Over the last few days in Year 4, we have completed our first Design Technology project of the year which was creating our own book sleeves. Our key skills were:
Design
• Writing design criteria for a product, articulating decisions made
• Designing a personalised book sleeve
Make
• Making and testing a paper template with accuracy and in keeping with the design criteria
• Measuring, marking and cutting fabric using a paper template
• Selecting a stitch style to join fabric, working neatly by sewing small, straight
stitches
• Incorporating fastening to a design
Evaluate
Testing and evaluating an end product against the original design criteria
• Deciding how many of the criteria should be met for the product to be considered successful
• Suggesting modifications for improvement
• Articulating the advantages and disadvantages of different fastening types
We started off our Design Technology project by exploring the meaning of what a fastening is. We learnt that it is something which holds two pieces of material together such as buttons, toggles, velcro, press stud, zips and buckles. We then did a mind map to discuss where we would find these types of fastenings and how secure they were before we also spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of each fastening and recorded this in a table to show our results. Next we moved onto our design process by discussing our design criteria which was the following:
- had to made out of fabric
- had to big enough to hold a book
- had to have a Christmas theme
- had to have our initials on the sleeve
Using our designs, we made a paper mock-up to check that our designs would work and meet the criteria. To do this we cut out our templates and use glue to stick 3 sides down before drawing our images and initials onto the template to see how it would look.
Next was our making process which involved cutting our felt to make two equal pieces and attaching them together by sewing. We had to thread our needles and make a knot in our thread before using a running stitch to attach our pieces of felt. We had to make sure our stitches were ideally equal length and remembering to only attach 3 sides. Once this was done, we had to stitch our button onto one side of the sleeve and stitch a tab to the other side so we could secure the sleeve with the fastening. Lastly, we cut out our initials and designs for our sleeves out of felt and stuck them on to finish off our products. We then had a feedback session where we discussed what we could do better or change next time if we were to make it again.
Year 4, I was so impressed with all of your efforts and teamwork to help others finish their products. You should all be very proud of yourselves especially when handling the needles and being safe. Your book sleeves all look amazing and I’m sure you will enjoy your early Christmas presents!
What did you enjoy most about the Design Technology project?
