Fashion Design 101

Sofi and I discovered this wonderful book on the $2.00 table at Barnes and Noble a month ago. It is called, "Sew Teen" and it shows you how to make about 20 different outfits from scratch - no patterns or anything - it tells YOU how to measure & cut (talk about amazing math practice!) your own pattern based on the measurements you take of yourself. This book was perfect for Sofi because she loves to design her own fashion. She is always cutting up old clothes to make something new and creating things for her dolls out of scraps of fabric. I didn't want to stifle her natural creativity and make sewing a chore for her by bringing in all the pre-stamped patterns and complex directions. And intuitively I was right - she LOVES this method.

So we started by making her Halloween costume - the bottom part will be a skirt - and with the leftover fabric we can easily make something to match for her doll because there is no pattern, we just follow the cutting instructions for the doll down to the doll's size and all is well.

And isn't the skirt pattern so clever? It is just two squares placed at an angle to each other and a waistband in the middle (see picture).

Kids & Dolls that Knit

Kids minds can be like fire. You add a little spark of inspiration and they flames of creativity can reach quite high just from that little spark. It always amazes me. I will often plan an entire lesson only to have it take a completely different direction when the creative drive kicks in!

Yesterday was one of those days. My plan was to do some knitting, tell some stories and start the kids on some projects they can work on through the winter. As the days grow colder we will be outdoors less and less so the kids will need some more "hand" work to balance their day (I always balance with head, heart and hands). That is so easy to get when they explore outside, but it becomes more challenging in the cold winter months. Some of the kids in the enrichment class know how to knit, some have learned but have not knitted for a while and some do not know. My goal was to make sure everyone got started on something.

What happened was even more magical! Everyone got started pretty quickly and they were all overjoyed to be knitting or knitting again. For some reason knitting seems to appeal to boys and girls, all ages (above 6 or 7) and all temperaments. And as knitting always encourages casual conversation (hint for parents with teens/tweens - it's a great way to get them talking) one subject led to another and another and we soon decided that the dolls needed to knit too.

So I found an old set of pick-up sticks, grabbed some wood beads from the bead drawers and we put together some tiny needles...

Then someone had the idea to make little balls of yarn and then I remembered I had some tiny baskets I got on sale for about ten cents last year somewhere...

Soon we had an adorable little knitting basket for all the dolls. Then Sunii decided to see if the needles really worked and discovered that not only did they work but that they were very manageable and much easier to use than the large ones. So a few of the kids decided that "the dolls" were going to knit themselves some tiny toy unicorns...

So far they have finished most of the unicorn body and have been working hard at their little knitting projects whenever they have a spare moment today. So it looks like everyone got started on their knitting alright! I just didn't expect that they would be knitting on miniature doll needles for two days! I think they even knit MORE because "the dolls were knitting".

This BLOG post is a weekly sample post. For daily visual inspiration on projects/crafts/stories and lessons sign up for the "member's BLOG" and "member's channel" at The Waldorf Channel. You can sign up at www.herbnhome.com - both of these resources provide photos and video of many many Waldorf-inspired crafts and lessons each month. You can save money by making your own Waldorf supplies, have an ever-growing resource to go to whenever you need inspiration for the day or week, and even ask questions on the consulting list about any homeschooling or health issue you have questions about. Posts from previous weeks are all indexed and easily searchable on one page. Member videos are also indexed by topic on one page! This is a great supplement to ANY homeschool program you may already be doing.

Member posts this week include:

Practical woodworking for the grades

Felting beads

Mandala Lesson for balance, harmony and coordination

Paper Making - Watercolor and other paper

A Winter Fairy Home

The Non-"Tree House"

Much more from previous weeks too!

Easy 5-minute Doll Wardrobe

Dear Parents,

I am so excited about what Sofi and I did last night I have to share it! Sofi was asking me to take her shopping. She has money she has been saving that has been burning a hole in her pocket! She saw this wooden doll wardrobe at the store the other day (to hang doll clothing in) and she HAD to have it. It cost $50.00 and I was not so thrilled about her spending that money on a doll cabinet but I always let the kids do what they want with their allowance and learn their own lessons...sooooo...I told her - sure, we will go, just not tonight.

But Sofi is not the type to wait. So I hear her out in the dining room/woodworking/art/lesson room rummaging around. She asks me where the glue is. I hear noises....NOW I am curious! I find her trying to glue wood pieces together to make her own.

I was so impressed with her efforts I decided to help her a bit. So we thought a bit and rummaged around some more in the drawer, got out the nails and hammer (instead of glue) and came up with a doll wardrobe that was awesome and really took us only about 5-8 minutes to build!!!!

All you need are 4 pre-cut boards from the craft store, 2 screws, and a piece of bamboo (we cut from a garden stake in the garage). You don't even need to measure anything! You screw the screws into the same place on either side of two of the boards, insert the bamboo rod and you have the start. After that you just put a base and a top on and it does not matter if they fit exactly or not - they actually look cool with a little wood hanging over the side. We nailed the top and the bottom to the side with small nails. We only used a small hacksaw to cut the bamboo piece off.

In fact, you could put hooks in the side and hand scarves and hats from the side. Sofi made a couple "Hat Holders" for the top out of two old blocks with a popscicle stick nailed to them!

She LOVES this new doll wardrobe and is already wanting to make another one! Now we just have to make some nice wood hangers so it is all natural :)

Blessings & Health,

Kristie