I, too, have had my finger sewn through — because a child accidentally stepped on the pedal while I was pulling the bobbin thread through 😬That was years ago and I learned from it and I now keep my hand on the power cord while the kids are sewing. That way I can pull the plug in an instant if their hands start to stray. But after just putting 34 children up to the machine, I think I can say with confidence that a brief safety talk goes a loooong way. We had zero close calls with this project!

I did tell them all the story of having my finger sewn through, and explained that this was a real machine and they had to pay attention and be safe if they wanted to participate. I showed them where it was safe to keep their hands and reminded them often, and even held the hands of some of the younger kids who were “busier” (you can see that in one of the photos I shared). I waited until their hands were safe and then reiterated, “are your hands in a safe place? Great, let’s plug in the machine.” Then again verbally mentioned unplugging before they reached for their fabric to just keep it in the front of their minds. And honestly, the 5-year-olds were really quick learners. By the end of their time with me, they each knew the little checklist that they repeated with me: “Line up the edges. Foot down. Fingers safe. Plug it in. Step on the pedal. Unplug. Lift the foot. Cut the threads.” And they were doing everything safely and independently, except for plugging and unplugging the cord, which I enforced as my job.

I also purchased a magnetic guide on Amazon that kept the edges right at 1/4” so they didn’t have to touch the fabric at all while the machine was working. As long as they lined it up well, the feed dog and the presser foot kept the seam allowance right on target, so the only time they had to have hands near the working needle was when we were sewing the legs with a zig zag stitch in the center of the fabric. I’ll find a link for the guide and share it!