Students in the Grade 6/7 class at McBride Centennial made an effort at reducing landfill waste and unnecessary purchasing, by making mittens out of old sweaters. As Christmas season and the cold winter weather hit, the class had a discussion about Christmas traditions, purchases, and what they enjoy most about the season. Then they tackled a seasonal craft together, up-cycling old wool sweaters into mittens.
The mittens were made, by first washing the wool sweaters in hot water and drying them so that they would shrink and felt up. Since the class had recently completed the lesson “It’s All from the Earth”, and McBride is a rural farming community, many could identify and understand the source and properties of wool.
The mittens pattern was cut out, and then each three piece mitten was hand sewn together. This took much longer than expected, and there was some learning involved in figuring out the best way to stitch the mittens together. The students also had the choice to embellish or modify their mittens to suit their style. Some added patches, buttons or pockets.
This was a bigger project than anticipated, but one which the class enjoyed and was eager to spend some extra time doing.
