Fairy got the coolest sewing machine from Santa this year. I’m a tad jealous myself and have been borrowing it for all my little projects recently. 😉 Unlike the toy or children’s sewing machines we have tried in the past this Sewing Pretty with Hello Kitty by Janome is a REAL machine… just slightly smaller with the added bonus of being cute as can be. She will not out grow this machine any time soon. Although not fancy, it is sturdy and it really, truly sews.
Santa also brought her several different charm packs including Moda Bliss. Fairy spent some time laying out all her squares and decided to make a stripy quilt… lining up the matching patterns in their various colorways.
She is now working at piecing each row. Her attention span gets her through about 3 squares at a time… but slow and steady is just find and dandy.
How exciting for Fairy. Tell her she is doing a great job. Question about the sewing machine. We have gone through 2 different children’s sewing machines and I’ve taken them both back. They jammed and the had tension issues. They proved to be an awful, frustrating experience for my children. Is this machine REALLY worth buying? Have you had any problems with it? Thanks for the info.
Summer
How exciting! As the previous commenter, I’ve been looking for a GOOD children sewing machine. I am so glad you like it. Where did you purchase it? Amazon doesn’t have it… Thanks!
So far so good. We haven’t tried everything yet but it was easy to thread and get set up (although I found it a bit tricky to access the bobbin… might just be a brand thing though… winding the bobbin was easy). The straight stitch (which is all she really needs atm) works fine. It has a few special stitchs (zig-zags and such but I haven’t played with them much yet). It has a light, a thread cutter, goes backwards and all those must have basics. We have had no problems with tension… which seems to be the biggest problem with "kid" machines. No jams yet. It is a 3/4 size… so a bit smaller but a "real" machine. I haven’t gotten it moving fast but I could see it bouncing a bit… just because it is smaller/lighter… but overall it feels sturdy. Basically it is an entry level Janome. According to the reviews, a lot of adults use it to take to sewing classes and such do to its smaller size. I don’t think it could be my only machine, but I have grabbed it over mine for the last few little things I’ve done (fixing a seam on a shirt and making the puppet body). You can’t beat the cuteness factor either.
Yeah… I’ve noticed that Amazon only sporadically has it… try Target.
It looks like Target sells them for $114. It seems to have really great reviews. I think I will buy one for my daughter’s 7th birthday. Thanks for posting!
I have been looking at that machine and wish I had someone to buy it for–it really is adorable. Can’t justify it for myself, and my daughter doesn’t enjoy sewing 🙁
We (group of women 55 -60) all have the Hello Kitty Sewing Machine. Love it
Just wondering how old Fairy is. My daughter loves to sew and I’m wondering what age might be a good age for a machine. She’s 5 now (too young), but I’m planning ahead…
Fairy is six. She got her first toy sewing machine for her fifth birthday (she really wanted one). But it was useless and we ended up just using it to sew on paper with no thread. I would draw lines on paper and she would just try to run it through the machine having the needle poke holes on the lines. She can now sew some fairly straight lines… but like I said in the post… her attention span is about 20 minutes. She will sew a few squares together, play with the fabric squares a bit, then be done. As for safety, I don’t leave her alone with the machine but I try not to hover. Frankly I’m more worried about her using the seam ripper than the sewing machine ;).
As soon as she gets that first RUSH from a finished project, her attention span will get longer and longer! How exciting for her!!!
That is truly a beautiful, functional work of craftsmen ship. Please tell her I said congratulations to her, I just made my first quilt this year also, and I’m going to be 33!
Love the fabric and progress she has made so far. Looks as good as I could do if not better. I am teaching myself to sew slow but surely.
What a wonderful machine for her and her first pieces are coming out beautifully.
Debbie
I have had that exact machine for close to three years now (bought on clearance at Target) and it is still going strong. The only trouble I’ve had is with the bobbin winder and since this is my first machine I’m not positive that’s not user error. 🙂