommended.
The Complete Potter: Animal Forms and Figurines by Rosemary Wren 1990
Finally, four general books on traditional and ethnic crafts:
Each of the 20 crafts featured includes a sample project as well. My son used this book to paint the wonderful chequered game board, which was designed by Sue Martin, in the photo below.
Both books played an significant role in celebrating age-old traditions and the importance of handwork. It is great to see a revival in interest in these traditional skills, so they are perpetuated in future generations. The Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton, Victoria, showcases these traditional skills here in Australia. See 
The latter differ in their olfactory characteristics and method of extraction. Neroli has a fresher, greener, spicier fragrance with sweet and flowery notes, more like Petitgrain Oil, while that of the Orange Blossom Absolute is sweeter, warmer, deeper and more intense, floral scent like that of Jasmine Oil.
Neroli is also widely used in the perfumery industry and is the main ingredient in eau-de-cologne, as well as having numerous health benefits, especially with regard to the treatment of depression and infection, and they have been described well in: 
However, it is its long association with brides and weddings, which fills most of the literature about orange blossom.
Oranges originated in oriental Asia: China, India and South East Asia. In Ancient China, the snow white blooms represented purity, chastity, virginity and innocence, the flowers placed on the gowns of young brides. The fact that flowers and fruit are often borne simultaneously promoted the association of orange blossoms with fertility and the promise of motherhood, while the evergreen foliage represented everlasting love.
This tradition moved west into India and Persia, now Iran, where the orange got its name from its Arabian name ‘Naranji’.
Oranges were also prominent in Ancient Greek mythology. Gaia, the earth goddess, crowned Hera’s head with a wreath of orange blossom on her marriage to Zeus, while they also play a part in the story of Atlanta. In Ancient Roman mythology, oranges were the golden apple, which Juno, the goddess of women and marriage gave to Jupiter on their celestial wedding day.
The introduction of oranges to Europe is credited to both the Arabs (via Spain and Portugal) and the Crusaders on their return home, depending on which source you read.
However, it was Queen Victoria, who is responsible for really ramping up the use of orange blossoms in European weddings, when she wore them in her hair on her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840. For most of the 19th Century up until its demise in 1950s, orange blossom was in high demand for wedding bouquets, head wreaths, groom’s boutonnieres and on wedding cakes.
While orange blossoms usually refer to the flowers of Bitter Orange Citrus x aurantium, all the blooms of the Citrus family have a the characteristic form and scent of orange blossoms. The Citrus genus, which belongs to the Rue family, Rutaceae, includes the key species:
It loves full sun and warm climates, but unfortunately NOT heavy frosts, so we cannot grow it here in my garden, but an excellent alternative is another cousin in the Rutaceae family, Choisya ternata, also known as Mexican Orange Blossom, due to the similarity of its blooms in shape and form to orange blossom.
Choisya ternata is also a rounded evergreen shrub with deep green aromatic leaves and clusters of sweetly scented white flowers, mainly in Spring.
Finally, there is my favourite flowering shrub of late Spring and early Summer, Philadelphus, also known as Mock Orange, due to the similarity of its scent, but unlike all the previous plants, this genus belongs to the hydrangea family, Hydrangeaceae.
Most of the sixty species are deciduous, but their flower form is variable, ranging from single to semi-double and double. The most common form is P. coronarius (photo above), but I am growing the single Belle Etoile (
and double P. x virginalis (
I hope you enjoyed this post and it has whet your appetite for more orange blossom in your garden. Next week, I am reviewing an ecletic medley of miscellaneous books from my craft library. In the meantime, Happy Gardening!
The second section of the book, while smaller, is equally comprehensive, covering yarn selection and knitting needles and aids; casting on methods and basic stitch formation; casting off techniques and selvedges; knitting machines; knitting patterns and charts and following instructions; knitting terminology; tension and gauge; increasing and decreasing; circular knitting; correcting errors; knitting stitches; knitting garments; decorative finishes and embroidery; and a small section on crochet.
Classic Clothes: A Practical Guide to Dressmaking by René Bergh 2000
Once the basic skills have been mastered and a measure of confidence gained, most dressmakers are keen to try their hand at designing their own patterns, so a few books on drafting your own patterns from scratch can be very useful. Back in the day, I was always on the lookout for pattern drafting guides, so I own a few, though I am sure most of them have probably been superseded by the advent of CAD (computer-aided design). Still, the old guides are useful if you prefer designing with pen and paper, lack computer access or are overwhelmed by computer technology!
Because everyone has a different style of learning and every teacher has a different approach and teaching style, I have included two other guides to manual drafting.
Fashions are constantly changing and every dressmaker’s library should have at least one book on the history of fashion!
Another excellent source for vintage patterns is Folkwear (
The same author has also written: 
