Pattern-making processes as part of school craft changes

Authors

• Päivi Marjanen Itä-Suomen yliopisto
• Minna Kaipainen

Abstract

School craft has been part of the Finnish school curriculum throughout the 150-year existence of the Finnish school system. This article focuses on twentieth-century craft books and their pattern-making processes for garments. A total of 67 school books, teachers’ books and student work books were analysed. The analysis showed that pattern-making processes were not considered as part of the pedagogical process of garment making. Pattern making was seen only as a tool, not as a learning process for creative work. Most likely, pattern making gained its instrumental value because of its difficulty and time-consuming nature. Pattern-making methods in twentieth-century school craft books as well as copying and transferring are still used today. Since school craft aims towards a holistic craft process, which includes the design, manufacture and evaluation of a product, one should also re-examine the role of pattern making in that process.