Pathfinders: Embroidery

One of my favorite meetings of the year, is our December meeting. This is my favorite for two reasons. One, is that we usually do our fall community service project then. The other, is that we use it as an excuse to make crafts.

Crafting

I love crafting with our guides, and in December you can make a ton of different winter crafts that can turn into gifts or seasonal decorations. For our otters, there are lots of little kits to pick up. They can use their fine motor skills to string beads or place stickers. Crafts don’t have to be complicated, just something they can do for themselves.  I try to make sure the Timberwolves have a bit more of a challenge than the otters. They work may with smaller beads and/or have more instructions to follow.

Pathfinders

However, the last few years, I have really enjoyed planning the crafts for our pathfinders. This year, our pathfinder troop all agreed in November that they wanted to learn to do some embroidery for our winter craft. While I have a few girls who have worked on the sewing badge, I knew this would be new for most of our pathfinders.  For that reason, I put together a plan that I believed they could all succeed at.

Making Kits For Them

First, I got red fabric, white embroidery floss, embroidery needles, 3″ embroidery hoops, and some red ribbons to hang them up with. I also purchased some needle threaders and pens designed for use in embroidery that wash out of fabric easily. Then I ironed the fabric and pre-cut small squares and loaded it into the embroidery hoops and put together kits for all the guides, so the craft would be easy to hand out. The only things I needed to pass out at the meeting were the needles, and the other supplies they had to share. I made the mistake of only bringing one pair of scissors, but it worked out fine. Several pathfinders pulled out pocket knives and multitools to cut their thread.

Patterns or Not?

Last, we printed pictures of snowflake embroider patterns and even drew a simple snowflake pattern on the white board at our meeting space. This gave them ideas, and a starting point. I explained that they could stitch anything they wanted, but a simple outline or set of lines would be easiest. Giving the guides red fabric and white thread made all the results look festive without the struggle that having multiple colors or more complex patterns would have created. Reducing the number of choices and the size of the craft let it fit into our meeting time. All of those things added up to make this something that they were all successful at.

Harder Than It Looks!

I was surprised that several guides had no clue how a needled and thread work. They needed instructions on every step from threading the needle and cutting the thread a reasonable length, to how to tie a knot in the thread to hold it in place. This activity provided a good start for them to later learn to do mending or replace a button. Wether or not they do more decorative stitching, they have the ability to learn more functional sewing from here.

A few of the pathfinders loved this craft and made several ornaments. I think I will be giving out multiple sewing badges in the new year! However, even if I’m not, I feel good about making sure all our guides are learning life skills. Sometimes, skills like this are only taught to girls, and the boys get left out. I could tell that all the girls in my troop had sewn before, but not all of the boys. I’m so proud of them and their efforts!

Oh, and I love that we handed out the embroidery pens so they could make their own designs! Some of them got very creative, and they were all really happy with what they made, no matter how non-traditional the design.

Have you done any sewing with your guides? If so, leave us a comment and tell us how it went!

~ Laura,

17th Black Bears,

Virgina