Friday, September 6, 2024

Fibers & Clothing 2024

I always like to start the school year with a practical and hands-on topic, preferably one where we can spend a lot of time outdoors. Last year we did Cordage (making rope from foraged fibers).

I like a topic that feels playful and fun, where the children can relax and get to know each other, and which doesn't feel too heavy and academic. In September we already have a lot of academic things ramping up, including Reading Meetings, Morning Math, Chancery Script, Plan Books, and MLBs.

This year we are doing Fibers & Clothing as our first block. This time around I'm doing fewer Fibers than ever before, because I want to make sure we have time this month to do more with Clothing. I'm interesting in painting and dyeing fabric, and teaching children how to take care of their clothing, including how to do laundry, sew on a button, and mend things with a patch.


So my short list of Fibers is

WOOL - wash raw wool fleece, card wool, dye all of our yarn colors for the school year beginning with only white yarn, spin with a rock, spin with a supported spindle, special guest (how to spin on a spinning wheel)

ALPACA & ANGORA - field trip to Bernard Family Farm

COTTON - look at different colors of heirloom cotton, take apart and find seeds in cotton boll, special guest (memories of helping in the cotton fields as a young child in 1950s Louisiana)

STINGING NETTLE - special guest (preparing stinging nettle for fiber)

FLAX/LINEN - in the spring join the two year project that the Master Gardeners & Fiber Guild are collaborating on nearby (planting and harvesting flax and then taking it through ALL the steps from flax to linen)


This week we washed raw wool from my brother's sheep "Emmy," brainstormed our colors wishlist, learned how to flame test fibers and tested some mystery yarns that were donated, and learned about fabric care symbols and how to do laundry. We also made patterns, cut out wool felt, and started embroidering Michaelmas Stars.

Next week we will begin to dye some white yarn and see what colors we get! Here is their wishlist of colors they'd like to make:

    light yellow

    golden yellow

    orange

    red

    light pink

    hot pink

    purple

    dark blue

    light blue

    green

    brown

    grey

I have a bunch of brand-new dye books that I'm very excited about! I bought these books in 2020 during COVID because I thought I'd have so much free time to read them all and explore. But it turns out that the very best way for me to dive into something is to teach about it!


In the second part of the month I want to focus on playing with fabrics and learning to mend. I just signed up for Jayne Emerson's BRAND-NEW course Gel Printing on and with Textiles. Every time I buy something from Not Perfect Linen they send me squares of all their colors... so I have tons of little linen squares that will be perfect for playing with different techniques!

Her Introduction to Gel Plate Printing is free, if you want to take a peek!

I also love the YouTube channel k3n clothtales for ideas of teeny tiny slow stitch projects. She does one each week and mounts it in a journal (and makes a video of it). These little slow stitch activities give you a chance to always be doing something meditative, and I find them really inspirational.

Handwork is something that's really important to me, and it gives the children who need a "fidget" something useful to do with their hands while I'm reading aloud, or in between lessons if they are an early finisher.

I gave the children 1/2 inch binders instead of traditional MLBs this month, so that we have room to hold all the samples of yarns that we dye and fabric we paint on and sew. It's going to be a really exciting and creative month!


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