bkay

The only thing I've done is quilts. In Dallas, the 5th grade Talented and Gifted class has a module on quilts and their history. They learn to make a quilt as part of this. The first year I did it, they made a class quilt, with each choosing their squares for a 9 patch. Their 9 patch represented their years at their school. We made them with 5" squares. They used my accuquilt to cut the squares (they loved that). Some of the kids used some of my 5" I spy squares to represent themselves. We used green as the center square and white as 4 of the squares, so they only had to make or choose 4 squares. We assembled them into squares and then into a small quilt. I sandwiched it and they quilted it. Then, I bound it.

They then had to write a story and make a quilt that represented their story. They could make a quilt , pillow cover or wall hanging. On this, they could get help from parents, siblings, etc.

The second year they did it, we made wheelchair quilts for donation. Then we made a class quilt. It didn't go as well as the first year.

I did learn some things. Use a glue stick to hold the fabric together that they sew. It's hard for them to get the concept of "just a little", but it really helped. The second year, we used painters tape to make the sewing lines for quilting. If you use the tape, sew beside it, not on it. It's hard to get off if you sew on it. Another thing is to have a photo or drawing of how the machine is threaded.

bkay

I'll post some photos later. I have to reduce them.