Otis has been making lots of little gifts for his new brother. He makes lots of paintings for Otto's bedroom walls. Recently he made a cute little heart pillow and scented it with a 'Love' essential oil blend!

Otis loves this heart cake tin and decided to use it to make a heart shape. He traces the cake tin and cuts out his fabric.

Yes, the fabric needs an iron then pin the two pieces together. 

And then sew. Our fabulous children's sewing maching is c/o Parent Direct. 

If you are not sure about the point of a children's sewing machine you can see the size comparison above. The children's sewing machine is basically the same to thread and to use. The best part is that we can sew side by side. The children's machine also has a protector around the needle (as above) so the child can't hurt themselves - so good!

Sewing teaches so many skills. Just talking about making the cushions with Otis taught him a few things about fabric and cushion construction. All the pinning and cutting and even the sewing part is great for their coordination and fine motor skills. It's also nice to give a gift that you've made yourself. 

Otis put a few drops of essential oil onto the stuffing to make it smell nice! Then it was time to stuff and sew up the opening. 

Wow! I think they look great. Otis made two cushions, one for himself and one for Otto! This is a really sweet sibling gift idea. 

Thank you again to Parent Direct for our children's sewing machine. You can see lots of other creative ideas at the Parent Direct Make and Create Category. We've used Michael Miller (small coloured hearts) and Umbrella Prints (large hearts) fabric on the reverse side. For those in the US I don't have a link for the same children's sewing machine but there are machines with good reviews here. 

Do your children enjoy using the sewing machine? You can see Caspar's first sewing project (with the sewing machine) here when he made cute animal cushions.