Encouraging Creativity
My daughter has been taking clothing and textiles at school for the last couple of years. She gets very frustrated with the projects her middle aged teachers get her to complete and the time it takes to complete relatively simple projects. Courtz has been wanting to make a sweatshirt for quite some time now, but until recently it would have involved too much intervention from myself which often results in frustration for both of us. After school on Friday we visited the fabric shop and she chose her fabric and yesterday we both cut it out based on a rtw sweatshirt she loves the fit of and her brothers school sweat she liked the fit of the neck of. The applique on the front was based on a popular brand she likes and the fabric is a remnant I have had in my stash since she was little, bought to trim some toddler overalls with and never used. She left the applique with a raw edge to weather in a style that is popular in rtw clothing. She took her time and overlocked all of the seams and topstitched them down as well. She is very pleased with the results, claiming it is her biggest success yet, although I beg to differ as I am pretty pleased with the beautiful appliqued bag she made me for Christmas. Courtz cannot believe that something that would take her a whole term in class, actually only took a few hours to complete at home. I wouldn't mind betting we make another visit to the fabric shop this week for more fabric for another sweat.
How cool is that! I love the applique.
ReplyDeleteMy older daughter had the great good fortune to have a fabulous home ec teacher, and was allowed to expand the class projects to her skill level. (eg:She has tie-dyed, hand embroidered pj trousers with a pieced insert) My younger daughter had the other sort. She made an apron in class and a Burda 2 dot dress at home. At least there is some textile work at school - and the boys have to do it too.
She looks deservedly happy with her cute new sweatshirt, and it is wonderful to experience lots of success at sewing your own clothes in your teens, hopefully a love she will then carry on into adulthood!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had a stifling home ec experience too. She has been accustomed to making her own clothes for years, including fly front jeans and putting invisible zips into her skirts and dresses... and enters a class where they take weeks to make a pair of elastic waist boxer shorts. It was just ridiculously basic. That was when I first realised she was actually quite advanced, and I was glad I had encouraged her by having high expectations of her skills.
I had bad experiences with textiles class as well. I am pleased Kbenco that there are some supportive textiles teachers out there but there are definitely a lot that try to stomp on creativity and talent. When my daughter was making denim shorts, I showed her how to adjust for her sway back and her teacher told her off for not making the shorts to the pattern...well hello, they weren't going to fit her unless she adjusted them! Anyway, she is now so bored in textiles class she is dropping this subject next year.
ReplyDelete