Sew Kids

Can you imagine a world in which a 12-year old girl rushes home from school to cut out a dress pattern? I wonder ...

I think I've dreamt of this for years--teach an afternoon or weekend sewing class for kids. I learned myself, at about 12 or 13, when I took a class at the Sears store in the mall. It didn't start out that way--a friend told me about a knitting class starting up at the mall, and asked me if I wanted to sign up. I think I bailed when I saw what all that yarn would cost. But they had a sewing class, with sewing machines in the classroom. I had to buy a pattern and some material, which didn't cost that much. I still remember the teacher, Mrs. Parry. "I don't like sloppy sewing!", she used to say when she walked around the room evaluating our work. When I completed the class, I had made a simple peasant-style dress out of light yellow cotton leno with a gathered elasticized neckline and sleeves. My mother had helped me pick out the pattern, steering me away from something with pleats, as I recall. The fabric was my own choice. I did a respectable job of it, for a beginner, and wore the dress that summer and the next. I still have it.

My mother still had an old White machine at home. She rarely used it after her first couple kids were born, although I do remember her making me a simple dress when I was about 9 or 10. I made many more things after the yellow dress, using Mom's White for several years until I was able to buy a newer machine at the Singer store when I was about 16. I still use it.

The kid sewing project will be a huge undertaking, and I've never done anything like it before. I'm not sure where to start, but I'm going to talk to someone at the community center in one of the apartment projects I know. I've seen a lot of kids hanging out in the streets after dark in that neighborhood, some of them groups of young girls. Some of them might like to sew, I don't know. We shall see.