From the History of Fashion to NaNoWriMo

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Written by sfbrightworks

We began our exploration of the history of fashion and historical events that have influenced fashion trends, with a sort of clothing trends through the centuries and decades.After recording our personal observations of the various fashion trends, we discussed how we saw history's impact on clothing. One thing that stood out in regards to women's fashion was that we saw more suits or male influenced business attire in those decades affected by war such as the 1940s and 1960s when women were having to work, and a return to more "traditionally feminine" clothing in the 1950s when women tended to be back to their role of housewife.We've begun weaving, but it isn't all just fun and crafts. Rich has turned weaving into a math provocation. After creating their looms, the band calculated how much yarn they would need to complete their personal weaving projects.Sometimes we take a moment to work on something unrelated to the arc. After learning about Jacob Thompson, a nine-year-old boy with Stage 4 high-risk Neuroblastoma, the Teal Band decided to make his wish for Christmas cards come true. These kids have such huge hearts.Jonah crafted a pop-up card.Jacob's favorite animal is a penguin and Natalie put her wonderful drawing skills to work immediately.What would the Cloth Arc be without an exploration into pattern making? After watching a video on pattern making and creating a step-by-step list of the process, the Teal Band set out to make patterns for an item of their own clothing.After creating the pattern, the band was tasked with calculating the area of their pattern to figure out how much fabric would be needed to create their garment. They explored the various shapes that made up their shirt pattern and the formulas used to solve for these areas.My friend Tiff, a costume designer and maker, came in to share her story and work with the Teal Band a number of others. We learned that she sewed her first successful dress at just age nine and has been designing and making costumes professionally for almost thirty years. We were certainly interested to hear about her time making a number of costumes for the Hamiton touring cast.Viggo jumped at the chance to be turned into a living paper doll in one of Tiff's costumes. We learned that she loves costume design because it's often just that much more fun than your everyday garment.They began a chemistry lab with Rich on Friday, making their own soap. (Check back for a more detailed story of this lab from Rich.)And I can't forget NaNoWriMo. They are writing every spare moment they have, that's on top of the time set aside just for NaNoWriMo. I'm pretty certain they would be happy writing all day, every day if  I let them.Sometimes it's nice to get out and write in a new setting. This week, NaNoWriMo took us, and our friends in the Violet Band, to Maxfield's Cafe. It's pretty special and empowering to be writing next to a big table full of adults working on their own NaNoWriMo novels.

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