Establish your own fashion label and learn about historical fashions with Adam Newman’s Tudor clothes KS2 lesson plan…
The Tudors is a classic topic, but after a few years away from its mix of splendour and muck, I wanted to come back to it from a different angle: the opulence, colour and lavishness of the Tudor court.
On a recent school trip, my class ‘met’ Bess of Hardwick at the fantastic Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. Over the subsequent weeks, we ran our own Tudor fashion ‘brands’ and designed and made new ball gowns to impress our new client, Bess, all in time for fashion week.
What they’ll learn
- How to work towards a design brief
- Design a product to meet a specification
- Evaluate materials for a purpose
- Learn sewing techniques and technical vocabulary
- Be aware of purpose and audience
Tudor clothes KS2 starter activity
Before any dresses are made, you need to source the perfect material for your client. You can incorporate science enquiry and knowledge at this stage, exploring the various properties of materials and making reasoned choices for the final product.
My class particularly enjoyed testing for waterproofing – especially given some of the challenges of walking through a Tudor street!
Pupils also need to think about what the various patterns of materials may mean for the client; what do they want the product to ‘say’ about them?
Studying Tudor portraiture to discover more about perception and portrayal will help here. Considering and outlining how their ball gown will fit together is a problem-solving task in itself.
You can purchase miniature mannequins inexpensively online for taking measurements. Pupils can use these to drape their chosen fabric and visualise the process.
Create the popular Tudor farthingale hoop skirt with a simple cardboard cone disc or, if you have more time, art wire.
Explore the history of this element to extend pupils’ knowledge. Test out sizes and shapes with paper templates before cutting your material.
You may find that creating templates or prototypes in advance will help pupils succeed.
Adam Newman is KS2 and curriculum leader at Farmilo Primary and Nursery in Nottinghamshire. Find him at 3edmigos.creativeblogs.net.
