Project Shopping

I think every leader has had the experience where an 8 year old beginner in the Clothing and Textile project comes to them with their project chosen and the pattern and fabric purchased. You find she has chosen a skirt with a zipper, waistband, pleats and a lining. And the fabric is a slippery polyester!

To avoid this situation, I have found it is very helpful to go to the fabric store with my students when they are choosing the pattern, fabric and notions. In our club there are 27 4-Hers enrolled in the Clothing and Textile Projects and it can be a challenge to meet with all of them! I choose two or three dates that I will be at the fabric store and they meet me there on the date that suits their schedule. I am there to help them choose their pattern and fabric and to answer any questions. I can also act as an advisor when there is disagreement between the child and the adult about the appropriateness of a particular pattern or fabric. 

This year, I made a form to help them with the shopping process. It makes it easier for each 4-Her to check that they have all the notions and supplies that they need for their project.  The form can be printed out and given to each 4-Her before they come to the store. Students complete the section about their measurements before they shop.  I prefer that a parent/guardian take the measurements at home. I remember being very embarrassed by this as a young seamstress—I would have been humiliated to have my measurements taken in front of my friends!


Here is the form (Just click on it to print for yourself):

The rest of the form is filled out at the store and when it is completed they should have everything they need for the project. There is a place to fill out information about the fabric; the fabric fiber and care is something that we often forget to record and it will be needed if they are going to participate in Fashion Revue! I remind the 4-Hers that this form can be used as a reference when completing these forms—I know that sometimes they are lucky if they can find the pattern envelope by then!

I encourage my 4-Hers to look at patterns online and to let me know what they have in mind for a project. Ideally, a student begins sewing at age 8 and will spend about 3 years as a beginner, 3 years on intermediate projects and 4 years as an advanced seamstress. If the student follows this progression, these are the projects I encourage them to make:

• Beginner—pillowcase, apron, elastic waist garment
• Intermediate—shift or sundress, elastic waist garment and top, simple garment (one or two pieces) with a zipper
• Advanced—Projects with increasing difficulty where students will learn a new technique each year.

I remind them repeatedly that they need to think simple—the project will take more time to complete than they realize! A simple project done well is better than a complicated project done poorly!

Make sure that students have chosen a pattern that is appropriate to their skills. For example, when I suggest an apron as a project, I mean a simple apron and not a difficult apron! If the student or the parent does not have sewing experience they may not be able to gauge the difficulty of the pattern by looking at the photograph or drawing.

Happy Sewing,

maureen

A Great Weekend at the State 4-H Leader Forum!

 
I am now somewhat recovered from the Leader Forum held this weekend at the Penn Stater at State College. It is a true adrenalin rush for me--but then I am always pooped afterward! I so enjoy being with other like-minded youth-oriented adults. 4-H and its philosophy of Learn by Doing and Making the Best Better are so much a part of me.

Of course, leading two workshops--Sew-lympics and the Sewing Leaders Roundtable--was a great pleasure. Maureen and I are committed to helping us all to maintain the 4-H Clothing and Textiles program here in Pennsylvania. Meeting so many of you on Saturday fuels our fires. We hope that the leaders who attended got some ideas that will help them stay energized in their home clubs and counties, too.

The Sew-lympics workshop had two purposes:

1. 1.  To refresh/teach club leaders' sewing skills and knowledge
2. 2.  To give you some activities that you may adapt, use as is, or use as inspiration to make completely new ones in your own club.

We were happy to hear people say that they may use the materials at some regional fashion revues, with some clubs that don't currently offer sewing projects but do have children who wear clothing (the 4-H clothing projects do have things to offer even those who don't sew!), and in some community clubs. We invite you to use them or modify them any way you wish. Please, share your experiences with others, too. If you do something that works really well, or something that completely flops, share that with us, so that others can learn and use them well in their clubs. (See the Leaders Helping Leaders tab at the top of this page!)

We promised that we would supply electronic copies of the Sew-lympics events, but it seems that I can't post pdf's on our blog (we have a lot to learn about blogging!) I have posted three seven all ten of the activites at the bottom of this page. I am working to convert the rest to a blog-friendly format. They should be here by Wednesday!  Finally, I am finished! 

When they are all posted, I will send copies/links to everyone who requested them at the Leader Forum.  You don't have to wait for those copies/links, though; just click on them (below) and print!

Thought for the day: If you have a full sewing group, that is great! If you could work with more kids this year, let your newspaper or radio station know, or spread the word at a local fabric store, or tell the people at your church, or tell the principal or guidance counselor at the elementary school, or tell the school parent group, or....! Let's get as many kids sewing as we can!

Yours in 4-H,

Linda

Alpine Skiing--Pins p.1

Alpine Skiing--pins p. 3

Alpine Skiing--Pins p. 2

Curling p. 1

Curling p.2

Archery--Sewing Accurately

Swimming--Fit and muslins

Cross-Country Skiing--Tailor's hem

Backstroke--Using Back-tacks

Weight Lifting--Pattern Weights

Slalom--Woven or Knit?

