Handwork Through the Grades

Every year, grade school students look forward to the new projects for their grade. Some have siblings who have gone before them and know what to expect, others are meeting new techniques and projects for the first time. By December, each class has learned the handwork skill for that grade level and is working away at the projects for that year.

First graders will start making their needles in September, then learn or remember how to knit and start on their first handwork project. Their next project is to make the cases for their flutes. These are long rectangles with four color changes from dark to light, all in garter stitch. These will remain in use at school until the students get the really big recorders in the upper grades.

In second grade, all the students are learning to purl, which when used in combination with knit stitches, make a very different fabric, called stockinette. They learn to purl while making a star ball, with alternating sections of garter and stockinette stitch. Then the second graders are making a very long scarf, in the shape of a snake. Every student in this lively class has a different stripe pattern for this fun project.

The third graders are crocheting. It’s a whole new way to work, with only one tool and learning how to use it can be frustrating at first. Soon however, students forgot their initial challenges and their single crochet stitches grew first into a pencil case to use at school, then a little round mat. Then they will start working on colorful hats.

Fourth graders also learn a new technique, this time embroidery and cross stitch. A large piece of 6 count aida cloth and needlepoint yarn is being transformed, stitch by stitch into a front panel for a book bag. Fourth graders also encounter handwork homework, thus helping them to build good homework habits for the coming years.

Mitten plans.

The fifth graders return to knitting, this time in the round with double pointed needles. The students start the year by refreshing their knitting skill and make some stylish wrist warmers. Then they will knit a pair of colorful wool socks and mittens, sized for wearing next year, which could come in handy.

Sixth graders begin learning hand sewing. They must pin, mark, baste, and sew with small, neat, even backstitches with good tension- known as ‘SNET’ in class. Their project is a human figure - quite like a Waldorf soft doll - but with the features and clothes of a twelve-year-old. This is a very popular project with the students and hair colors and clothes design are carefully considered so their project will have just the look they want.

Seventh and eighth graders split the year into semesters, one for handwork and the other for woodworking. This semester, the seventh graders have handwork with an extended study of embroidery. This results in a beautiful felt book, which is intended to hold needles and pins for hand sewing. Each student will plan an interesting design for ten or more embroidery stitches. These little gems will be treasured for years to come.

Embroidery stitching.

In eighth grade, the students are currently in woodworking class. Our eighth graders will graduate next January to sewing machines. Our machines are simple mechanical types for learning the basics of garment construction. The project will be a cozy pair of colorful pajama pants.

The handwork curriculum teaches students many skills for improving their fine motor skills, challenges them daily with math and also teaches them perseverance. The students may not realize all that, but what they do care about is that they are making beautiful things that have a real use. This is an invaluable lesson for our increasingly busy lives.