Story and photos by Ria Kura ’30
If you love calming activities and spending time with friends, head over to Fun with Sewing!
In Room 1 of Danforth Hall, fourteen middle school students, ranging from seventh to eighth grade, met for the Winter Term class, “Fun with Sewing.” They were taught by Middle School World Language & Culture Teachers, Ines Shultz, Dhaniela Sousa-Charleville, and Marcela Casco-Lee. They learned the basics of sewing by creating different projects that they can use in their daily lives.
Although sewing may seem a little old-fashioned in this generation, it is a valuable skill to learn. In the first couple of days, students learned the basic stitches and how to sew buttons onto garments. This included the running stitch, back stitch, split stitch, blanket stitch, chain stitch, cross stitch, and zigzag stitch. When asked what he hoped to learn in this class, Noah Bennett ’31 replied, “Some patience and confidence to learn new skills.” When asked what she hoped to gain with this course, Alivia Collins ’31 responded, “to get more practice, and get an experience I enjoy.” With these newly learned skills, the students created their projects.
After the students learned the basic stitches, the students worked on a personalized bookmark. Then, they worked on pot holders and pencil cases. If time permitted, some students worked on a pillowcase. Other than the sewing projects that were created in this class, many other lessons were also learned. When asked what she hoped students would take away from this class, Ms. Charleville responded, “I would love for them to know that this is something that you can bring into your life, like if you need to quickly fix up your pants, or your shirt.”
Sewing is meticulous and demanding work, especially for students at the end of the day. When asked what his favorite part of creating a sewing project was, Charlie Martin ‘31 replied, “Creating a sewing project takes a lot of steps to get to the end product, which is very rewarding for me. And those steps are hard, so when I complete them, it’s nice.” Sewing can also be exhausting when you make a mistake. When questioned what was most challenging about this course, Violet Ersen ’31 replied, “Running out of thread.” Even though sewing can be quite problematic, the beauty of a finished product makes up for its difficulties.
As the students enjoyed the tranquility of sewing, they also enjoyed talking with one another and bantering about what song should play next. When asked what part she enjoyed most about the course, Mallory Champlin ’30 said, “Getting to talk with people and getting to know people better. Also getting to know different people across the grades while doing it.” Sewing seems like a solitary activity, but in this case, it assisted in forming friendships. Even the teachers enjoyed this course. When asked what she enjoyed in the sewing class, Mrs. Shultz said, “How the students learn and the process of sewing.”
In this two-week course, students learned the basics of sewing, including the basic stitches and how to sew a button. To show their newly learned skills, they created projects that integrated their new skills, like a cloth bookmark, a pot holder, a pencil case, and a pillowcase. Together, they experienced the ups and downs of stitching and the commitment needed to learn how to sew.