Sewing for kids – patterns, tips and tricks to start today

Looking for sewing ideas for children in the family? Read on for our guide to the best patterns, projects and top tips for sewing for children.

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By Zoe Williams

Published: September 17, 2020 at 2:47 pm

Did you hear the news? There’s a brand new Sewing for Kids magazine out, so we’ve put together this guide to the best children’s sewing patterns and projects to celebrate. We’ll be adding our favourite children’s sewing patterns to this post to help you start making clothes for the children in your family, and read on for our pick of the best sewing kits for kids too if you want to get children sewing. For more project inspiration, order your copy of Sewing for Kids today.

If you’ve got your copy already of the new magazine, we’ve included handy links to all the sewing templates you need at the bottom of this post. You can also see a taster of project pictures to get an idea of just a few of the 50 beautiful kids sewing projects inside. And if you’ve found this post as you’re looking for ways to get children into sewing, you might also like our guide to the Best Kids Sewing Machines and 10 top tips for cross stitch for kids.

Sewing for Kids – your complete guide!

Best children’s sewing patterns
Best sewing kits for kids
Sewing For Kids magazine: reader templates

Discover 50 projects to sew for children’s bedrooms and wardrobes, alongside gifts, toys and the all-important fancy dress! Each copy comes with a bonus paper dressmaking pattern from Wild Things Dresses, worth £8.99. Order your copy today.

6 of the best children’s sewing patterns

Kibadoo Children’s Cleo Parker

Available from Amazon (£11.71)

You’ll need a bit of sewing experience for this one but oh how cute is it? This children’s parker coat sewing pattern has raglan sleeves to allow wriggling and climbing room plus a bit of give to fit jumpers or sweaters to be worn underneath, plus indoors cuffs and a windshield bar for chin protection. We’re officially now hooked on Kibadoo patterns – browse their full range over on Etsy.

Kibadoo Childrens Cleo Parker Sewing Pattern

Wild Things Dresses – Girl’s Rainbow Dress

Available with Sewing for Kids magazine (£11.99)

Come rain or shine, brighten up any day with this A-line pinafore dress bursting with colour and fun. Add patch pockets, button straps and appliqué a rainbow on the front (honestly does dressmaking get any more fun than this? Make it for ages 6 months to 7 years.

Simplicity Child’s Top and Leggings

Available from John Lewis (£8.50)

Sew up a soft and cosy combo with this sweet top and leggings pattern for intermediate makers from Simplicity. It shows you how to make a back-buttoned tops with raglan sleeves and contrast or animal pockets, plus pull-on leggings with an elastic waist. It’s designed for stretch knits for that soft finish they’ll love to change into after a long day in school uniform.

Simplicity Children's Top and Legging Sewing Pattern

Poppy & Jazz Dandelion Dungarees

Available from Sew Over It (from £7.50)

Poppy & Jazz is the recently released children’s sewing pattern collection from Sew Over It, featuring a super cute collection of children’s clothes to sew for the children in your life. These cutest of reversible jersey dungarees are topping our must-make list. This is a beginner-friendly pattern for ages 0-24 months. The Dandelion Dungarees are the cutest pair of reversible jersey dungarees. They fasten with poppers, have extra long straps to allow for growth and are super easy to sew.

Poppy and Jazz Dandelion_Dungarees sewing pattern

Burda Boy’s Sweater Sewing Pattern

Available from Minerva Crafts (£7.50)

This warm and cosy pattern will soon become an Autumn/Winter wardrobe essential – sew it in three versions: as a pullover with a neckband, a sweater with a stand collar, or a hooded version with a patch pocket.

Easy skater dress DIY

Try this easy-to-sew skater dress by Kirsty Hartley and Simply Sewing magazine for a perfect addition to your little girl’s wardrobe. Wear on its own in the summer, or layered with long-sleeved tops and tights – it could also be made as a separate jersey top and skirt, too. Did we mention you get to add rainbow pom poms?

Free girls dress sewing pattern

Best sewing kits for kids

Felt Hanging Decorations Sewing Kits

Available from Etsy (£3.95)

These kits come with pre-punched shapes to sew together to make a collection of cute decorations. Each kit includes the acrylic felt shapes, thread, stuffing, needle and ribbon as well as step-by-step instructions

Felt Hanging Decorations Sewing Kits for Kids

Hedgehog Wooden Thread Kits

Available from Baker Ross (£3.50)

Kids will love dressing up these hedgehogs with threads to help them look their best! This is a lovely introduction to stitching and also helps develop hand-eye co-ordination.

Galt Toys Sewing Case

Available from Amazon (£18.00)

This sweet introduction to sewing projects will teach children how to make a cottage cushion, puppy handbag, bunting, cupcake box, hedgehog pincushion and lavender heart, all packed in a suitcase for them to store their new sewing stash in.

Unicorn sewing kit

Available from Amazon (£15.00)

Get ready to sew some magic with this DIY sewing kit with this unicorn kit – part of the Magic World Sewing Personalised Series (there’s also a Teddy, Owl, Bunny, Puppy, Raccoon, and Koala if you prefer). This kit comes with clear, step-by-step instructions and all the materials needed for children tomake a unicorn softie by themselves without a fuss.

Learn to Sew Beginner’s Kit

Available from Etsy (£19.99)

A great gift for teenagers or pre-teen children, these pretty beginners kits provide a mini course on the basics, plus materials to learn the skills, for budding sewists-to-be. Each kit comes with a project book or 25 quick and easy beginners projects, plus 6 cotton fat quarter of fabric, hand sewing needles, a seam ripper, mixed craft buttons, pins, thread and ric rac.