It’s finally summer and kids are caught up in those summertime activities of swimming, fishing, kayaking, camps and baseball.  How do you compete with all this fun? By offering them a chance to learn how to sew!  Janet Maeschen, a leader for the Town ‘N Kountry Kids – Blue Group, took on the challenge of a three day sewing workshop for several of her 4-H club members. Meeting at the Letcher Community Center on June 5-7, the excitement of the youth grew each day as the 4-Hers arrived for the workshop.

On the first day, participants were shown the parts of the sewing machine and given the chance to practice sewing on paper with no thread in the machine.  This technique helped them to learn how to sew straight and to practice pushing the foot pedal (to control the speed).  Next, everyone learned how to thread the sewing machine.  Once this step was mastered, they moved on to practice sewing on small pieces of fabric.

Sewing an actual project on day two was very exciting!  Not only did youth get to sew seams, but each participant learned about interfacing and how to iron.  Everyone got a lot of practice ironing and sewing as they each completed two table runners that day!

By Wednesday, the eager group was tasked with sewing their very own pillowcases.  Their skills were challenged with pinning, ironing and sewing more straight seams.  It was a very successful three days with everyone completing three projects and learning this very important life skill.  Plans to do more workshops in the future are in the works.   

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!