Javelin--needles p. 1

Javelin--needles p. 3

Javelin--needles p. 2

Skeleton--Boning p. 1

Skeleton--Boning p. 2

THE PERILS OF CHOOSING A PROJECT--avoid my disasters!

Choosing the right project is a challenge for those of us who sew with kids—or with anyone who is still learning, for that matter! The key is to make sure that they have some challenge or new skill, plenty of repeated skills, and an end-product article or ensemble that they are excited about wearing. A few times this process has gone terribly wrong for me and my charges. Fortunately, we came out of it on the other side—stronger and wiser!

Scene One: my daughter's first year in 4-H. My daughter had been sewing by my side since she was four, but she hadn’t really done any garment sewing. I would say what she had been doing was “playing”. Now, we parents know that a child’s “playing” is their work—they are working to make sense of the world and how they fit in to it. She had done that—but I hadn’t really taught her to sew yet. Yes, she could control the machine, knew about back-tacking, could thread the machine, and she was motivated. I think I was more motivated, though. I thought my 8-year old could handle a simple sleeveless dress— no darts, no zipper, but facings at the neck and armhole.

Boy, was I wrong!I had decided that I would make a dress for her from the same pattern at the same time, so that I could demonstrate every step for her. Then she would go to her machine and do what I had just done—in my dreams! We had our respective dresses cut out, and we started to sew. I don’t remember if she had even stay-stitched yet, but at some point early in the game, it became clear that she was panicking about the project and that she didn’t really understand how the facings would go on, be trimmed and understitched, and create an edge. I realize now that I was asking for just too much abstract thinking from an 8-year old. In addition, I was asking her to use fine-motor skills that probably weren’t “there” yet, either.

How did I solve it? I admitted that I was wrong. We back-tracked and started with the more traditional first-year sew-er project in our 4-H club. She made a simple pair of pull on pants—from inexpensive cotton that had a small print in it (which helps to camouflage tiny errors in our sewing, by the way!). It was perfect! There was a little bit of curved seaming (at the crotch) but mostly straight sewing; she learned to make an elastic casing and insert elastic, she learned how to finish seams and hand hem using a catch stitch. That was a plenty-long list of new skills for one young girl. (I finished the pretty little dress that she had begun and she wore that to Fashion Revue for the times before and after competition, when she wasn’t in her just right pants and the cute little purchased sweater set that she wore with them.) Please pardon the photo quality--taken before I had a digital camera.

Finding the right balance between your enthusiasm (or your reluctance to get too complicated), your student’s enthusiasm, budget, goals, etc. is a challenge. When it is your own child, it may be easier to read skill levels and aspirations(although some people say that they can’t sew with their own kids—that would make me sad—sewing has been a wonderful bond for my daughter and me).

Scene Two: A few years ago I worked with a young lady who bit off more than she could chew (with my acquiescence—I hadn’t completely learned the lesson from my daughter’s dress, evidently), and we almost lost her from sewing because of it. Thankfully, her mother talked to me about her daughter’s concerns and we broke down the project into manageable chunks that seemed more reasonable. We decided that she didn’t have to make the top that she had been planning; the wool jacket and slacks would be more than enough for the project. I changed my “charge-y” style a bit to suit her personality. I encouraged and praised more than I had been and we got through the tough time. That was four or five years ago. I am pleased to say that, each year since then, she has chosen more and more advanced articles/ensembles and has learned to break down seemingly daunting projects into more do-able pieces. She is headed to fashion design school in the fall, thanks to her talent and our willingness to work together to choose appropriate projects for her—adding a few new skills each year that have added up to some outstanding ensembles with excellent workmanship.

Some points to remember:

• Assess the skills and experience that the child already has--it's good to repeat and reinforce skills that have already been used in previous projects.
• Discuss what new skills you think would be a logical addition in the next garment(s)--you want to add at least one or two new skills, but not too many!
• Discuss how all of that can be manifested in a particular garment that the child will be excited about wearing.
• Keep the lines of communication open so you know if there is trouble in paradise.

The goal is to have happy sew-ists who are building skills and the confidence that they can do it again in their next garment—perhaps with you helping them less and less with each project.

One of my great satisfactions is seeing the kids that I have worked with remember and use a skill that they learned last year (or last week). So gratifying!

More another time about a logical progression of skills and some specific suggestions of things to make. In the meantime, you might like this chart that will help you with that task: Sewing Skills Progress Chart

Teach ‘em to sew—you’ll learn and they’ll learn!

Linda

Starting the Projects

The first meeting of the intermediate sewing group went well. Two members cut out their garments. Other members are still shopping for fabric and some of them will be going to Fabric Mart.

At our next meeting the beginners will be learning how to operate a sewing machine and practice stitching. We start by sewing on a piece of paper without thread in the machine. Students learn  how to start and stop the machine, how to control their speed, how to back stitch and to raise and lower the presser foot. Then we put thread in the machine and practice sewing!