Anything Fabric is a new textile studio within the limestone district school board.
Mr. Murray brings many years of design experience to his students. He has built houses from the ground up and had success with the restoration of historical buildings. He builds stage sets, play costumes and creates one-of-a-kind garments. Mr. Murray designed & built the workshops for these courses. He is inspired by the program and his students.
To be precise there are mostly woven textiles used in the program, but there are also fabrics like leather and plastics that don't qualify as textiles. Fabric is intended to refer to all materials that may be used.
Anything Fabric is a new studio at Sharbot Lake High School funded by the Lighthouse Rural opportunities funding in 2006.
The purpose of the program is to develop design skills, hand skills and jobs in the community. Sharbot Lake is located in the land O' Lakes tourist region with a seasonal population that arrives to enjoy lakes, watersports, cottages, hunting, fishing and family holidays.
The limestone District school board is very supportive of this program of design and make skills for students who flourish in a kinesthetic learning environment. Special thanks to Dave Gervais for innitiating the quest for an answer to a need, and to all the administrative staff who helped the proposal receive funding.
Anything fabric is a title that is exactly what it says. The room , which is recently renovated from floor to ceiling offers every possible sewing machine type for textiles from the lightweight domestic machines suitable for traditional garment fabrication to the commercial/industrial twin needle walking foot machines suitable for heavyweight canvas work.
Students are encouraged to communicate ideas through computer and hand drawings as well as through models and prototypes.
We are pleased to say that the program is currently full of students with others waiting for an opening to get in.
SLHS is a small school that is able to respond well to individual student needs and has the flexibility to combine facilities such as the wood and metal shops together with the fabric studio for mixed media endeavours. Currently, while some students are making prom dresses or oven mitts, others are involved in building a camper trailer using steel, plastics, wood, foam, textiles and premanufactured articles required syuch as the axle, tires, wheels and electrical hardware. We look forward to seeing this project evolve.
This semester (Spring 2007) the Anything Fabric program is combining curriculum with the Automotive Welding and Construction Technology shops to produce a retro travel trailer in a teardrop shape. This project allows students varied opportunities to design and make the exterior and interior of the trailer. Students will familiarize themselves with light upholstery, electrical wiring, solar collection and lighting, flooring installation, windows, doors, tent zippers, stainless steel snaps and screening as well as doing the plumbing of the the kitchen sink.
Detailed course descriptions may be found
on the Sharbot Lake High School web site.