6J Textile Sessions with Sandra Ling

 6J have been lucky enough to enjoy four sessions of textiles this term with Sandra Ling from King's School, Bruton!

First, we introduced the pupils to the abstract work of the highly influential painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky. We talked about his distinctive compositions of colours and shapes and how much of his work was inspired by music. They then used pencils and watercolours to paint some original designs, thinking about circles, squares, triangles, and more organic, rhythmic, wavy shapes too! Pupils were given an introduction to hand sewing and they set about stitching pre-cut felt shapes to white fabric using a simple running stitch. We encouraged them to consider colour combinations and the deliberate placing of shapes, and they liked being in control of these creative decisions. Pupils were excited about moving on to the sewing machines, and each took turns to do some practice sewing onto fabric. This gave them an opportunity to become familiar with how the machine operated before adding straight and wavy stitching to the main group piece. In the final session, we focused on more appliqué by hand and button sewing to build up the level of detail. Sandra will use her expertise to stitch the panels together and we look forward to displaying the work as a group wall hanging. The class had lots of fun and learned some very useful techniques along the way. I am very grateful to Sandra for giving up her time to work with 6J and we look forward to collaborating again in the future.