For the last 4 years or so, my art teacher friend has had an art “auction” at 4-6 grade Spring Concert where we pick about 35-40 pieces of student art, frame it, and sell it for $7. It’s a great fundraiser that has become quite popular! Last year, we thought we’d try an actual auction item, and I made this mini quilt with sixth grade art. It was a pretty good success and brought us almost $100 (one parent bought almost $30 in tickets!).
We live in a pretty poor area and many families in the district struggle financially. I did’t think that a mini quilt would be the type of item that would bring as much interest as a tote bag, so my friend agreed I could make a tote bag.
We decided to use 4th grade art this year, and a specific project in particular. I’m drawing a blank on the artist/style she based this lesson on, but these pieces always looks so pretty in the hallway.
When I made the mini quilt last year, I took pictures, put them in a collage, and had Spoonflower print out swatches that I cut and used. This year, I agreed to try printing the pictures from my home computer (we have a new printer that works better). I took the pictures and put them in even fancier collages on my phone. I ended up printing out 6 sheets of collage art.
Example:
Each side of the bag had 3 collages, 2 were similar and one was different in design. I cut the different design in half and sewed back to each side so it would be the length of the other two.
Each side was blocked in with black so I could sew the seams together without covering up too much of the artwork.
Once the front is pieced, I quilted three lines to cotton batting and then sewed it together, giving it boxed edges.
I love the fabric I used for the lining. I chose it because my friend and I love the color, and it really pops with the artist colors!
Each side was a 17" square before sewing together. I used art from 24 different 4th grade artists. Every artist has their work shown at least 2 times. I tried to get the majority of students to have their art “large” at least one time, but there are a few that are not.
You all get to see it before my friend! I hope she loves it, and I hope it brings in some money for the art program!
Thanks for looking!
