Stories, Inquiry & Design All Sewn Together

Last summer my school library was renovated and a beautiful design/makerspace was added. I was so excited to have a dedicated space for building and creating. I was really excited for the four sewing machines that we added! I learning to sew when I was younger but I had not kept up with it. I took a summer sewing machine class at a local arts center and I was all set to introduce sewing to the maker projects, I just needed to find the right project! Then I can across the picture book about Harriet Powers, Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist by Barbara Herkert. This was the perfect book to fit into a maker project because there were so many connections with literacy, history and inquiry, collaboration, technology and maker. I worked with my second graders on this project.

The book tells the story of Harriet Powers. She was born into enslavement on a plantation in Georgia. She grew up learning how to sew from her mother and other women. When Harriet, her husband, and children were freed from slavery after the Civil War they worked on their farm and Harriet continued to make quilts for her family. The family farm fell on hard times and Harriet made the difficult decision to sell one of her quilts to buy food for her family. Harriet continued to make and sell quilts to support her family. Harriet’s quilt art is considered the best examples of this art form from the American South. Two of her quilts have survived. One is on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the other is at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

After reading her story we discussed Harriet’s life. There was a lot to talk about and think about with this story. We spent time discussing enslavement and the impact of that system on families and individuals. There were a to discuss and work through and I feel my students were very thoughtful and the subject was tackled in a second grade appropriate way.  

Then students examined her work. Using the See/Think/Wonder thinking routine students took a deeper look at Harriet’s quilt work. This routine encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. It helps stimulate curiosity and sets the stage for inquiry.  Students explored Harriet’s quilts and what stories she was trying to telling in each square. We then talked about what the inspiration was for the quilt squares.

The next step was for students to design their own quilt inspired by the work and style of Harriet Powers. Students brainstormed important events from their second grade year. They thought about a special project, presentation, time with friends or moments from the year. Once students picked one event to focus on they started to sketch their quilt square out thinking about Harriet’s style and the idea of telling a story with pictures.

Then students created their quilt pieces in Google Drawing. Students used the different shapes that were available in the program to design and create their pieces. It was very interesting to see how they took different shapes and manipulated them to create their stories. Some students used the lightning shape for hair or the number eight to make a violin. The Google Drawing files were then saved and downloaded as svg files. The library purchased a Cricut cutter for the makerspace. This machine cuts fabric, foam and paper. It was great to use for this project because students were able to design in Google Drawing making it more accessible and possible for them to make the images and pieces that they wanted to.

Students were given three options to choose from for their quilt materials, fabric, fabric paint and sun fabric. The fabric and traditional sewing option was the most popular. For students that picked fabric paint their pieces were cut out in foam and then the mounted the foam to cardboard and used fabric paint to stamp their quilt squares. Sun fabric works by placing paper pieces or designs on the fabric and then putting it out in the sun for 15 to 20 minutes. The fabric that is not covered becomes a dark blue and the parts that are covered stay white. Then the students sewed their sun fabric to the larger quilt square. Then I sewed the whole quilt together to make a collaborative second grade memory quilt that is now hanging in the library hallway.

All the students were able to spend time using the sewing machines and hand sewing. It was amazing to watch how some students took to sewing right away and really got into the craft. All the second graders were really into this project and were so excited to get to work with sewing, fabric and the sewing machines. They were so thoughtful about their questions and observations learning about Harriet’s life and examining her work. This is one of my favorite projects that we did this year!