3D Sneakers: Fashion Design Lesson Plan

Tuesday, March 12, we brought a lesson on 3D paper construction and fashion design to the middle school class at Southwark. They’ve expressed interest in urban fashion in the past, and I’ve noticed that they really enjoy challenging, hands-on projects. With the help of some similar reference crafts, I designed a handout for a 3D Sneaker papercraft.

I introduced the lesson by talking about designing for an audience; before you start, what kind of person would wear your sneaker? Is it something you would wear, or do you have a different type of person in mind? We talked about defining traits from different brands: how do you know when a shoe is by Nike, or Adidas, or Vans? Even when they’re different styles, what’s consistent?

We passed out the handout, scissors, glue, and colored pencils/markers. I went around to each group, one at a time, and showed them how to put it together. Some needed a little guidance, but usually after I showed them my sample they wanted to figure it out for themselves (and did a great job with it!)