Traverse City Record-Eagle

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March 9, 2010

Project helps charity, uses leftovers

Weaving fiber taken from old, discarded fabrics

FROM STAFF REPORTS

TRAVERSE CITY -- Old clothes have turned into a charitable, tactile and research project at The Children's House, a Traverse City Montessori school.

Parent Ann Edens was getting a jump on her spring cleaning -- including sorting through lots of threadbare T-shirts and frayed pajama bottoms -- when she had an idea.

"Children's art and recycling stuff into art materials are two of my favorite things," Edens said. "So I thought, 'Why not take all this old, worn fabric and make something wonderful out of them?'"

"Our first job was to collect torn, stained and discarded fabrics that would otherwise be landfill bound and turn these into weaving fiber," said Edens. Items used included baby clothes, pajama pants, tablecloths and many T-shirts.

Woodshop leftovers were used to create a large, simple loom for the students to create a 6-by-4-foot weaving.

The loom was put in a common area so students in grades 1 through 6 could work together on it.

The students decided to hold a raffle for the finished weaving to raise money for charity, then visited four area nonprofits to decide who to support.

They interviewed staff and toured locations at the Cherryland Humane Society, Child and Family Services, the Watershed Center and Street Outreach, then chose the humane society as the beneficiary.

The raffle raised more than $600.

The students "are already asking questions about starting another project, and it's been such a cool experience to watch them get involved on different levels and to be inspired to do more," Edens said.

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