Brand new sewers

The email came in at 7pm last night….we had sent a preliminary update to a local center where we offer classes with a new class idea a few months back, tentatively suggesting today as a starting date. But we hadn’t heard anything….so we figured it wasn’t happening. That’s ok, we thought, we’ll work on planning some new dates.

Then the email arrived. “Here’s the roster for the class starting tomorrow,” it read, “there are 10 students signed up!” My heart began to pound as I read it. Of course, we’re thrilled that so many students have signed up, but with less than 24 hours notice could we pull it together?  I called our teacher, Rebecca…her cheery voice rang through the phone…”sure, I’ll just need to change an appointment but that should be ok.”

In preparation, a student had written some vocabulary.

There are things to do to prepare for a class…gather a set of appropriate machines, making sure they’ve been checked and are ready to sew, gather materials for student sewing kits, make sure Rebecca has everything she needs to teach. And oh yes, volunteers to help! I called two board members “could you help me gather machines and supplies first thing tomorrow morning?” I asked, trying not to sound too panicked. I sent out a quick email this morning asking any volunteers who might have some time today to help us out.

The Genie!

As I was preparing to leave for the church this morning my daughter, Maddie, offered to help us out too. So off we went, meeting Bird and Jane at the church. We gathered machines, even taking time to marvel at the “Genie” machine….a groovy older model we all fell in love with. Jane and Bird’s cheery smiles and warm voices were so soothing. After the church,  Maddie and I headed over to the CMC to get set up.

Rebecca arrived and the three of us got it all set up. And as the students arrived one by one, I felt that familiar feeling of “it’ll all be alright.” We had a smaller class today and Rebecca taught in her Spanish that improves every time I hear her. She tells me that she’d like to move to Uruguay someday…I hope not anytime soon…

Roberta gets the machine unstuck

And the students learned and sewed. I love how they talk and laugh and help each other and I love watching Rebecca do what she does so well. At 1:00 Roberta, one of our wonderful volunteers, walked through the door. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here earlier” she said. And she flowed right into the group, helping a stuck machine, guiding an errant thread back to its thread path.

Sewing, helping one another, sharing stories while they create….that’s what happens in these classes and even though I’ve seen it over and over, it takes my breath away every time.