Sewing Bee
I participated in the second sewing bee of my life today (the first one involved some 300 yards of white canvas, grommets, leather, and a ton of borax for a geodesic dome cover). Some of you know that my longtime motto was “I don’t sew.” Well, I guess it can’t be my motto anymore because I’ve done quite a lot of sewing this summer!
Today I met with four other moms from Lucas’s first-grade class. We have been tasked with sewing crayon cases. Yes. You read that right. Crayon cases. They are fabric cases with 32 little pockets for individual crayons to be stored in. The cases roll up and tie with a ribbon. They are meant, I think, not only for storage, but also to instill in the children some care and reverence for the super fancy, expensive, high-quality Stockmar crayons that Sacramento Waldorf School uses. Each child will get his/her own hand-made crayon case. Each child will learn to keep the crayons safe inside it.
There is a bunch of pedagogy and anthroposophy behind these crayon cases. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but it includes theories about color, emotion, form drawing, and child development. At first, the children will be given only some colors to use in their artwork and lessons. As they grow and become more sophisticated, they will be given more colors to use.
These cases are blue corduroy with red ribbons for ties. They are being lovingly crafted from scratch by a handful of moms. They are a pain in the ass … labor-intensive. We need more helpers, frankly, because the time until the start of school is a mere two weeks. I’ll post pictures when I have something to show. At this point, I don’t even have one completed yet. Yikes!
