{"id":5255,"date":"2017-05-23T21:04:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T11:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/?p=5255"},"modified":"2017-05-23T21:10:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T11:10:35","slug":"interview-amie-plumley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/2017\/05\/interview-amie-plumley.html","title":{"rendered":"An interview with sewing teacher and author Amie Plumley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amie Plumley lives and teaches in Memphis, Tennessee. Amie is well-known for her highly popular books\u00a0S<\/em>ewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing. <\/i>She blogs at Sewing School<\/a> and\u00a0is passionate about sewing and loves teaching sewing to children: “It\u2019s so exciting to finally be part of a community of teachers who are actively sewing with children. When I began years ago, I searched high and low for likeminded teachers and parents. Now there are so many of us and there are wonderful books and tutorials for sewing with children.”<\/p>\n

What age are the kids you teach?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two years old and up<\/p>\n

\"amie<\/p>\n

How long have you been teaching sewing for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

14 years<\/p>\n

Can you tell me a little about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a mom, teacher, and author, in that order. I have two kids ages 8 and 11 who have inspired and guided me as I teach other children how to sew. I taught elementary school for 14 years and immediately began to integrate sewing into my teaching. In the classroom, I use sewing just like I would use any artform like painting, drawing, or collage and make sure it fits into my curriculum.<\/p>\n

I also teach kids sewing during after-school programs and summer camps. These projects are more fun and are often inspired by the children that I sew with. \u00a0I\u2019ve also been working with toddlers and preschoolers and developing sewing projects that are doable for them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written two sewing books for children:\u00a0Sewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make <\/i>and Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing<\/i>. \u00a0And there are two more Sewing School <\/i>books in the works!<\/p>\n

\"amie<\/p>\n

Do you have any tips or tricks that you\u2019ve found helpful in teaching kids to hand sew?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the tools! \u00a0Making sure that kids have tools that fit their hands and are developmentally appropriate is key. \u00a0For ages 5 and up I like to use chenille #22 needles and craft thread with a LoRan Needle Threader. For toddlers, I use plastic needles or blunt tip needles and lacing strings. \u00a0When sewing, I always tell the kids to \u201cpinch the needle\u201d at the eye when they sew and to cut an arm\u2019s length of thread no matter how big or small the project.<\/p>\n

Have you had any students you can tell me about whom learning to sew really benefited in some way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now I have a student who is having a little trouble with reading, but he can sew! He is always helping others with their sewing and even assists me when I teach toddlers.\u00a0Being able to create something wonderful with his hands and imagination has been such a confidence boost.<\/p>\n

Is there any tool that you find particularly useful to use in your classes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sticky hook and loop tape is always a hit and I love beginning to sew with felt and burlap.<\/p>\n

\"amie<\/p>\n

If you’d like to learn more about Amie and her thoughts about the benefits of sewing with kids take a look at this<\/a> interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amie Plumley lives and teaches in Memphis, Tennessee. Amie is well-known for her highly popular books\u00a0Sewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make\u00a0and\u00a0Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing. She blogs at Sewing School and\u00a0is passionate about sewing and loves teaching sewing to children: “It\u2019s so exciting to finally be part of a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[233,235,161],"class_list":["post-5255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-interviews","tag-sewing-with-kids","tag-tips-for-teaching-kids-to-sew","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sewasoftie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}