Design Technology - Arty Cushions (Lower Key Stage 2)

Arty Cushions is a Design Technology unit of work aimed primarily at children aged 7-11. The unit focuses on creating a three-dimensional fabric product using a range of textile skills.

Design Brief: Design and make a decorative cushion to be sold in the local art gallery shop.

Sequence of Learning for Teachers
In this unit children join textile pieces to create both a cushion and a cushion cover. Children investigate different kinds of cushions and their purpose, and they learn that cushions can be designed to provide support and to be decorative. They build on previous learning about the running stitch and different embroidery techniques that are used to decorate fabrics.
They are introduced to the backstitch technique and apply this skill when learning about different textile fastenings and when sewing a button and matching buttonhole.
Using the design brief and specifications, they design a cushion cover based on a famous and iconic work of art. They use learnt techniques to make a cushion and a decorative cushion cover following the designs that they made. As part of the evaluation, children consider the skills that they used in designing and making the cushion product and also present their product in a Dragon’s Den simulation.

This knowledge, skills and understanding is delivered through the following six sessions:

1. Investigate Task 1 – Investigating Cushions & Focus Task 1 – Decorative Stitching
2. Investigate Task 2 – Investigating Fastenings & Focus Task 2 – Buttons & Buttonholes
3. Focus Task 3 – Making a Cushion
4. Design and Make - Cushion Designer (Designing the Cushion Cover)
5. Design and Make - Cushion Maker (Making the Cushion Cover)
6. Evaluating the Cushion Product

Some activities / sessions can be re-arranged or delivered in different ways in the learning sequence to allow for whole-class teaching and/or small adult-led sessions to take place at the same time.