The impatient art teacher's new apron (a tutorial)

Confession:  I cannot teach art without an apron on. There's a reason why certain professions have a uniform. Certain professions require appropriate clothing for safety and/or for identification purposes. I don't want to wear a complete uniform every day like my students do, but putting on my apron is like my uniform. It automatically puts me in a "ready-to-work" frame of mind, it protects my nice school-appropriate clothing (why can't art teachers where jeans and a t-shirt all the time????), and most importantly it gives me a place to put my hands and the random markers, pencils, erasers, glue stick, scissors, etc that I either need for demonstration or that kids pick up off the floor and hand to me. The previous art teacher at my school bequeathed me a lovely brushed cotton canvas apron in purple that I LOVE. Somehow he left it to me in near-pristine condition. I am a much messier art teacher than he, and after 2 years the bib has become so encrusted with paint and glue that I feel like I can't walk out of my room for fear they'll think some hobo got into the building. 

Needless to say, it's time for a new one. Then this past week, Cassie Stephens known for "What the Art Teacher Wore" suggested an apron sew-along project on our facebook art teacher group, and I felt inspired to just jump and do it. Another teacher shared a pattern for a crossover pinny style apron that I've been drooling over- I must have 5 different versions of it on my "If Wishes were Horses" board on Pinterest. But I'm an impatient person sometimes. I couldn't wait for Cassie's tutorial. I couldn't wait for the internet at Fleisher to work properly enough for me to find the pattern that had been shared. And I certainly couldn't wait to make a paper pattern first... who needs a pattern? I completed this project in the studios at Fleisher Art Memorial over the course of an hour and a half while my daughter attended their teen lounge.

Here you go. This is how to make a crossover pinny pattern based on estimated measurements and rectangles.

• Select a heavyweight cotton, linen, or denim. Those cute patterned quilt cottons are too thin for a sturdy, protective apron. Make sure you have a piece wide enough to wrap around your chest from front to meet in back. The piece should be long enough to stretch about from your shoulder to your knee.
• Cut about a 6-8 inch strip off the top of your fabric. This will become the straps.

making straps

•  fold strip in half along the length, then fold raw edges in toward the center (like double folded bias tape). Sew along the open edge.

topstitch strap for studiness

•  If desired, topstitch along the edge of the center fold as well so your long strip has 2 parallel lines of stitching down either side about 1/8 of an inch from edge.

1 long one becomes 2 shorter ones

•  Cut the long strap in half to make 2 shorter straps. You may need to cut more off later to make sure they are the correct length. It's just easier to sew it as one long one first.

hem the big rectangular

•  Next we finish off the edges of the big rectangle which will make the apron body. Turn raw edges under about 1 inch and turn under again. I like to use my finger as a guage. From fingertip to first knuckle is about an inch

the impatient person's ruler

•  Turn one edge and stitch down about 1/8 inch from turned edge. I did the 2 selvedge sides first, then the top and bottom hems.

more topstitching

•  Once all 4 edges are hemmed, topstitch around outer edge of entire rectangle about 1/8 inch from edge.

wrap around  to fit straps

•  Once edges are hemmed it's time to attach straps. Wrap rectangle around yourself so edges meet at your spine. It might help to have someone help you hold that there.

finding strap locations

•  Find and mark the points on the front where you would like to have your straps attached. I like mine about 4-5 inches from center, but they could be farther apart if desired.

doublecheck!

•  It's a good idea to doublecheck your symmetry. Fold fabric in half and make sure your 2 strap points match and are equidistant from the center fold.

attach straps on front

•  Fold one strap end up about  inch and line up end on back side of hem on top edge of fabric (important to remember if your fabric has a directional pattern!). The folded-under end should be hidden once sewn. Start at one edge and sew a square with an X inside, following previous stitching if possible,

 The stitched box makes a strong connection that is unlikely to tear if pulled. Sew across top, down side, across bottom, up side, diagonal to corner, across bottom, and diagonal to opposite corner. Whenever starting and ending seams remember to backstitch a little.

measure strap and attach to opposite back corner

•  Check your fit. Have someone help you if possible. Wrap apron around you again, Take left strap over your shoulder and cross to right corner and pin. If it's too long cut it shorter, make sure both straps are cut to the same length. Make sure strap doesn't get twisted. Fold under end and sew to corner like before.

Other strap!

•  Match right strap to back left corner. fold under edge and attach as before. Try it on! Your pinny might be done!! Or not...

Mine needed a dart

•  My pinny felt too bulky under the arms so I decided to make a dart. I came in an inch and angled to fold so it would end just under the bust. I went vertically down the fold, but it could have been angled in towards the bust instead for a better fit. I marked the angle and sewed along the line on both sides of my pinny. The seam could be trimmed and ironed flat, or topstitched to one side.

missing something important

•  Try it on and see where you'd like your pockets to go

 I think the proportions would be better on me with wider straps....

