Use your sewing skills and creativity to make clothes, pillowcases, horse blankets, or anything else you can stitch, knit or crochet!
- Learn to create clothing or other items for yourself and others
- Learn about fibers and fabrics
- Apply design elements and art principles to your constructed item
- Learn how to safely use sewing equipment
Ideas for Project Area Learning
- Learn to use your sewing machine, its attachments, and other equipment (cutters, needles, scissors, etc.)
- Sew on a button by hand
- Learn to read care labels on fabric items
- Learn to knit, crochet, or hand-embroider simple project
- Explore the properties and care techniques for different types of fabric
- Install a zipper, add a pocket, or use other embellishments
- Design your own pattern, using design elements and art principles
- Compare cost of ready-made vs. homemade items
- Design and make a furnishing accessory you can sell, and market your product
Share What You Learn with Others!
Communication
- Make a poster explaining how to read care labels
- Interview a local business owner
- Do a presentation on evaluating construction quality of purchased sewn items
Civic Engagement
- Make pillowcases to send overseas
- Organize your group to knit mittens for a local shelter
- Organize your group to sew something for a community facility (ex: curtains, pillowcases, etc.)
Leadership
- Organize a club field trip to a fabric store to learn about appropriate fabrics for various sewing projects.
- Lead a working exhibit for your club on embellishing techniques
- Organize a prom dress exchange service at your school.
Exhibit Ideas
- Explain how woven fabrics differ from knit or felted fabrics.
- What are some new fabrics and why were they made? (bulletproof vests, antibacterial, wicking, etc)
- Why do we use detergent and how do stain removers work?
- Different ways to remove different stains.
- Develop a porfolio, poster, power point or notebook of your sewing leadership project.