Hello there! My name is Samantha Schmidt, but my students call me Madame. I’m a French Immersion teacher in Ottawa, Ontario and also an obsessed sewist.
I’ve been teaching since 2010 and have done a handful of things, but lately teach French homeroom and the Arts to students in Grade 6. A couple of years ago, my principal happened upon my personal sewing blog (the internet is a wild place!) and told me he would be happy to buy supplies if I wanted to start a sewing club at our school. I thought about it for a while, tried to convince myself I was too busy (which I probably was) and eventually went ahead with it anyway.
When I came back from Maternity Leave last April, I got lots of questions from students about when sewing club would start back up, but at that point it was way too late. I decided instead to force all my students to sew (muuuuaahahahaha) by introducing it as a unit in my art class.
What surprised me was how many unlikely students got into it. There were definitely kids who would never have chosen to try out sewing club who ended up really, really enjoying it. Sewing teaches so many lessons we try to drive home in our students every day: slow down and make it good the first time; finished is better than perfect; and you can always go back and re-do things. Sewing provides students with an opportunity to be creators instead of consumers. Students must problem solve, design and learn to think in sequential steps.
Beginning his school year, I decided to make it my goal to spread the sewing love throughout schools. My mission is to compile resources, links, lesson plans and stories to inspire teachers and help them bring sewing into their classrooms, regardless of their sewing ability or the age or ability of the students they teach. All kids should learn to sew and I am here to make it as easy as possible for you to teach them.
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Questions or feedback? Email me!
Sewing at School 