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Sewing Club celebrates anniversary
It all started three years ago, because Madison Hedges wanted to earn a badge for sewing in Girl Scouts. So, she an her friend Danielle Smith signed up for weekly sewing classes in the back room at Nine Patch Quilt and Fabric, just off the Square on Walnut Street in Nevada.
Since then, friendships have been firmly knit together, and stories and experiences have been shared over the hum of sewing machines and the tell-tale giggling sound that's always present when the group of young ladies, who now call themselves the Wednesday Afternoon Sewing Club, are in the room.
Those first two students, Madison and Danielle, are still members of the class-turned-social club. Their lessons began in the fall -- instructor Linda Ewing says she got 'em for her birthday, because that's when they signed up for the class. A few months later -- February, to be exact, sisters Maddie and Carlie McCaffree joined the group. (Ewing says she got them for Valentine's Day).
Throughout the group's history, other members have come and gone, but all took with them new skills and solid friendships when they left the group. Last year, Ashton Eador joined the group, and a week later her friend Ellie Smith joined as well. Ashton's a whiz at making quilts -- already she's made three quilts, a purse and a pillowcase; and last Wednesday she began another pillowcase.
"Turn her loose with a sewing machine and she'll get it done. She's very, very good at it," Ewing said.
Pillowcases are a favorite project of several of the girls, especially an item known as a hot dog pillowcase, a project that rolls up; and when it's finished there are no raw edges, inside or out. "They have more fun makin' those pillowcases," Emery said, "and one year they made going away bags, for foster children, children who have to leave their homes quickly for some reason. That way those kids don't have to put their belongings in a garbage bag."
Last year, Danielle and Maddie Hedges went to the Missouri State Quilt Guild Retreat. "They were the two youngest at the state retreat, and they're so happy to have young people there."
This year, they're going back to the state event, held in October; and they're taking a third young lady, Emily Goodrich, with them.
Danielle and Maddie will be taking challenge quilts to the state retreat and competing against all the other guild members, most of whom are women and mostly older than age 50.
The challenge was to make a quilt using the rail fence pattern and using at least one fabric with polka dots. Danielle's quilt has a rail fence background and an appliqued vase and flowers. She's used fabric yo-yo circles for the blossoms. "I was making the yo-yos when I was trying to figure out what to do (for the challenge) and I came up with the flowers."
With a little help from her sewing club friends, she developed the idea and is well on her way to completing the project.
Maddie's challenge quilt is a baby quilt within a quilt; that is, a smaller, identical quilt pattern makes up the center of a larger quilt.
"That was her own idea, too," Emery noted.
And just as the young fabric art aficianados help one another with new challenges in their projects, they also talk over and often solve other life challenges while they're in the sewing room.
"They talk. They share things," Emery said. "It's important, especially for pre-adolescent and adolescent girls, to have an adult they can talk to," and to have others their age with whom to share thoughts, giggles, and special moments.
Recently, the club celebrated its third anniversary. Not all of the members can go to every session -- members even sometimes take a few weeks off for vacation or other responsibilities; so not all of them were there that day. Nevertheless, at the Wednesday Afternoon Sewing Club, young ladies sewed. They talked. They giggled. It was a special occasion, so this time, they ate ice cream cake. And it looks likely that for many Wednesday afternoons to come, there'll be sewing, talking, giggling and friendship.