• You'll need some extra fabric for pockets, either the same or contrasting fabric. Once I ripped back pockets off my dad's worn-out jeans to make pockets for an apron. You could make 2 separate square pockets. I went for one long rectangle pouch. 
• Turn edges under about 1/2 inch and stitch down, just like when you hemmed the big rectangle apron piece. But don't topstitch the edges this time. The topstitching will be how the pocket is attached to the apron.

Pins needed this time!!!!!

•  Doublecheck pocket placement and pin corners and centers of sides. Start at a top corner and stitch down side, across bottom and up side. At the corners it's good to do some extra backstitching. To turn the wide pouch into 2 pockets just sew a line up the center of the pouch. 

Ahh. Now I have a place to put my hands and all the random stuff that accumulates. These pockets are super deep. they're a little invisible, though because I lined up the print. It's so easy to slip on and off, and I don't have to worry about my strings always coming untied. This is a very forgiving pattern for size. I imagine it would be great for any art teachers going through maternity ( not me!! don't worry!). I like how far it wraps around me, and will protect my backside from those random flings of paint or kids who love to walk up to me with sopping wet paintings..

I've still got about 2 yards of this fabric left for further exploration. I don't like the bulk under the arm because of the very straight rectangular edge across the top. This style might hang better on a less curvy person than me. I also think wider straps would look better. I'm going to see what Cassie comes up with and maybe make a second one, or try the more curved patterns I've seen elsewhere. A pattern that dips down in an arm scye might work better for me. Also, having separate front and back pieces might be better, as a side seam would allow for some A-line shaping for a more gracefully-hanging apron.

At least I've got a new apron. Maybe now I'll feel in the mood for working on next year's curriculum mapping....

African inspiration

My 1st and 5th graders have just completed projects that explored arts originating in Africa. My curriculum calls for study of Egypt in 1st grade, and it took me a while to come up with a good project. Most of the projects I've seen out on the internet seem more geared to 3rd grade and up. But I was inspired by some pictures of Scarab jewelry I found on Artstor. 1st graders looked at Ancient Egyptian art including the pyramids, the Book of the Dead, scarab beetles, and hieroglyphics. I did a directed drawing for the first time and was amazed at both the success rate and the variety among the drawings that resulted:

 I've never been a big fan of directed drawings, but the kids REALLY enjoyed it, and were really confident in their projects. The freedom and individuality I love came in when it was time to color their projects with oil pastels. We talked about how scarab beetles have bright, jewel-like colors that reminded the Egyptians of their sun god.

 Afterwards, we looked at hieroglyphics, and the kids wrote out their names in Egyptian symbols like a cartouche. Finally they carefully cut out their beetles and attached them to the background using pop-up foam adhesive tabs so it looks like the beetles are crawling over the walls of the pyramid tombs. I hung them up, and they're freaking out the teachers left and right =) This is definitely a keeper lesson for next year!

 My 5th graders have just completed a long unit of printmaking inspired by the Adinkra cloth of Ghana. We learned how Adinkra cloth is printed, usually in honor of someone who has passed away, using symbols to represent their character. Students brainstormed 5 personal qualities and copied 5 traditional Adinkra symbols that best matched them, and then combined visual elements from each to develop their own personal symbol. I demonstrated how to carve a stamp from easycut linoleum using a gouge (which some were a bit nervous about- including me). The kids did a fabulous job carving their blocks (no injuries!! YEAH!!) and then printed them on both paper and fabric.

 The prints on paper were cut up, some traded among students, and collaged back together with some patterned paper. Their fabric prints are being turned into pillows with an extension of the project to learn some sewing skills.

This is the last project of the year for my 5th graders, as we only have one more day together. Next year they're all moving up to our upper school... I'm really going to miss them as they were my favorite grade this year. I can't imagine my first graders someday being as big and mature as my 5th graders, but it will happen before I know it. My first year as a full-time teacher is almost over, but hopefully it's the start of a long career!

Butterflies and Sunshine

While from the look of my blog, it doesn't look like I've been doing much, behind the scenes in the classroom we've been crazy busy. My younger grades have been doing spring and nature themed projects, which have been taking a long time! Kindergarten explored butterflies and gardens in a printmaking project. We made caterpillar bodies with beads and pipe cleaners, which doubled as bubble wands!! Then we made marker monoprint butterfly wings so that they would be perfectly symmetrical. Kids folded their paper, drew an M and colored it in. Then I came around with a spray bottle to mist their papers and they transfer printed their drawing to the other side by pressing and rubbing. Depending on how much water and how much marker, some came out great, while others barely printed- so some kids opted to draw over the print again to make it bolder. To make our gardens we did bubble prints-which to me looked like hydrangea. Kids blew with straws into a cup of watercolor/bubble concentrate to make bubbles rise up above the cup edge, then laid their paper on top. It took some experimenting beforehand to find the right combo of container and technique to make it foolproof and flower-like! After printing, students added leaves, dirt, and bugs to their flowers with marker, and I came around to staple their layers of garden/wings/caterpillar into a 3-D picture. I'm not totally happy with the results- there's something about markers I find dissatisfying. Maybe they're too common, and don't seem art-class worthy?

