Simple Weaving

This is a very simple little project for Kindergarteners or first graders, plus it's a great way to use up scraps of fabric, felt and trim. I simply used white glue to attach the four large popsicle sticks. The red string is a lightweight cotton yarn. I tied each piece to the popsicle stick and secured them with a drop of glue. You will want an odd number of strings so that the ends of the cloth are both either "over" or "under" the end sticks.

I had a tray with these materials set up at an art camp this summer. It was an activity about the process as much as the end product, and did not involve any messy clean-up.

Draw a Face, Make a Pillow

When my son went off to college we bought him a quilted mattress topper in an attempt to offset the discomfort of the dorm bed. Well, he's only a junior, but the stuffing in the mattress topper shifted and it no longer was able to serve its intended purpose. Nothing seems to wear today. I didn't want to just dump it in the trash, so the idea of making pillows with my five year old art class was born. I cut the mattress topper into sections, removed the stuffing and laundered the cover in hot water. I then sewed together three of the sides. I made the example pictured to show the children using permanent markers. We talked about how any face is made up of two shapes for the eyes, a shape for the nose and one for the mouth. Designing our pillow was not dissimilar from cutting a jack-o-lantern. We tried not to fixate on making the face look like anything in particular, so that there would be no worries about the outcome for the children who are not comfortable with their drawing skills. What they came up with was charming. We had a cat, a pig, a princess and some other wonderful characters that would be difficult to even classify. I brought them home to stuff and will miss seeing them lined up on my couch when I take them back to school.

Printing on Tees

It's always fun to be able to wear your art! I wanted to make some prints on tee shirts using scratch foam and acrylic paint. I drew the bicycle directly onto the scratch foam and then cut out the shape. I used a paint brush to mix together Golden fabric painting medium, and two colors of acrylic paint (one color is Martha Stewart's acrylic paint that is specifically for fabric). The Golden medium makes the paint stay put on the fabric and not wash out. I used a brayer to spread the paint onto my scratch foam bike and then pressed it onto the tee. After the image had dried I set the paint by ironing the back for three minutes. I would recommend washing your garment by hand the first time to make sure that it does not run. This is a great project to do with children and it is not necessary to run out and buy a bunch of new tees to try it on. Experiment with what you have on hand. It's a fun way to add life to a garment that you might be a little tired of. You can also print off both sides of the scratch foam printing plate, so your bikes can be heading to the left or to the right.

"Batiked" Child's Chef Apron

I've been trying to come up with projects to do with children that use fabric since a friend gave me about 20 yards of a shiny synthetic cloth. The apron shape is cut out using pinking shears. The designs in the apron are created using an adaptation of batik. Instead of using hot wax I "drew" the designs on the fabric with Elmer's washable glue gel. After allowing the glue to dry overnight I painted the apron with diluted acrylic paint. Once the paint dried I washed the apron in the sink with hot water to melt the glue leaving the white designs that you can see in the photo. The paint can be set by tossing the apron in a hot dryer. The ties are grosgrain ribbon.