Now - let me just say upfront that I am hardly the best person to teach anyone about sewing. My mom (bless her heart) spent plenty of time with me as I grew up, patiently teaching me the art of sewing. It did not take. I was able to make one dress for myself while I was in high school but she had to be right next to me the entire time, coaching me through every step. So I'm not sure that really counts. Luckily, the basics stuck with me enough so that I can at least teach my kids basic stitching.
Back to my son.
I let him pull out a piece of cloth and showed him that we needed to turn it inside out to make a pillow. Then I taught him a simple straight stitch and pointed out that the stitches are supposed to be small and even. (I also told him that I would always get impatient and my stitches would get bigger and bigger.) Well, this really isn't surprising to anyone who knows my son, but it turns out that he's a great at sewing - probably because he's really great at concentrating and doing detailed work. He was in heaven - he just loved watching his pillow come together and, much to his sister's annoyance, he kept trying to coach her. (I told her later to cut him some slack because, as a kid brother, he goes through life thinking she's better than him at everything. It was great for him to find a natural skill that just fell into place for him so quickly.)
I was happy as a lark because for about an hour, I was sitting on the couch between my two kids as they both sewed on projects, lending a hand whenever they needed it. Needless to say, I felt as if I was Ma Ingells from Little House.
Ok, except for the fact that we had Mythbusters on our flat screen TV the whole time. And "Pa" was snapping pictures with his Nikon.
[In case you're curious (this shouldn't be a surprise either) my daughter's stitches did not resemble her brother's detailed work. As a matter of fact, they rather resembled mine.]
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