Elementary school fundraising quilt
 

I need some ideas... I am putting together a quilt for our school's fundraiser. I will be supplying squares of muslin to 21 classrooms. Other than having the kids sign the blocks, what are some other ideas I can give the teachers for their squares? I am hesitant to suggest class pictures, I really don't want the expense of the printable fabric sheets. I have fabric markers, what are some other products I can suggest or supply to the classrooms?
Thanks for your help.

One year when I was a teacher, I had my students draw pictures showing some of the things we had learned during that school year. They drew the pictures on white paper, then held them over a window and retraced the design on the back with fabric crayons. Then I took the pictures and ironed them onto white fabric, stitched them together in a 4 patch and put them together with sashing. That little quilt brought in over $250 in a school auction, and that was 17 years ago!! I would suggest you decide on the size you want your blocks, draw a square that size leaving a frame for the seam allowances, and have the students draw the pictures on the paper first. You can erase on paper, if a mistake is made(spelling or just a miscue), a new piece of paper is much easier to work with than trying to fix it on fabric. Then, after the teacher has OK'd the student's drawing, have them trace over the design on the back with fabric crayons. They are doing most of the work for you & then you just have to find a pleasing arrangement and stitch it together. Also, if you have access to "room moms", I'd enlist their help.
I found that it helped my third graders to see me demo what worked best as far as a design--not a lot of details, more focused & clear. Also, we brainstormed a list first of what we had studied so far, students chose what topic they wanted to illustrate, and the drawing had to be approved by me first so I could check for accurace, clarity and spelling. It was a beautiful quilt!

Let me understand this -- how many squares of muslin does each classroom get? And how big are the squares?

You might want to check out the book entitled, "Handprint Quilts, Creating Children's Keepsakes with Paint and Fabric" by Marcia L. Layton. Instead of the traditional hand prints with names, her ideas include making designs with hand prints, including animals, flowers, hearts, etc. Some are embellished. In order to get contributions from lots of kids, you might want to consider a wide strip for each classroom to design -- her book shows flower gardens and other ideas for landscapes.

What a challenge!


Dayle

I am envisioning 400 kids possible with so many classrooms. You might need to have artwork on the backing in order to include everybody.

Last year our school had a fund raiser and they made four quilts of different designs. One was of the 1st and 2nd grade drew out their hands, another was a picture of penquins which they got off of the internet, drew the pictures on paper and then transferred them to fabric with crayola crayons.

Make sure they all leave at least 1/2 inch around the edges for the seam allowance you don't want to sew into any designs they may have made up to the edges. By using the 1/2 inch they should go over and when sewing the 1/4 seam allowance you should be safe.

We did a mosaic using wild life animals and it turned out awesome!!! The school raffled it off and it was a success! Good Luck!

Idea
 

Being a career educator, we made a quilt every year. One time we had kids trace their handprints on the muslin, and then with permanent paint markers they would color inside their handprint, and when finished they put their name on the block. It was one of the most colorful and memorable I think.
Best of luck with your efforts. Please post a pic of your quilt!!!!!

I love this idea... and one of my favorites was a piece of set dressing in the old tv show, West Wing. For years, the secretary's office had an american flag made of muslin (this formed the white stripes) with children's handprints forming the blue field and the red stripes... it was wonderful and I always thought it was a great idea. It will also help sales... it would actually be fast enough to make one in every class... sell one to every set of parents... the class' parents will compete, more money for your project... and very fast to print..

my wife and i did this one year. the quilt was designed to look like a book case. we printed the names of books they read and fused them to look like books on the shelves, interspersed with photos of the kids (on the playground, in class, etc). they put on a show where they sang yellow submarine, so printed out a yellow submarine and fused it to the quilt to look like it was resting on a shelf. also placed photos of the teachers, items relevant to their studies for the year (a globe, a lever)

If you go with tracing a picture with crayons, first Iron onto freezer paper cut to block size and use painters tape around edge, folded to stick to back too this keeps drawing and coloring out of your seam and helps with handling the fabric. you can still hold up to a window and see through.

Check the Crayola site for ideas about using crayons to make quilt blocks.