When I talked to my daughter's teacher at the beginning of the process, I asked for two class sessions to start, with the possibility of another class if it was needed. I also told him I might need to work with some students in small groups.
I'd never done a quilting project where the students would do so much of the project, and I really wasn't sure how well it would work.
The project itself is set up like this:
-I talked to the students a month before the project started, right before a field trip to the wetlands to explain the project. I showed them photos taken on one of the field trips of things I had seen (a spider, a snail, mushrooms, leaves, a heron, moss, lichen, etc) to give them an idea of what I meant by "details".
-On the first day of the project, we talked about details, using space, and keeping the images simple so that the fabric could be used to best advantage. Some pencil drawn accents were okay, but that they would be using fabric for the texture and color in their quilt. They were then asked to draw a line drawing using pencils on a 5" piece of paper.
-When the drawings were complete. They were given sheets of Fusible Web, a product that is a film of heat activated fabric glue on a paper backing. Using the web as tracing paper, they were to trace the different sections of their drawing.
Once an area was traced, they would move their Web and trace the next area.
If two pieces of fabric were going to be touching, they should leave a little extra (the dotted line) so one piece could slip under its neighbor.
This was the hardest part of the process to explain. I did bring in examples, but it was still difficult for them to grasp the concept. Some of the students traced their entire picture in one outline, other's didn't grasp the idea that each tracing would be only one fabric.
If I do this project like this again, I will need to rethink how to present this part of the project.
This is where the first class ended. Most of the students finished all of their tracing, which surprised me. In a thirty minute class, I had only expected half of the students to get this far.
Class two:
This class was allotted an hour time slot. In this class the students would choose their background fabric, the fabrics for their pictures, they would fuse their web to fabric, cut out their shapes, and fuse the shapes to the background.
Supplies:
-All the fabric scissors I could muster.
-irons and ironing surfaces with adults to operate them.
-back ground fabric precut into squares 5 1/2" square
-scraps for illustrating their drawings.
-black fabric pen for must-have details (only one student used this).
I brought in the Box of Possibilities (aka the neatly organized scrap box). I tried to shape the palate a little by removing most of the brights and juvenile prints from the box. I weighted the fabrics with browns, greens, blues, grays, and other earthy tones.
The squares of fabric in the upper left hand corner are the background squares. I used a variety of blues (including day and night sky patterns), tan, browns, and greens (including grass-like patterns).
I started the class by explaining what we were going to do.
-Choose a background fabric. I reminded them to think about contrast, and explained about the 1/4" seam allowance. (Their fabric was larger than their drawing because I would use a 1/4" (the width of a pencil) around the edge in my seam.)
-Cut the Web around each traced pattern piece. I stressed around, not on.
-Choose a fabric for each traced pattern piece.
-Have an adult iron the pattern piece to the back of the chosen fabric.
-Cut on the line of the pattern piece.
-Peel off the paper backing. The fusible web will stick to the back of the fabric, leaving shiny surface. The glue will need further heat to activate again. It will not stick to another piece of fabric without another trip under the iron.
-Position each fabric pattern piece with the shiny side down on the background fabric. Have an adult iron it into position.
-When all the fabric pieces are fixed in position, place the finished quilt square, with the original drawing in their envelope.
This is one of the student's pieces. I'm so pleased with how they all turned out.
To be thoroughly honest, the substitute teacher who was in the classroom looked at me like I was mad when I explained what we would do on the second class day. And, it was a wild hour, with my name being a constant chorus.
But, at the end of the hour, all but one student was finished (she finished within 5 minutes of the class being done) and the sub complimented me by saying how organized I'd been and how well the class had gone.
So now the classroom work is done, and my work is set to begin.
After Christmas, I will use the machine to topstitch the different elements of the quilt blocks using the original drawing for reference. The blocks will then be connected with black sashing, layered with batting, and turned into a wall hanging. I'll post more photos when the project is finished.