Middle school textile art projects

Welcome! This blog post features a step by step tutorial with photos to hand sew an adorable pop tart plushie. This is a great activity for a beginner who has little/no experience with sewing. Is hand sewing really a life skill we need to learn nowadays? You can buy everything... there are sewing machines.... there

A stunning geometric geode inspired circle weaving art project for elementary students! Come take a look at how we made them in our children's art studio!

Towards the end of each semester, in an attempt to keep the 8th grade classes challenged, I include some 3-d assignments. Here are just a few. The fiber coil pots start out a bit difficult, but once the students get the hang of the rhythm of the stitches, they tend to turn out beautifully. We usually complete these before the holidays so they can take them home and use as gifts. In the spring, students create a paper mache letter and a plaster mask. The letters are constructed from tag board…

This semester, 8th grade students are part of a collaborative course between a STEM classroom and the Art room. This is a new approach for us at BMS and so far, it's been a great adventure. We started

I love doing this lesson with lower elementary classes, upper elementary, and have even worked this lesson into some middle school curriculum. It’s a great way to introduce weaving and to continue to grow those fine motor skills. It always turns out BEAUTIFUL! The students are always really proud of

This is a very spontaneous form of printmaking! Students used black ink and/or watercolor paint to dye a long piece of cotton twine. Laying the colored string in a looped pattern between two pieces…

My four DragonWing Arts students just completed their "toothpaste batik" landscapes (and one underwater-scape). I'll show you the fini...

My 1st grade students are studying Weather and I thought this would be a fun lesson to link to their Weather Unit. The Huichol People of Mexico create wonderful art using wooden boards coated with a layer of beeswax. They push yarn into the coating of wax to create their designs. The Sun and the Moon are prevalent in their designs. I am going to use linoleum tile with an adhesive coating on the back instead of the traditional materials. I divided the one square foot of tile (purchased at a…

In 6th grade, we talked about how colors can evoke emotions. For example, red can mean love or anger. The students took self portraits with ...