In the Art Room: Stitched Monsters, Update!

Now that Clay Week(s) has come to an end, it's back to business as usual in the art room. In order for all of my kids to work with clay at once, I have the kids "push the pause button" on whatever we are currently working on. That means, after clay week, we un-pause and resume what we left behind. For fourth grade, that meant our Stitched Monsters! Here is the lesson video I created for this project. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' town!

Out of all the projects we have done this year, my kids have ranked this one very close to the top. Clay was a first place winner, of course, but it was a tight race. Many of my students have started sewing at home, bringing in their pillows, monsters and other creations. I remember when I was first introduced to hand sewing as a kid. It felt like a whole new world of creating was opened up to me. I think the kids are feeling the same. 

 I really liked having the kids use Smart Fab for the body as this made it easy for them to see thru and insure they were "capturing" the arms and the legs of the monster as they stitched. Once the stitching was complete and the monster was flipped to the correct side, if they noticed that part of their arm or leg was not securely attached, the kids had to go back and restitch. This really taught them the importance of good, even stitches. 

Once flipped, the kids had to complete a sketch of their monster. This sheet asked them questions about their monsters to really get their creative juices flowing. Once the sketch was done, they were to slide a card into their monster, cut the shapes of the face and glue them down with tacky glue. The card inside made it so the monster would not be glued together. 

Not until the kids started stuffing their monsters did they really seem to understand that they were creating a stuffie. One told me he was going to go home, make a bunch and sell them. Right on, dude! I had many requests to take them home today...but I need them for the art show! Give me a month, y'all.

Have y'all done stuffed monsters with your kids? I know there are may ways to go about making them. 

 Earlier this year, one of my sweet students gave me a small stuffed monster with a rectangular body and dangling arms and legs. That look is what I based this pattern on. 

Learning to sew monsters this way taught my students how to properly pin, stitch and create a monster. I definitely think this is a lesson worth repeating! 

Love to hear about your students stitchery projects! 

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