Emoji Stuffies w/ Painted Faces

My 5th graders are creating Emoji Stuffies!  In the past I've done "ugly dolls" & "shape monsters" for sewing projects with my 4th graders.  We now have 5th grade in elementary, and I decided to move the sewing up to be one of their projects.  I am using Smart-Fab's pre-cut circles.  I purchased them through BLICK(I believe they come in a pack of 100).  They are a great manageable size for students that have no background in sewing.  Doing too large of a project can become extremely overwhelming.  Some of my classes are finding great success...and some are struggling a bit.  The struggle is worth it...I feel sewing is a life skill kids need!  Here are some of the finished results.  They used Sharpie & acrylic paint to create the faces.

 

Sewing with Elementary: Answering Some Questions

Hey friends!  There were a handful of questions that several people asked concerning sewing with elementary students.  Hopefully this quick video answers your questions! If not...please leave me a comment with your question/concern.  I'll try to respond ASAP!

Oh..and if you aren't following me on YouTube..check out my channel & subscribe. I'm going to try to be better about posting more content!! 

https://www.youtube.com/user/TnTedDE 

Smart-Fab: My Review

http://www.smartfab.com/

I was contacted by Smart-Fab to see if I'd like to try their product. What is their product? 

Smart-Fab is an alternative to paper and cloth. The product is a non-woven fabric that comes in a range of bright, non-fading colors, easy to cut, fold, glue, sew and staple. 

So they sent me some samples, and told me that I was under no obligation to write a review for them.  However, I thought after takin' their product through the ringer...I wanted to write a review.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the package was that it was rather transparent.  I placed it on my woodgrain tables and could see the woodgrain. This is not good or bad, just something I noticed.  When I held it up to the light, I noticed that the color was a bit irregular and that there were light & dark "patches".
Once again, this is not a judgement...just the facts.

The blue sky & orange ground in the above picture is Smart-Fab. I glued paper on top of it, but it required a lot of glue to actually stick to the product. 

   I also used acrylic paint & Sharpie. The texture of the Smart-Fab came through when I used other media on top of it. 

I tried using it instead of newspaper for paper mache.  I dipped it in liquid starch and placed it on a face form(covered in plastic wrap).  The Smart-Fab is soft so it did not want to hold the shape once it dried.  I added a layer of glue & this gave it more rigidity.

The best use I found was as a textile.  It was extremely easy to sew two pieces together.  Good for quilt lessons or soft sculptures.

I use to do embroidery with my 4th graders every year(real needles & embroidery floss!).  I never really had any issues with them stabbing themselves or each other, but for some reason...the fear of such a thing led me retire that lesson.  HOWEVER...and I think this excites me most about this product....plastic needs & yarn go through with no issue!  I can do embroidery again!!!  I know you can use burlap, but YUCK..have you cut 100+ squares of burlap before?? 

So there ya go!  I have a few other ideas I'd like to try with Smart-Fab, but those will have to wait.  Have you used it?  If so..what did you do?  What did you think??  LET ME KNOW!