What I Did on Your Summer Vacation: Part II

The week after Little House at Penland Camp I jumped right into Refashion Your Wardrobe Camp, and the week was filled with moments just like the one above - a bunch of teenagers sitting around sewing and chatting. Nice, eh?

The class was supposed to be for ages 13 and up, but I'm sure glad I yet a couple of younger kids in. Look at the spectacular T-shirt one of them made!It was one of those great camp moments when everyone gathered around to ooh and aaah and the young maker felt completely awesome.

And check out this terrific jacket! One dad brought in an old head-to-toe work-coverall thing that his daughter didn't want to have anything to do with. Another camper snatched it up on the very first day and knew right away that she could cut off the pants, shorted the sleeves and make a fabulous jacket. She worked really hard on it and it shows.Another camper took an image off a too-small tee donated by her mom and appliqued it to a just-right tee.And look at this awesome dress made from an old shirt, some fabric from my stash for the skirt, and some leftover ribbon trim. I was a little worried about this camp because wardrobe refashioning is so dependent on what you have to work with - I wanted to let each girl have a lot of flexibility in what she did instead of teaching a different project or technique every day. So I brought in a bunch of materials, tools, and old clothes and told them the sky was the limit - they could tell me what they wanted to make and I would show them what they needed to know. They jumped right in and I just kept circling the room working with different girls on hand applique, installing zippers, using the sewing machine, painting fabric, embroidering, doing tie-dye, etc. It could have been a chaotic disaster but instead it was a little hive of creativity just humming along. What a fun week!