November 09, 2013

The Start of Ugly Dolls: 4th Grade


Last year was the first time I tried having my 4th graders create "ugly" dolls.  I had used burlap, but this year switched to felt.  It is a little harder to sew through with the plastic needles, but doable & more attractive.  
Day one I have students draw what the want their finished doll to look like, create a pattern for the main basic shape, cut the felt out, and begin sewing.  Yep..busy jammed packed hour!!!!!!!  Can't wait to see how they end up!  Stay tuned!!  



8 comments:

  1. What do you use to cut the felt? I've tried using felt in the past but always wound up with dulled scissors. I've got two giant boxes of felt just waiting to be used but apparently my student grade fiskars just aren't enough to get the job done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm using the student grade Fiskars..not as good as they use to be..that is for sure. But...they get the job done. Sometimes it is that the students need to open their scissors wider to get to the axis point. OR...they may need to pull a little on the felt to make it tighter for an easier cut.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I heard that some art teachers have a "fabric" set, and a "Paper" set- I'm working towards that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great Job! Love them!
    How are they with threading the needles? I've done sewing with 6th grade and they have a hard time threading. Drove me crazy! DID YOU SEW OR GLUE ON THE EYES, ETC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used the BIG needles with big eyes!! So it wasn't bad...couple kids struggled at first, but after that..we were gold!! We did glue the details on...I just wasn't up for the headache!! ha ha We used the elmers craft glue..worked really well if they used enough. We only sewed the main part of the body..and sewed the hair in.

      Delete
  5. One of my kindergarten/grade1 centres is 'sewing with Madame' and a number of my students have made their very own ugly doll just like these (with less details of course). They are so proud of their dolls and I now have a number of students that work independently and only require that I thread and knot the needles for them. We use real sewing needles and thread as it glides through the felt which makes it much easier on tiny hands which means less frustration on their part.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do you introduce this with a story? My 4th graders saw me making a felt sugar skull and were really eager to work with felt. I think this would be a better first project than the sugar skull. I want to make it part of a unit on narrative so the students will make the figure, write a short narrative and then draw/paint a scene from the story. I really appreciate this blog. Thanks for your response

    ReplyDelete
  7. I saw on Cassie Stephens blog how to use a small rectangular piece of paper, fold it in half so that it can fit through the needle's eye, lay the thread or string on the paper like a hotdog, close it, and pull the paper through the eye of the needle. I will be doing that this year!!!

    ReplyDelete