Week 6: Soft Engineering: Sewing & Plush Design
July 25 - July 29
Instructor: Amy Brown
There’s something you touch every day that is an engineering marvel: fabric! Sewing and pattern design is as common as the shirt on your back and the sheets you sleep on. How are these things made? We will learn the basic skills to sew fabric and experiment in turning 2D drawings into 3D fabric objects. If it exists, we can make a stuffed version of it! Skills to look forward to include sewing, embroidery, pattern design, mending and more.
July 25 - July 29
Instructor: Amy Brown
There’s something you touch every day that is an engineering marvel: fabric! Sewing and pattern design is as common as the shirt on your back and the sheets you sleep on. How are these things made? We will learn the basic skills to sew fabric and experiment in turning 2D drawings into 3D fabric objects. If it exists, we can make a stuffed version of it! Skills to look forward to include sewing, embroidery, pattern design, mending and more.
Monday (July 25th)
9:00am Housekeeping and intros - Hi, I’m Amy!
9:10am Ice Breaker activity: Personal Dance Moves
● Standing in a circle, each camper introduces themselves with an alliterative adjective (i.e. Hilarious Hugo) and a short dance move that goes with it. The group will repeat the name and mirror the dance move. At the end, the whole group will dance all the moves one by one.
9:30am Activity/Lesson: Let’s make a ball (pre-cut cotton circles, pre-cut felt circles, stuffing, thread, needles)
● Turn a 2D circle of fabric into a 3D sphere (ball)
● Learn to make a running stitch and tie a knot
10:00am BREAK
10:15am Activity/Lesson: Patching and Appliqué (fabric markers)
● Cover opening on ball with a patch
● Learn the whip stitch
● May also cut out arms/legs/tentacles to sandwich between patch and ball
● Decorate pincushion with fabric marker
10:30am Discussion: What in the world is fabric?
● Types of fabric - how are they different
● How many different sewn objects can we find on ourselves?
● What else do you see in the room?
10:40am Activity/Lesson: Sewing with knits (pre-cut fleece rectangles)
● Different from woven fabrics - it’s stretchy!
● Learn blanket stitch
● Sew rectangle and stuff
● How are the finished shapes different from each other?
11:00am Activity/Lesson: Connections (magnets, fabric scraps)
● Use applique to attach two magnets to your sewn object (back and front or end to end)
● Connect entire class’s creations to form a chain or circle
● How else could we use magnets to create an easy costume piece?
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Discussion: Stuffed ANYTHING (sketchbook pages, reflection)
● If you could make a stuffie of anything in the world, what would it be?
● What about this object drives your curiosity?
● What are some challenges you might face in making it?
12:45pm TINKER TIME Intro to Tinker Journal
Activity option of CHICKEN PILLOW (pre-cut cotton rectangles, felt, stuffing)
2:15pm Snack
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
2:45pm Clean Up
3:00pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
9:00am Housekeeping and intros - Hi, I’m Amy!
9:10am Ice Breaker activity: Personal Dance Moves
● Standing in a circle, each camper introduces themselves with an alliterative adjective (i.e. Hilarious Hugo) and a short dance move that goes with it. The group will repeat the name and mirror the dance move. At the end, the whole group will dance all the moves one by one.
9:30am Activity/Lesson: Let’s make a ball (pre-cut cotton circles, pre-cut felt circles, stuffing, thread, needles)
● Turn a 2D circle of fabric into a 3D sphere (ball)
● Learn to make a running stitch and tie a knot
10:00am BREAK
10:15am Activity/Lesson: Patching and Appliqué (fabric markers)
● Cover opening on ball with a patch
● Learn the whip stitch
● May also cut out arms/legs/tentacles to sandwich between patch and ball
● Decorate pincushion with fabric marker
10:30am Discussion: What in the world is fabric?
● Types of fabric - how are they different
● How many different sewn objects can we find on ourselves?
● What else do you see in the room?
10:40am Activity/Lesson: Sewing with knits (pre-cut fleece rectangles)
● Different from woven fabrics - it’s stretchy!
● Learn blanket stitch
● Sew rectangle and stuff
● How are the finished shapes different from each other?
11:00am Activity/Lesson: Connections (magnets, fabric scraps)
● Use applique to attach two magnets to your sewn object (back and front or end to end)
● Connect entire class’s creations to form a chain or circle
● How else could we use magnets to create an easy costume piece?
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Discussion: Stuffed ANYTHING (sketchbook pages, reflection)
● If you could make a stuffie of anything in the world, what would it be?
● What about this object drives your curiosity?
● What are some challenges you might face in making it?
