Our students learn to stretch their brains creatively, apply geometry, analyze and use construction skills, and prepare for interesting career possibilities.
Students in grades 9-12 spend their year learning skills and building a variety of impressive garments. Fashion 1 works on creating an alternative materials garment based on the theme of that year's Met Gala. Fashion 2 & 3 hone their drawing and construction skills, while Fashion 4 seniors spend the year designing and constructing a 'senior line'. There's nothing like seeing their pride and excitement at the annual fashion show.
This year, due to Covid-19, our hands-on projects have been abandoned and our fashion show canceled. The students see this class as their creative outlet and are feeling low and disappointed that all of their hard work this year will not be celebrated. I'm hoping to help raise their spirits with a surprise of new machines when they return this fall!
My Project
What does everyone in the world have in common?
Every day, we all get dressed!
Sewing is not a dead art. As long as clothes are worn, there will be a need for the skill. And the fashion industry is a large worldwide employer! Learning to sew and understand how the fashion industry works is career readiness! But, our classroom needs sewing machines in order to expand on that education.
Over the years, our machines have taken quite a beating and we lost a lot of them this past year. I am hoping to build a team of Brother Tough & Sturdy machines for the kids to be surprised with when they return in the fall. I purchased one of these machines this year for the students to put through its paces and it got rave reviews. Not only is the machine able to handle a wider variety of materials than the outdated and exhausted Janome schoolmates we currently use, it's also less digital. Classroom sewing machines get handled and moved more than the average machine, which tends to cause disruption with machines that rely on digital commands. The Brother machine has the option of an automatic buttonhole, but everything else is analog. Unlike the aging digital machines we have, an analog machine won't 'short circuit' halfway through a seam.
My ultimate goal is to purchase 30 of these machines for the classroom so that I can teach my incoming students on the same machine. Currently, we are using 5 different machines, and it is difficult to get beginners familiar with all of them. (It also makes it difficult to teach them all at the same time!)
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Butterfield and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
