Advanced Sewing and Color Theory for Middle Schoolers

My daughter implemented color theory to create a beautiful table runner.

Last week I described a few of my sewing educational goals for my daughter as well as her first project; a robe. Since she hopes to be a designer in the future, I thought a good skill to improve would be her knowledge and use of color. Therefore, one item on the list of acceptable school activities was learn about color theory and create a table runner implementing the newfound knowledge.

The first thing she did was read the book Color Play by Joen Wolfrom. This book is written for quilters and begins by explaining the color wheel, and how colors relate to the seasons. Tints are colors that contain white, shades are colors that contain black and tones are colors that contain gray. It goes on to explain analogous and complementary colors then describes color combinations that work well together, the reasons why they are appealing and many examples.

Once she was finished reading the book she used the quilting program within Bernina Embroidery Software 8 to design her table runner. What she did using this program could have been done using a paper and colored pencils. The point was for her to make a plan before beginning to sew.

 Once the plan was made she selected fabric and began cutting and piecing.

I love the way she used the complementary colors of yellow and lavender as well as many of their tints and shades to move around the table runner.

I think reading this color theory book will have a big impact on the clothes she creates this year, but we will have to wait and see.

Advanced Sewing with Middle Schoolers

My sixth grader is learning much about sewing techniques.

This year, the kids have had a lot of say over their education. Though they don't have complete autonomy, they can select from a list of acceptable topics/activities or suggest their own. My goals are for them to become independent learners excited about what they are studying. In addition, I want them to persevere through difficulties and explore a wide variety of material implementing and enhancing their current skills as well as reading, writing and math skills. I've written several posts describing my son's exploits with Xcode, and now I have to tell you about my daughter.

She loves SEWING and DESIGN and HANDS-ON projects, so it was no surprise to me when she decided to sew a robe, learn about color theory and then implement what she learned by creating a table runner, and refinish a small cabinet. Reading a book on Greek Mythology was not a complete surprise, but a welcome addition to her crafty endeavors.

Last year we spent one day per week sewing a very elaborate quilt. My mom, I and my daughter each created a similar quilt. The project involved a multitude of new sewing and machine embroidery techniques. We all learned a ton.

This year we want to continue learning to sew, but one goal of mine is to make sure my daughter is continually learning when in school. Therefore, if she wants to sew, I would like her to sew something new or incorporate a new technique. Since sewing day last year was all about the quilt, it makes sense that this year should be all about clothes.

Her first project of the year was making a robe. Although she has created a few clothes items from patterns, reading patterns is a skill that she can definitely improve. To make the robe she selected the fabric, and worked with my mom to read the pattern. Most of the skills required to sew the robe were familiar to her, but she learned to match dots and marks within the pattern, put in sleeves and sew a square of stitching at the end of the belt rather than a straight line to hold the stitching in better.

Proud is my word for the year. I am proud of her and she is proud of herself. This was one great project for starting the year.

Learning to be a Designer

For over a year now my youngest child has stated she wants to be a designer. More specifically, she is referring to a clothes designer.

When she was five years old she met Denise DeMarchis, creator of the Matilda Jane clothing company. At the same time she met three other individuals connected to Matilda Jane. Shortly after that she began talking about becoming a designer, and for the last year she seems quite convinced that is what she would like to do.

My daughter is a creative child who loves art and would create and sew the entire day if possible. Because she wants to be a designer, at least for now, we are doing as much as possible to incorporate that into her education. For her computer work, she is learning how to draw using the free vector graphics program Inkscape. She watched a Netflix series on Art and Design and we are sewing again this year.

Sewing has been the highlight of her school week for two years now. My mom is a sewing fanatic and has been teaching my daughter and I everything she knows. Here is a glimpse of a few of the projects she has completed this year.

Snowman Potholder: This project involved sewing machine in-the-hoop applique and the chenille technique of fraying appliqued fabric, as well as incorporating heat protective layers into sewing projects.

 Christmas Tree Pillow: Paper piecing is a quilting technique for creating detailed designs with a pattern.

 Snowman and Christmas Tree Wall Hangings: These projects involved sewing with the blanket stitch, fusible wonder under for applique, applying rhinestones, and sewing on buttons with the sewing machine.

Flower Pillow: This pillow was sewing on the serger sewing machine and incorporated piping and unique fabric tucks.

Puffy Pillow: This pillow used texture magic, a heat sensitive product that puffs up when exposed to the heat from an iron. The iron actually never touches the material.

Batik Fabric Dying: These two pieces of fabric were created in a class to learn techniques of Batik Fabric creation. Wax was used as a resist and ironed off to remove from the fabric.

