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| Girls at the Boys and Girls Club surround Caroline Skubik eager to learn how to sew. |
After Two Years of Planning, 17-Year-Old Opts to Run a Summer Sewing Camp at the Boys and Girls Club Teaching
Lessons of a Dying Art One Stitch at a Time
By Diana L. Chapman
"Girls, girls, girls," says
Caroline Skubik, as she plunged through a wave of chattering, bouncy middle
school girls excitedly preparing for their grand finale -- a fashion show. Their eyes sprinkled and sparkled with glittering
eye shadow.
"You guys, keep control of yourself
and be on point," she adds, keeping her young and bubbling mob in check even
though she is just a few years older. "Don't ruin it for the next person."
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| Maryam Yadzi, 13 holds up two skirts she made. |
In itself, it's a stunt most adults
couldn't pull off with squirmy pre-teens, but for Caroline, it was as though
she was a master, fitting neatly into the club's puzzle of giving its youth
more talent, self confidence and pride to their life skill's tool kit.
There were no already done patterns here,
Caroline explains. The 30 girls learned to design their own dresses and skirts but
first started out with a simple bag, which is where the whole gig started three
weeks back when the young leader began to stitch and sew the youth's attitudes
for the better.
From her kids, Caroline is getting more
than an A+ for her efforts.
"She was there for me. I kind of felt
I was a bad person. But I feel now just happy with sewing class. It can changes
lives," explains a bright-eyed Destiny Marquez, 11, whose hazel-colored
hair was in ringlets for the show. "My life was already better the first
day she came.
"She opened me up."
Designing and making patterns was no
easy task, which is why some of the 10- 13 year old girls dropped out when they
got "frustrated" no matter how she tried to keep them. "It's one
thing making the pattern and another to make it fit you." But far more
girls -- awestruck by Caroline's work -- stayed to learn all about the young
woman's passion for sewing, self-esteem and fashion -- a combination of
treasures she wanted to share.
The teen has been fascinated with
fashion since she was young and began to sew about age 12, said the bright and confident blond who seems
beyond her years.
Her mother started her off sewing, but the
teenager blossomed working hard to build her own concepts in an art that has
fallen off the charts for many working American women. The threads of the camp
came together, she said, starting two years ago when she decided she wanted to
receive a Gold Award from the Girl Scouts. She rolled her passions neatly into
a package for a sewing summer camp as her community service project. She
researched legalities and safety concerns, and then looked for donations.
The big fabric chains turned her down.
She also had trouble finding a location that would allow her to teach sewing
camp for free. And she wanted particularly to target middle school girls
"because it's such a delicate age." But finding those girls would be
hard.
When things seemed impossible, suddenly
crates of material and bolts of colorful fabrics began to appear at her house.
Then ten sewing machines arrived, loaned by family and friends. They also
donated about $1,500, many in fabric store gift cards, so she could purchase
the numerous and necessary supplies, such as needles and thread.
"I had more yards than I could
count and it poured into our living room," Caroline said. "This was
all free," she added, pointing to the many boxes at the club stuffed with
materials. "This was all from my friends and family. "
Then, she learned the club had middle
school girls and she wouldn't have to charge them a dime.
In the beginning, the camp started with strict
rules. The teen insisted on:
--No open shoes to avoid needles going
through some one's foot
--Eyes must be kept on the sewing
machines at all times when working and "never look up."
--Do not engage anyone in conversation
who is on a machine or vice versa to prevent accidents.
From there, her first lesson was simple: "Here is a needle. Here is the eye of the needle. You put thread through the eye," Caroline explained with a precision as the girls wandered about before the show putting on make-up. Caroline crowed to her crew: "We're designers!" The girls giggled.
Seconds later, they were crossing the
runway.
Some of the girl's pieces as they
twisted and turned weren't perfect: a skirt had no hem, a zipper was
misaligned, a belt around a waist was crooked -- but Caroline and the girls
didn't care about any of that. What was incredible, the leader said, is the kid's
confidence soared when they learned to make their own clothes giving them a
sense of freedom and passion just waiting to spark.
The perfection can come later.
The girls learned about textures, colors
and shapes and how to thread a machine -- and they want to learn more.
"I made a shirt. I made a dress. I
made some shorts and I made a bag," said Keyara Andrews, 12. "It was
pretty challenging, but then it got easier. Caroline has been a very good role
model. She kept showing us what was wrong without screaming at us."
By the end, her students had made 25 to
30 bags, 23 skirts and 20 dresses. Three girls that were more advanced also
made shorts.
Of course there had to be an accident.
Talita Shields, 12, said she "wasn't paying attention" using the
sewing machine and sewed through her finger. After it happened, Caroline was on
it cleaning the cut out with hydrogen peroxide and "she was so comforting."
"I like how Caroline helps
us," Talita said. "She treats us like daughters. Sometimes I'm kind
of pushy and rude, and she'd have me wait, calm down and
hold a second."
To parent Rene Yadzi, whose 13-year-old
Maryam attended, Caroline is practically a miracle, who deserves huge plaudits
for her success.
"Caroline was amazing," Rene
said. "She did a job that we frequently hire experienced, even college
educated teachers to do... She really inspired these kids to tackle an
incredibly hard project and stick to it when the difficulties seemed insurmountable.
She was level headed and mature, always. She provided a structure and a plan
that grounded the efforts.
" In the absence of these factors,
it would have fallen apart. Instead, it was an amazing success that built self
esteem and showed these kids that they have the power to achieve anything they
want."
Leomar Ignacio, director of the club's
middle school center, said she was an amazing add who came with practicality, nurturing
and common sense.
"Caroline's sewing camp brought
back the essential task of sewing for our members," he said. "The
members aren't expose to the basic programs anymore due to the budget schools
and community programs. But with Caroline's determination to help our club, our
movement and our members with teaching sewing, it helped our kids find another
way to feel better about themselves and what they can achieve."
Routinely,
Cathy Skubik, the teen's mom and a 4th grade teacher at Park Western
Elementary, came to help, adding that the craziness of it all just dazed her.
Her daughter, however, didn't bat an eye. Cathy said she couldn't help but
be impressed.
"She listened to them. She knew
them. She pushed them...It was just a very natural way of teaching. They were
really great kids and were really open to her and her ideas. It's such a
perfect blend of her passion for sewing and her passion in believing in
yourself."
But there was one thing Caroline didn't
anticipate. She didn't understand "how connected I was to the
girls" and toward the end began to feel sad.
"I feel appreciated by them," she
said. "They are so sweet. I don't think it's an option for me not to come
back."
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