This is the fifth interview in my series on Tips from Teachers Sewing with Kids. I hope these interviews with teachers who have been sewing in the classroom inspire you and give you practical tips to sew with your students.
Today I am interviewing Alisa Kutsel. Alisa is a textile artist and teacher who teaches from pre-K to Grade 5 in Northern California.
She is speaking to me about her classroom experiences, sewing slices of pizzas with her 5th graders and sewing zenkis and squishmallows with her after school enrichment class.
Sewing softie classroom stories
I love the stories Alisa tells about her students and how they took to sewing softies.
In one story she relates how a student, who had never shown enthusiasm for any project, wanted to take his little softie home. The problem? Alisa had to keep the students’ softies at school for their art show which wasn’t happening for a few months. Well, he loved that softie so much that he asked if he could visit his softie every day at recess. Alisa found a happy ending to the story by getting him to sew another softie who could go home with him.
Sewing in the classroom tips
Some of Alisa’s sewing tips for other teachers:
Be patient. It’s worth it in the end.
Have an example of each step of the project for the kids to reference.
Use the kids who “get it” to help others.
Best and worst sewing supplies
The best: Alisa found that the electric scissors she bought herself made cutting the felt quick and super-easy. (This is an affiliate link)
And the worst: the poor quality pins she bought on Amazon which created unnecessary difficulties.