12:45pm TINKER TIME Intro to Tinker Journal
Activity option of CHICKEN PILLOW (pre-cut cotton rectangles, felt, stuffing)
2:15pm Snack
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
2:45pm Clean Up
3:00pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
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Tuesday (July 26th)
9:00am Warm Up: Sew what?! (paper, pencil, markers) (sketch pages)
● Now that we have learned some stitches, what do you want to make?
● Spend time sketching in journals and asking questions
9:15am Activity/Lesson: Basic 3D shapes (paper, pencil, rulers, tape)
● Using paper and tape, try to make 1 of 5 basic shapes
● sphere, cylinder, cube, pyramid, or cone
9:30am Activity/Lesson: 3D shapes in fabric (stuffed animal, pre-cut felt rectangles, stuffing, thread, needle)
● Examine a toy and sketch the different parts using only basic shapes (front, side)
● Pick a part of the animal and try to sketch the pattern piece (leg, ear, tail)
● Cut out an sew, stuff
● Did it look the same? What was different?
10:15am BREAK
10:30am Activity/Lesson: How will we make it? (paper, pencils, rulers)
● brainstorm what shapes we’ll need to make our sketches into 3D objects
● Transform our earlier sketches into a sewing pattern
● Learn to add width to narrow parts of your pattern
● Add complexity with gussets and darts as needed
11:00am Activity/Lesson: Cut it out! Try out our new patterns (scissors, various fabrics, pins, needle/thread)
● Cut out pattern and pin to double fabric
● Trace and cut out- keep fabric pinned together
● Begin sewing
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Continue forming patterns and sewing
12:45pm TINKER TIME
Activity option: Needle-felted wool shapes (felting pads, needles, wool, cookie cutters)
2:15pm Snack
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
2:45pm Clean Up
3:00pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
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Wednesday (July 27th)
9:00am Activity/Lesson: Repeating surface patterns (square paper tiles, scissors, pencils, markers, clear tape)
● Create a pattern that can be repeated or tiled, such as on fabric
● Sketch on paper, cut and reassemble
● Add color to design (will revisit on Thursday)
9:45am Activity/Lesson: Continue sewing patterns from Tuesday (needle, thread, scissors, pins)
● Seams on outside or inside? When to flip
● How to add in a gusset
10:15am BREAK
10:30am Guest Speaker: Stephanie Metz, sculptor and pattern-maker
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Activity/Lesson: Modeling from 3D: Tennis Ball and Paper
● Cover ball with small pieces of paper (between 2-4”) and fasten with tape until fully covered.
● Cut one straight line around the ball, until you can remove the ball
● Try to flatten the paper- cut small slits until paper lays flat
12:45pm TINKER TIME
Activity option: beanbags! (cotton fabric, beans, stuffing)
2:15pm Snack
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
2:45pm Clean Up
3:00pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
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Thursday (July 28th)
9:00am Warm Up: Fashion in the future (recycled materials, pencils, journal)
● What will people wear in the future? Write/sketch in journal.
● What enhancements would make clothing more helpful?
● Turn a waste product (plastic bottles, old tires) into clothing- what would it look like?
9:30am Activity/Lesson: Stuffed Animal Dissection (stuffed animals, seam ripper, paper, pencil, scissors)
● How to use a seam ripper
● Remove one piece: head, arm, leg
● How is a stuffie made? What is the inside like?
● What kinds of stitches go into a factory-made product?
10:15am BREAK
10:30am Activity/Lesson: Continue dissection (paper, scissors, pencils)
● Focus on one piece and take it apart completely
● Take notes on all steps
● Trace pieces on paper- take care to label each step
● Cut pattern out of fabric and sew a new part
● Individual instruction on sewing machine
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Continue machine instructions and dissection
12:45pm TINKER TIME
Activity option: Sewing knits and woven fabrics on sewing machine
2:15pm Snack
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
2:45pm Clean Up
3:00pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
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Friday (July 29th)
9:00am Warm Up: Challenges in Stuffie Dissection
● Which part was fun, which was frustrating?
● Have you had a stuffie break? What did you do?
9:15am Activity/Lesson: Mix and Match!
● Trade with other campers for new parts for your deconstructed stuffie
● Use a whipstitch to sew the new part onto your stuffie.
10:15am BREAK
10:30am Activity/Lesson: Travel-size stuffies (felt, scissors, pencil, paper, stuffing, pinbacks, magnets)
● Draw an animal shape less than 6” with at least 2 appendages
● Cut out of felt and sew
● add embellishments
● Attach to pin or magnet (optional)
11:30am LUNCH
12:15pm Continue travel-sized stuffies
12:45pm TINKER TIME – ONLY if weekly project is complete
2:30pm Daily Camper Assessment
Weekly Camper Survey
2:45pm Snack
3:00pm Clean Up and Prep for Showcase
3:30pm Student Showcase
4:30pm Camper Pick Up
Photos
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