Creative Quilting in Fourth Grade
Students in fourth grade are making their own hand-sewn quilts in art class. They looked at a variety of examples of quilts from Gee Bends quilts from Georgia, Harriet Powers’ story quilts, and other American quilting traditions based on geometric patterns. Students first made a paper design using rulers, pencils, and templates. Next, they cut shapes in fabric for their quilt top. Each quilt will be made with three layers, a top, the center, or the batting layer, and the back. Fourth grade will sew these layers together and then add quilting stitches with sewing machines to complete these projects.