Design is a field that can go in many directions and there is an endless supply of machines and techniques to learn. Projects are varied and endless. Sewing day is not only the favorite day of the week for my youngest, but it is my favorite school day as well. I love learning and creating along with her.

Super Art Lessons for Kids

I found an excellent source for art lessons.

With all the art resources available on the internet, it has always been time consuming to narrow down projects. So many choices makes selecting activities that the kids will learn from a challenge. In addition, with a limited art background, it can be difficult to choose projects that increase in difficulty. But I recently hit the jackpot!

With the internet still increasing in use, many schools are putting lessons on-line. The courses labeled Anderson Art at the Gilman school are proving to be a fabulous resource. The teacher has a years worth of lessons for each of the middle school grades. They are in power point format and are easy to follow if you have a little knowledge of art.  We have completed the abstract animal watercolor project and are working on abstract trees. I'm loving the simplicity of planning art!

Abstract Animals

 Select an animal that matches your personality.

 Sketch the animal using shapes.

 The website contains several more steps which include drawing organic and geometric shapes to divide the background.

 There are also instructions for beginning with primary colors and then mixing colors to form secondary colors and tints.

 We used our Zentangle book for inspiration in filling in the background with designs.

Austrailan Dot Painting for Kids

We created an Australian dot painting.

Dot painting is interesting because it is both an ancient and modern art form. Dating back thousands of years, some native aboriginal people used dot painting in conjunction with story telling to explain belief systems. Many traditions incorporated symbols to represent common story subjects such as trails, campfires and people. However, native people did not paint exclusively with dots. Different regions of Australian natives had different art traditions.

In more recent times, dot painting has become recognizable as a native art form. Although the last natives to paint in the traditional way died out in the 1960's, descendants have carried on and changed the art. Dot painting is a very popular souvenir and many artists have taken notice.

This video is a good introduction to dot painting.

In creating our dot paintings, the kids had to incorporate a minimum of three traditional symbols and tell a story of a recent experience.

Curved U-shapes indicate men.

Concentric circles are symbols of camp sites, and wavy lines indicate a journey.

Short and tall lines indicate children and adults.

Welcome back to school. Art class rocks!

Math with Mandalas: Perpendicular Bisector

We learned about bisecting angles and perpendicular bisectors through creating Mandalas.

Creating Mandalas with children is a fun way to teach math concepts that doesn't feel like work. Kids can learn about degrees, angles, bisecting, radius, diameter, circumference, perpendicular, parallel among other geometry concepts.

To begin, all that's needed is a good quality compass, paper and a straight edge (like a ruler). There is an endless possibility of mandalas that can be created. We have a book of simple geometric mandalas and find it very educational to try to recreate them. Interestingly enough, there usually ends up being more than one way each mandala can be created. In other words, sometimes steps can proceed in different orders, or alternative steps can be used which arrive at the same result. After walking kids step-by-step through the creation of several mandalas, I like to give them a challenge mandala and see if they can create one on their own.

Each mandala created requires some construction lines which end up being erased in the final version. Therefore, it's best to draw them lightly. Here are the steps we used to create the above mandala.

1. Draw a horizontal line on your paper with a straight edge. The line should be approximately the diameter of the outside circle. Set the compass radius to slightly greater than on half of the line. Place the pointer on the end of the line and create an arc above the line. Create another arc below the line. Repeat placing the compass point on the other end of the line.

2. Create a perpendicular bisector by using a straight edge to connect the two crossing arc points.

3. Set the compass radius to the desired radius for the center circle. Draw the center circle placing the compass point on the point where the two lines cross.

4. Bisect the perpendicular angles. Place the compass point on one point where the circle and straight line cross. Create an arc just outside the center circle. Repeat the process placing the compass point on the adjacent point where the circle and other straight line cross. The two small arcs should cross.

5. Bisect the angle connecting the center point of the circle and the crossing arc point with a straight edge.

6. Repeat the process to bisect the other 90 degree angle.

7. Find the center point for one of the eight surrounding circles. Referring back to the first picture, you can see that the center is difficult to locate, but a tangent point on the edge of each of the eight surrounding circles lies on the point where the 45 degree angle line and center circle cross. Therefore, set the compass radius to the same radius as the center circle. Place the compass point on the point where the 45 degree line and center circle cross. Create an arc to mark the center of the circle crossing the vertical line.

8. Create one of the eight surrounding circles. Place the compass point on the point where the vertical line and arc meet. Draw the circle.

9. Repeat the process creating three more circles.

10.  Using the same method, repeat the process to create the four arcs which are not quite complete circles.

11. Draw the outer circle. Open the compass so the radius is set for the size of the outer circle measuring the point with the sketched geometry.

12. Erase all construction and undesired lines.

13. Use a sharpie or black marker to define the desired lines.

14. Color the mandala any way you choose.