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Starting in February, the First Baptist Church of Westwood offered a free beginners’ sewing class for local students age twelve and older. The class met on seven early release Wednesdays from 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. and, depending on the week, was attended by as many as 20 young people.
Gayle DeAvila of Dedham, who has more than forty years of fashion dressmaking experience, served as instructor. The class provided an opportunity to have fun while learning some very basic sewing skills and then putting those skills to use. The students designed and created their own quilt squares, and then produced four quilts for young children. Based on the success of this class, First Baptist Church plans to offer similar programs in the future. At their final class on April 27, the students presented their quilts to Nancy Kearns, a coordinator of the greater Boston Area Chapter of Project Linus.
She gave the class a certificate of their accomplishment and noted that in the last 15 years, the Greater Boston chapter has donated over 50,000 blankets and quilts to babies, children and teens.
Project Linus is an all-volunteer organization that distributes handmade blankets and quilts (“made with love”) to children needing comfort – because they are in the hospital, or may have been involved in a house fire, lost a relative, have a parent who is a wounded veteran, or been affected by a devastating incident like Hurricane Katrina.
More information about the organization can be found on their local website, www.bostonprojectlinus.com, as well as their national website, www.projectlinus.org.
