After 9/11 our school made a quilt to send to a firehouse in NYC that lost
11 men. We gave each classroom a 12" by 12" muslin square (obtained from my
supply) and students wrote or drew on them with just pencil, all the
students in one class on one square. Then the teacher or I traced over the
pencil with Sharpie markers. We used red, white, and blue. Students could
do the tracing, I guess, but the markers bleed easily. The blocks were
connected by 12" by 2" red fabric rectangles donated by a teacher who had
leftover material. To complete the joined areas, we used 2" squares of blue
material with white stars, also donated. The back of the quilt was one
large piece of material that had to be purchased (refunded by pta or school
funds). We put polyester batting between the two layers, then had to hand
sew the edges so they could be tucked under. Finally, we sewed a red button
with the thread going through both layers in the middle of every two inch
square to hold everything in place. I did a lot of the fabric cutting with
a rotary cutter. I also did much of the tracing. My colleague did the
machine sewing, then a group of us got together to do the hand sewing, like
a quilting bee.
Leah
----- Original Message -----
From: dkj
To: ArtsEdNet Talk
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 11:13 AM
Subject: All School Classroom Quilts Project - Advice Needed!
In January, I need to begin an all school project reflecting our school
theme for the year - a cultural heritage theme. (K-5th grades, 13 in all)
It has been requested that I initiate a quilt (individual blocks for each
student) for each class, 13 total, after which parent volunteers will have
the assignment of putting them together and quilting or tufting them.