 My 2nd graders have been toiling over their Huichol-inspired yarn paintings. Most did suns and moons like seen in the original examples I showed them, but many chose other nature images like butterflies and trees.

 This project was extremely challenging because of the fine-motor skills required to cut and glue the yarn carefully, but it's definitely something they can accomplish. Some turned out amazingly!

 I have to buy more yarn next year, though, as I had 3rd and 2nd doing yarn projects at the same time, and we ran out of many colors by the end of it. If you need a stash-busting project, this is it- even through each child only worked a 6 inch square! To distribute the yarn I rolled 5 balls of each color so that each table had a box of colors to work with. They had to throw out scraps at the end of class to keep the boxes tidy. It's possible a lot of my yarn got thrown out as scrap, though!

The end of the school year draws near, and I'll only have about 3 more class sessions with each group. It's going by so fast!!

2nd grade Oaxacan-inspired sculptures

At the beginning of the school year as I unpacked all the goodies in my new art room I could not BELIEVE how many boxes of wood shapes I found, both left over from the previous year and on my hand-me-down supply list from the previous art teacher. I couldn't imagine how so much wood could possibly be used in one year. I put a dent in the boxes with a mobile project I did with 2nd grade early in the year, but now we've nearly demolished the wood supply with our latest project: Oaxacan-inspired wood animal sculptures.

 It's so hard to choose photos to share, because their sculptures all have so much character. We started off by examining examples of Oaxacan wood sculptures- especially how the forms, colors, and markings of the animals were exaggerated from real life. We considered adaptations an animal needs to live in an environment and selected features from known animals to create an imaginary animal. Students drew a sketch of what animal they would like to create to finish off the first art-looking and art-planning day.

 On the second day, we pulled out the wooden shapes and noticed their forms- most of which were in the cylindrical or rectangular prism category. I asked students to pull out pieces and play with the arrangement of forms a bit before deciding how to construct their animal. They were also asked to pay attention to how their pieces connected- the more surface area touching between 2 pieces, the stronger the attachment would be. We used tacky glue for this step because I shouldn't find where I hid the wood glue!

 On the third day I asked students to choose 1-2 colors to paint a base coat on their sculpture. After 3 classes of messily painted sculptures, I limited the 4th class to ONE base color! On the fourth day we looked at the Oaxacan sculptures one more time to remember how they were decorated. This time we used skinny brushes and added pattern details like stripes and polka dots. We thought about how some animals try to blend in to their environments with camouflage colors and some animals have warning colors to show they are poisonous.

On our final work day, students had an opportunity to add some final details with feathers, beads, googly eyes, and sequins. They were asked to be RESTRAINED in their choices and not go overboard with the doodads. They also created a written description and a drawing of their animal in its environment to serve as a label for their sculpture when they go on display. Their written description had to include what animals they combined, three things their sculpture had, and explain how their sculpture was or was not like Oaxacan sculptures
This project is a real winner- students got to work in 3 dimensions and use a lot of creative problem-solving as well as connect to concepts in science.  The process and product are nicely balanced, and the final pieces are amazing!
 PS. For good photos of sculptures, hang a piece of black construction paper so it is half on the wall, half on the table and place the sculpture on top.

Presents

 The last week of school was a fourth grade frenzy of fiber art. All the kids wanted to finish their embroidery work to bring home as presents. I gave them options to use a backing piece of felt as a frame, or to make a pocket or a pillow. Most of them chose a pillow.

 I'm really proud of them. They worked really hard to have good craftsmanship. Embroidery is a great medium for developing fine motor skills, patience, and perseverance. There were moments of frustration and some poked fingers of course, but there was also a wonderful buzz of stitching and the joy of handwork.

 Kids need opportunities to make things. Not just pictures, but things that can be used or have purpose. They need to know about craftspeople as well as about artists. Not everybody is destined to become an artist, but everyone should know how to make things.

By the way, contrary to popular belief, boys enjoy sewing. In fact 2 of these pictures were made by boys- can you guess which ones?  One more reason I'm proud of my 4th graders- we got through 3 weeks of stitching with 4 classes and didn't lose a single needle! Whoohoo!

I'm enjoying my holiday break, but I also am looking forward to getting back to school...