Sewing was once an ordinary life skill (at least for women).
But it’s a craft that’s been almost forgotten by younger generations.
The Eighth Avenue Learning Center in Port Alberni is helping it make a comeback.
Teachers Shannon Golemba and Kathleen Battand started a sewing class to teach students in Grades 10-12 how to make their own custom clothing.
“We wanted to give [students] something new and different,” they told Alberni Valley News.
It got off to a pretty slow start, but within a few weeks, they’d received a ton of enthusiastic students wanting to take part!
“It’s really because of the help of our community that this really came together,” said Battand. “We started out with almost nothing—just bins of scrap material.”
“We panicked at the beginning that we wouldn’t have any machines,” added Golemba.
Leave it to the communities grandmas to solve that problem in a jiffy.
Kismet Quilts, the PAGO Grannies, other staff members, and a few generous people helped stock up the classes with seven sewing machines, a serger, and all the fabrics these kids could dream of!
Now all they needed was for the students to sign up, but it took a little convincing at first.
“The first day, there were only four brave souls,” Golemba joked.
That quickly changed. Within a few weeks, the class was full of a diverse mix of kids, all eager to learn.
“It’s a lovely group,” said Battand. “There’s a lot of pride when they’ve accomplished something new. When they’re done with a project, you can see the sense of achievement.”
Sewing has become a outlet for these kids. They’re proud to be learning an art that can also save them money and make their fashion sense sustainable.
Now, kids even show up on their lunch breaks to sew!
The class has been such a success that they’ll expand it next year to accommodate interest – and add an advanced course for students who want to further their learning.
