Story and photos by Clare Maher ’30
In room 1 of Danforth Hall, 17 students come together during Winter Term and start a challenging but mindful task called sewing, taught by Middle School Teachers Mrs. Inez Shultz and Mrs. Zuowei Chang. They learn simple but important things like sewing on a button and some simple stitches, things that are often overlooked and thought of as outdated, but it will help them as they go into the world and have to deal with horrible things like fixing a hole in their sock.
Why Students Joined
The students of Fun With Sewing joined for many different reasons, some to be with peers and some to learn. Rama Alakkassery ’30 decided to join Fun With Sewing, saying, “I did it last year and it was really fun! It also taught me a life skill.” Another student, Annabel Cunningham ’30, said, “I wanted to go to sewing class because It has helpful skills that I can use later in life.”
What They Are Doing!
On the first day, they needed to learn the simple stitches. They learned the stitches on a bookmark, practicing them all and dealing with mistakes. On the second day, the majority of the class was still working on the bookmark. Then, on the third day, many students started working on a trivet, further improving their skills and making something they can use every day. On the fourth day of Winter Term, many students were still working on their trivets, but a few had moved on to making headbands, further showing that you don’t need to spend money on things like headbands when you can make them. On the fifth day, everyone had completed their trivet and had moved on to pencil cases, making it even harder to make than the previous things due to needing to sew zippers and have the stitches be strong enough to hold many, many pencils and pens.
Things that were learned
- Blanket stitch – a decorative stitch that can finish an unhemmed edge of the fabric; it is also known as the cable stitch or a crochet stitch.
- Back stitch – a back-and-forth stitch used to hold two fabrics together, also one of the stronger stitches.
- Cross stitch – a decorative stitch used for art in homes and must popularly be used in embroidery.
- Zig Zag stitch – a back-and-forth stitch used when a straight stitch will not suffice. It is used to reinforce buttons and stitch stretchy fabrics, and it can also temporarily attach two pieces edge to edge.
- Running stitch – a hand-sewed stitch that can mend simple seams, hems, and gathers; the running stitch can also be used to reinforce other stitches.
- Button sewing – used many times to mend buttons that have fallen off clothing.
- Sewed flower – the class had to sew a flower to their bookmark so that they could practice intricate sewing.
Teachers and Students Reflections
| Hardest part about sewing | Easiest part about sewing | |
| Teachers | – students finish work at different times
– embroidery – fixing the sewing machines |
– lots of tutorials
– running stitch |
| Students | – threading the needle
– sewing the flower – cross stitch – getting needle through fabric |
– sewing machines
– accessibility to materials – running stitch – back stitch |
What students loved!! (Tips for next year’s teachers)
When stepping into the room, the students were laughing, yelling, and talking with friends. Students said they liked being able to pick seats, talk loud, and work at their own pace. The students also enjoyed how sewing was peaceful, rewarding, and will be helpful later in life. Cruise Wiedman ’29 said “My favorite part of sewing is learning new skills that I can use to fix things.”