School program puts needle and thread in students’ hands
VINELAND – About a dozen excited Landis Intermediate School students recently gathered in a classroom after school, united by a common thread.
When students were polled about what activities they wanted to pursue through the school’s 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, funded through the Cumberland Empowerment Zone Corporation, the choices were many, varying from technology to art.
When the votes were tallied, sewing topped the list.
Landis school recruited a local business, The Pin Cushion, to come to the school and offer some hands-on basic training.
Instructor Nancy Sloan said she found it familiar territory.
The business, recently relocated to North Delsea Drive from Landis Avenue, offers sewing lessons for those 7 years old and up.
Sloan distributed sewing packs, containing two buttons, a miniature spool of thread, a fabric square and a sewing needle, to each teen.
The goal, she said, was to give students enough training and confidence so they could manage basic repairs.
Step one quickly separated the beginners from the masters.
Ismael Cintron threaded his needle with speed and flourish. Others were frustrated by frayed thread ends that refused to cooperate despite some heavy-handed pressure to pass the needle’s eye.
“My mom showed me how,” Ismael said, who was keen to learn more than what he picked up at home. Sewing, he said, was a practical skill because you can save money on repairs if you can do it yourself.
Student Joyce Reaves said she got a sewing machine a few years back for her birthday.
But, she admitted she still had much to learn before she could achieve her goal of making a shirt.
Tenaciously, she kept adding bulk to her anchor knot, which keep slipping through the loosely woven material.
Sitting one row over, Mahogany Arthur also learned some simple stitches by watching her grandmother.
“When my pants are too big, she hems them,” Mahogany said, adding she wants to be able to do that all on her own.
Sewing not only takes practice, she said, it takes patience.
“I just keep trying it,” she said. “When I’m trying something new, I get extra excited.”
A few moments later, she celebrated by holding up a button firmly attached to a fabric square.
Mahogany was eager to move on to the next lesson — hemming.
One day, she said, she might have her own fashion line — or use her sewing skill for the nonprofit agency she plans to launch one day to help others.
Sloan urged the students to concentrate.
If they worked too quickly, mistakes were likely. Stitches were ripped out and the students started again.
It’s best to get it right the first time, Sloan said.
Holding out her arms, Sloan struck a pose as she told the students she made both her blouse and pants. Students offered compliments on her handiwork.
She asked the students if they noticed the first contestants to go home on fashion-based reality television show “Project Runway“ were those who didn’t properly construct their clothes.
“Project Runway, you’re talking my show,” said fashion-minded Mahogany.