Write On Tour

Since the spring of 1989, the first graders from our school have been designing class t-shirts. My collection of shirts includes the names of every child I have had in my class for the last 20 years! It's quite a sight when I hang them all up outside our classroom. After making the design, we then go on a short trip to Write On, a local graphic design, printing and embroidering company, to see how our original artwork is transferred to our shirts. Owners Peggy and Don do a great job of setting up the tour, and their employees are very patient with the endless questions from curious first graders.

This year, we started the tour with a welcome from Don as he showed us some of the products that Write On can make, including mugs, mouse pads, shirts, hats, jackets, sweatshirts, photo enlargements, buttons, stickers, key chains, and more. Then we divided up into four groups to rotate through the various work stations.

This embroiderery machine is brand new - look at all those spools of thread!

The kids were very good at listening and not touching as they learned about the operation of the sewing machine.
This machine made stickers.

After the backing was peeled off, each child got to choose a sticker. Spiderman and Hannah Montana were the popular choices.

Next was a machine that could stitch several items at a time.

It could go really slow or very fast. It was loud at top speed!

This machine was stitching a design on jackets. The kids actually got to press the bar to start and stop the sewing.

They also got a really close look!

Those needles go up and down so fast!

We learned that computers are very important. All of the artwork is generated by a graphic designer who works with a special computer program. The designs are put on discs, which are then put into the drive of the sewing machines. The information on the discs tells the machines what color of thread to use, and what design to make - amazing!

Finally, we got to see our design being transferred to our t-shirts. Most of them were already done, but several shirts were left to demonstrate the heat transfer process. Our design looked really weird because all the printing was backwards before it was transferred.

First, the shirt was heated up for 5 seconds, then the design was placed in the right spot, and fianlly it was pressed by the hot machine for 15 seconds at 375 degrees. It made a loud whoooooshing noise when the time was up, and we could even see steam rising from the shirt! We got to touch it when it was still kind of hot, but it cooled quickly.

There, all finished, and it isn't backwards anymore! Looks good!

Don met with us again at the end of our tour, he gave us a treat, and then we headed back to school, just in time for playtime and lunch. One of the kids summed it all up:

"That was the best trip ever!"

Thanks, Write On, for our awesome t-shirts and another great trip!

And here we all are in our brand new shirts! We will be wearing these shirts for our spring concert, class trip, and Phy. Ed. Fun Day. It's really easy to tell where each first grader belongs since each class has a different color. We'll look like a giant rainbow on the stage for our concert!

The kids just couldn't resist doing a "goofy face" picture.
What a crew!