Abstract
Sewing in homemaking education aims to nurture technical
and creative ability of children. Design of original handicrafts
requires the construction of an appropriate 2D pattern, but this is
very difficult for children and this restricts them to use off-theshelf
2D patterns only. Many schools have introduced CAI
(Computer Assisted Instruction) today, but they are not useful for
learning creative ability because they are merely used to show
images and movies. We therefore developed handicrafts design
support systems for novices to design their own original3D
handmade crafts. This paper examines the requirements these
systems should satisfy to be used as digital education tools in
homemaking education. We successfully demonstrated in
workshops and user studies that children can design original
handicrafts using our design support systems. These case studies
show that homemaking classes can teach creative ability, fun of
sewing, and versatility of computers.
