I was so sad...
05-17-2012, 04:49 PM
#81
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,904
Originally Posted by LauraRG
I work with preschoolers and for Mother's Day this year I thought it would be fun learning experience if they got to use a sewing machine to sew a pillow for their moms. I cut the fronts of white muslin and the backs of an assortment of pretty fabrics. The children used fabric markers to make a picture and write their names on the fronts and chose fabric for the backs. We read a couple of books about fabric and talked about our clothing, blankets and other textiles.
Here's what made me sad... of my class of 9 children not a single one had ever seen a sewing machine. I showed them the parts, they helped thread it, how it worked, etc and they were so excited by the process. I put the foot pedal on the table next to the machine... they "hit the gas" using their hands and I guided the fabric. (I used a s l o w speed!) It was a smashing success! Even sadder, only one of my co-workers owns a sewing machine. One mom did come in and say her son couldn't stop talking about using "Miss Laura's Machine" to the point where she took the plants off the top of her great grandmother's treadle machine to show it to him.
At least now there are 9 more humans who have seen, touched and used a sewing machine. Maybe one of them willl become a quilter!
Laura
Here's what made me sad... of my class of 9 children not a single one had ever seen a sewing machine. I showed them the parts, they helped thread it, how it worked, etc and they were so excited by the process. I put the foot pedal on the table next to the machine... they "hit the gas" using their hands and I guided the fabric. (I used a s l o w speed!) It was a smashing success! Even sadder, only one of my co-workers owns a sewing machine. One mom did come in and say her son couldn't stop talking about using "Miss Laura's Machine" to the point where she took the plants off the top of her great grandmother's treadle machine to show it to him.
At least now there are 9 more humans who have seen, touched and used a sewing machine. Maybe one of them willl become a quilter!
Laura
while visiting grand children I interduced 2 grand daughters to rag quilt making, we used jean and flannel fabrics hope to finish it this year in time for them to enter in in the fair.
05-17-2012, 04:59 PM
#82
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: S. W. Indiana
Posts: 7,484
Originally Posted by Sadiemae
It is sad. I would volunteer time to teach kids to quilt, but it would never be allowed in the schools here!!! Most of the public schools will not allow anything that will not help them to pass the TESTS. I have a friend who still teaches, and she is not even allowed to do an art project unless it is written into the reading or math curriuculum. No Child Left Behind has really changed the schools here, not always for the better.
there's always the possibility of starting an after school club devoted to quilting (&/or other handiwork)
05-17-2012, 05:02 PM
#83
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: S. W. Indiana
Posts: 7,484
Originally Posted by MaryLane
Different time and place, I suppose. I wanted to be taken seriously for math and science skills. Domestic skill seemed girly to me and at that time the last thing I wanted to be seen as was girly. I also learned by about age 7 to NEVER admit my mother or I had made my clothes. I lived in a small town and was teased unmercifully about wearing "home made".
I, too, learned to cook and sew without home ec classes. Part of the embarrassment was because it took so LITTLE to win that award. I wanted to be seen as far more accomplished than THAT.
Different time, different place.
I, too, learned to cook and sew without home ec classes. Part of the embarrassment was because it took so LITTLE to win that award. I wanted to be seen as far more accomplished than THAT.
Different time, different place.
05-17-2012, 05:28 PM
#84
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Saratoga, Arkansas
Posts: 1,909
quiltingshortimer, your IQ story reminds me of a similar test being given to my little neighbor about 40 years ago. It had to do with identifying a clothesline and she couldn't because all of us in the neighborhood had dryers and she had never seen a clothesline in use. So as technology and society changes, we're sometimes surprised to find out what they don't know. It would be nice if kids could learn sewing at school, but since that may not be likely maybe we sewers could volunteer at community centers or churches to pass along this wonderful hobby and art. I know many of us make charity projects, maybe in the summer we could give kids a place to go and provide them the chance to participate in giving to charity. Just thinking out loud here. I certainly don't blame their mothers for not teaching them. A lot of women work outside the home and then come home to cook, do the wash, help with homework, and bath the kids. I know they are beat by the time there is an extra minute.
05-17-2012, 05:42 PM
#86
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Indiana
Posts: 450
Originally Posted by GrannieAnnie
I started grade school in 1953 and graduated high school in 1965, never one time was I teased about home made clothes---which I made for myself from grade 5
On the other hand, my mom's friends were amazed at how well I sewed. But I sewed out of necessity not pleasure. It was only when my sons were in college and THEIR girlfriends thought it was great that I took pride in it. In my step-family it was considered cheap to give a gift home made. My girls love them.
05-17-2012, 06:16 PM
#87
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 714
About 50 years ago my cousin was asked to boil some water so my aunts could have tea. She didn't know how to do it and was concerned she would burn the water! It seems that too many moms have gone to work and don't do any baking, cooking, sewing, crafting like I did growing up. I had to grow up fast due to family situation. I made my first Thanksgiving turkey at 12 years of age and wasn't allowed to take sewing in school as my mom said I already knew how and didn't need to waste a class on something I already knew. Everyone seems to be so busy trying to get all the latest "this and that" and have missed out on the creative side of themselves. The guild I belong to is now meeting with children to teach how to sew and quilt. It will be a lost art along with many other things unless we all try to share our craft and get others interested as well.
05-17-2012, 07:00 PM
#88
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Salisbury, North Carolina
Posts: 1,046
Oh dear Laura,
What an ingenious idea. As a retired teacher, I understand the need to add a new dimension to a child's experience. Before I retired I was director and teacher for a group of pregnant and parenting teens in an alternative school. One of the skills I thought all girls and boys should have was learning how to sew. They all enjoyed it so much and we ended up with some really talented students who I am sure will one day persue sewing as they become situated and stable. I have started collecting vintage and newer machines at thrift stores for $15.00 and under, refurbishing them, and giving them to the students who continue to be interested. Bless you for your initiative in bringing something new and useful into those preschoolers' lives. My mother never sewed, but I learned in 8th grade home ec. My mom gave me my first machine in 1959, a Singer Centennial Featherweight. The first thing I made was slipcovers and curtains. I was 18 years old. I still have it and it works as well as it did back then.
What an ingenious idea. As a retired teacher, I understand the need to add a new dimension to a child's experience. Before I retired I was director and teacher for a group of pregnant and parenting teens in an alternative school. One of the skills I thought all girls and boys should have was learning how to sew. They all enjoyed it so much and we ended up with some really talented students who I am sure will one day persue sewing as they become situated and stable. I have started collecting vintage and newer machines at thrift stores for $15.00 and under, refurbishing them, and giving them to the students who continue to be interested. Bless you for your initiative in bringing something new and useful into those preschoolers' lives. My mother never sewed, but I learned in 8th grade home ec. My mom gave me my first machine in 1959, a Singer Centennial Featherweight. The first thing I made was slipcovers and curtains. I was 18 years old. I still have it and it works as well as it did back then.
05-17-2012, 08:43 PM
#89
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Bacliff, TX on Galveston Bay
Posts: 1,174
I volunteer at our small Christian school, where we have 9 students. Last month we made small pillows for their mothers and they got to use my Bernina sewing machine. Very similar to your story!! The kids loved it!! They see me at school and want to know what "Art" project they are going to make! I really enjoy that, too.
05-17-2012, 09:04 PM
#90
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: AR
Posts: 3,604
Originally Posted by KarenR
I realize that many kids do not even know where their food comes from if you ask them they say the grocery store.
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