
Group Rag Rug
A couple of weeks ago I posted about my efforts to come up with a rag rug making technique that children could do fairly simply. I'd been invited to work with two Manchester schools by Imperial War Museum North using local source material, so we focussed on the memories of an elderly gentleman reminiscing about making a rag rug when he was in the forces. I worked with two schools within very different catchment areas. One was an ESL specialist school in the city working with year 5's and the other was a school in a more leafy suburb working with year 6's. I think the year 6 kids grasped the technique pretty well, whilst the year 5's struggled a bit - and with large class sizes it was the usual thing about trying to give enough attention to everyone. I was the only adult in the room with any real experience of the technique which made it harder. However, I was still very pleased with what the children achieved. It just shows how a number of smaller pieces can be stitched together to form a larger work with real impact. A great way to get kids upcycling too.
Wall hanging