Collaborative Project Makes Sisterhood Sew Fun

The sisterhood at St. Agnes Academy is a bond that extends beyond immediate classmates to include the entire student body. A recent collaboration between second graders and seniors was a wonderful reminder of that special bond, combining the younger girls’ imaginations with the older students’ skills to create something special for everyone involved.

Upper School Family Consumer Science (FCS) teacher Julie Cochran and SAA second grade teacher Beth Barker teamed up on a fun fall project that highlighted the creativity of both classes. Our second graders were each given a “monster” template and a sheet of accessories and instructed to design their very own monster. The girls went into great detail with their designs and even wrote letters to the seniors describing their monster.

The FSC students read each individual letter and studied their drawings. Then they got to work-cutting felt out in the shape of their monster and cutting out accessories-carefully following all the instructions given by their 2nd grader to make sure they got each detail just right.

Soon, the felt monsters were looking just like the colored paper monsters, even down to the tiniest details. The seniors used glue, sewing needles, thread, and embroidery floss to recreate those exact drawings into 3D felt plushies to gift back to the younger kids.

This was a new project for the FCS class this year, and it was a learning experience for everyone.

“Did we make mistakes? Yes! Did we start again several times? Yes! But my girls learned a lot through this project. Sometimes it takes a lot of failed attempts to get something right. I am so proud of them, but most of all they are proud of themselves,” explained Mrs. Cochran.

When the felt projects were complete, the seniors and second graders met in the amphitheater for the big monster reveal. Both classes were thrilled to meet and see their final product.

 “To say my Seniors loved working on these monsters and feel connected to the 2nd grader who created them is an understatement,” shared Mrs. Cochran. “They couldn’t wait to meet each other and give the young girls their one-of-a-kind felt monster. I’m so grateful to Beth Barker for allowing my seniors this experience with her class.” 

The second-grade girls now have a keepsake they will always remember, and they also have older “buddies” they can look up to. The project was so successful, Mrs. Cochran has decided to replicate it with her spring semester class, partnering with St. Dominic second grade.