More Bears Added to the Bear Family

We begin all bears with a face. The students can choose buttons, beads or thread for the eyes, nose and mouth. Some students add bracelets, "clothes" or earrings. After they are stuffed, I put out ribbon and it is used in many different ways.

Young Students Sewing for the First Time

Teaching people to sew is one of my favorite activities. When I am teaching children, sometimes as young as three, I show them how to put the needle in the fabric and pull the thread up and then put the needle down through the fabric and pull down, then do it again. I give them scraps and let them to what they will. We then move on to a small felt object, usually a teddy bear. There is always someone who will have to expand on the idea...... as your will see in the first photo. They get so much pleasure making a fabric collage with many different pieces of fabric and at the same time they get the feel of a needle and thread.

Gyotaku

We had so much fun printing with rubber fish. Some children chose to put the fish on pieces of fabric to frame and hang in their rooms, some children chose to put the fish on t-shirts, all the kids had fun!

Success!!!!

Watching children learn to sew is heartwarming. After learning to thread a needle we began this bird by stitching up and down for an eye, then by sewing on the wings. We glued the beak in place, glued the two sides in place and just began to stitch. I love the piece of trim added to this bird. A student saw the scrap in my bag and asked if she could use it on her bird....adorable.