Thursday 29 November 2012

A designer is born

Yesterday, our homeschooling co-op put the rest of the structure around the holiday skit we will be sharing with friends and family.  We will be offering an interpretation of Jan Brett's The Trouble with Trolls.  However, we will be exchanging the trolls for various creatures.  The children will be preparing their own costumes and props and we'll be gathering together one last time for a dress rehearsal before the big night.

As you may have guessed, Nicholas has decided he would like to be an owl.  And, some of you may know that he is very detailed and craves a realistic interpretation of the things around him, owl costume included.  So, there would be no cardboard wings or paper plate masks for him.  He's taking to designing his owl costume and has set his sights on sewing it himself.

We found some large paper in the basement and he drew the general layout of how his costume would look.  We talked about the need for seam allowances.  We talked about considerations when taking a two-dimensional object (the pattern) and making it three-dimensional (the finished piece).  We talked about how the fabric might fray and how the fabric choice needs to be considered in the design.  We talked about the weight of different materials and how weight impacts how the fabric will hang and the finished garment will look (and how hot it will be underneath).  He was very open to hearing about what he would need to consider and problem-solving.

He has settled on constructing wings, a full head mask, talons for his feet, and a tail.  All the pattern pieces are cut out and some of the fabric has been cut too.  Tomorrow we'll work to squeeze in a little sewing time.  What an exciting time!


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