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Fabric Ideas
This is a good time to start
scrounging for the supplies you need for the Dream
Flags. Visit the
CREATE section of our website for full
directions. Here’s a link to a
one-page cheat sheet on supplies to obtain
for the flags. Also, you might want to check out
Melissa's ideas from the workshop in January.
Basically, the
only thing that is required is that each Dream Flag
is 8 1/2" x 11" (hung vertically). We've seen
people use muslin, cotton, old sheets, even cut-up
blue plastic shower curtains. Anything goes.
You can check out the
Flag Gallery to see few examples.
Here are a
couple of tidbits of advice about fabric, beyond
what you'll get in the cheat sheet:
1) The
tighter the fabric weave, the easier it is to
write on the fabric
2) Practice
writing on the fabric you intend to use. Find the
pen or marker that works best with your fabric (i.e.
doesn’t bleed), so students won’t get frustrated
when copying their final poem onto the fabric. You
can buy fabric pens, but they run several dollars
each. Guard them or they’ll walk.
3) If you cut
the edges of the fabric with pinking shears, it will
ravel less.
4) If you have
access to a computer printer, there is a product
called Computer Printer Fabric. It comes in packets
of four 8 ˝” x 11” sheets of white muslin, each with
a special backing that allows it to run through your
standard printer.
We’ve used this
fabric for two years. Once a student’s poem is in
its final version, we print it onto the fabric. You
may tear off the fabric backing once the ink dries,
or leave it on until you finish decorating the
flag.
Computer
printer fabric at our local Jo-Ann Fabric store runs
about a dollar a sheet, if you wait for the sale and
get the educators’ 10% discount. June Tailor is the
name of the company that makes the fabric we use;
other companies also produce computer printer fabric
sheets.
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