Travel Design Wall

I teach quilt classes for kids at a historical house that’s owned by the city. This means I have to bring all our supplies to each class–which means there is no design wall already set up. It’s been okay so far, but wouldn’t it be fun to have one? My kids have outgrown this,

but I want to save the chalk board for someday grandkids. My kids used it a lot for dramatic play and drawing. [did you know toddlers and preschoolers can benefit from doing art and cutting while standing up? It’s true. To teach proper cutting, tape a big piece of butcher paper to the wall, chalk board, or easel, and have them cut the paper while standing up to it. It helps them developmentally. Painting and drawing on a paper taped to the easel or chalkboard also helps them to develop those skills! Painting is the precursor to writing –so important! and fun!]

To give the unused chalk board some purpose while it waits, I made the back side into a small design wall.

I stapled some batting onto it. It doesn’t actually affect the chalkboard side at all, so I can leave it as a flannel story board side later on.

I put a handle on it, so I could carry it easily. It can also be hung up using the handle.

I think it will be fun to use. Since we do small quilts, like doll quilts, mug rugs, etc., I think 2 or 3 students could use it at a time.

Saturday’s sewing club finished all their projects early, so we did some improv sewing. [or would you call this improv teaching?] I taught them to make a simple strings quilt block. I let them search through my scrap bin and just have fun with it. Here’s a finished one. The fabrics are RJR fabrics. I can’t wait to see what she creates with it!

I also had a great teacher moment when one student showed up with a couple projects that she had made at home– all by herself! A skirt to match her fat quarter bundle skirt and a headband, she made both for her American Girl doll. So cute! She did a beautiful sewing job!

Actually, another student also brought in some projects that she had started at home, but I forgot to take pictures of hers. She made coasters by sewing scraps of fabrics -fussy cut mustaches- onto fabric squares.  She finished them up during class and plans to give them as father day gifts. They look awesome!

It’s the best compliment ever when students have learned what the need to be able to sew independently. This allows us to keep moving forward and learning new skills, adding to their skill sets 🙂