Art

 Pete Cromer Kookaburra

This week the Grade 5 and 6 students finished their Pete Cromer inspired soft toys, ready to take home and find a place to live. After studying Pete’s work and designing their own animals, the students first practiced some basic sewing techniques like running stitch and overcast stitch. They used chenille needles which have a large eye, handy for beginner sewers, and learned a nifty way to tie a knot in the end of their cotton. Students could choose which stitch they felt comfortable with and sewed the two cut out pieces of felt together. 

Students then used supertac to glue the colourful geometric and organic shapes onto their animal, tear drops and circles were a favourite, with many students layering the shapes. Finally, after all their hard work the softies were filled with stuffing and sealed or sewn together. I was amazed and proud at how the students handled this new challenge of learning to sew, many had never sewed a stitch before and by the end of the project were confident sewers who needed very little assistance. Here are more of the softies that were created: 

The Grade 3 and 4 have also had a go at making their own soft toys. The students have done a little sewing before with hessian and plastic needles, but for this project they ‘graduated’ to real needles with a sharp point. Using a premade pattern created by Trixie Symonds (Sew-A-Softie), the students cut and sewed a family of little Kandinsky’s. These softies are geometrically shaped and brightly coloured just like Kandinsky’s artwork. The students used a running stitch around the edge of the material, filled with stuffing and added a face.