'Sew' giving
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on December 1, 2015 1:46 PM
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Darlene DeBruine teaches her student Rebecca Hall, 13, how to finish sewing the edge of a pillow during class at Rosewood Middle School. Mrs. DeBruine's eighth-grade family and consumer science students learned to use a sewing machine, with their completed pillows donated to residents at Woodard Care.
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Sarah Paul, 14, learns how to sew and stuff a pillow with instruction from her teacher Darlene DeBruine during class.
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Savannah Perry, 13, left, sews the edges of a pillow with the help of her family and consumer science teacher Mrs. DeBruine.
It started out as a class assignment and morphed into an opportunity for students to share their finished work with some grateful senior citizens.
Darlene DeBruine, Exploring Family and Consumer Science teacher at Rosewood Middle School, was preparing to introduce her 21 eighth-graders to a sewing lesson.
Then she pitched the idea of donating their pillows to assisted living residents at Woodard Care.
"The whole idea is that we're part of the community and we all help each other," Mrs. DeBruine said.
Her two classes went for it, even though many of them had never sewn a stitch, much less operated a sewing machine.
In her sixth-grade classes, Mrs. DeBruine starts with some of the basics, such as the technique of using pinking shears to prevent the fabric from unraveling. With each grade level, she builds on the skills.
"It was fun," said Kaitlyn Grady at first.
Classmate Savannah Perry was more reticent.
"It was scary," she said, noting that it made her nervous.
Most, though, said they looked forward to the activity and seeing how it turned out.
"It was scary and nerve-wracking," Kaitlyn admitted.
"You have to control the pedals," Savannah said.
Sarah Paul explained that the presser foot, which guided the pace of the needle, was tricky.
"You have to make sure it's not too fast or too slow," she said.
The process requires a keen eye, the students said.
"Put (the material) up under the needle," Savannah said.
"Make sure it isn't crooked," classmate Sarah Paul added.
"You have to fold in your fabric. You have to stuff it," Savannah said. "You've got to make sure the pieces don't come apart."
"If you don't do it right, the lines are going to go sideways or slanted," Sarah said.
Once everything came together -- the material securely sewn together, stuffed and taking shape as an actual usable pillow -- the students were able to take stock of their efforts.
"Trying new things is fun," Sarah said.
"Now I think I'm a master sew-er," Savannah said.
"All we had to do was make sure it was lined up correctly," Kaitlyn said.
Classmate Rebecca Hall was more contemplative.
"I learned that it takes time to sew and a lot of people think it's easy but there's a lot of things that I didn't know about," she said.
Savannah agreed that sewing may not be easy but it was still fun, with one piece of advice to anyone just starting out.
"To make sure," she began.
"That you don't press that pedal too hard," Sarah chimed in.
But the biggest pay-off came from what happened afterward.
"Sewing it up and knowing that I'm going to give it to people that need it," Rebecca said.
"But next time I would like to give it to them personally," Savannah said.
That was the down side, Mrs. DeBruine agreed. It became challenging, and costly, to secure a bus or transportation to take the students to Woodard Care to make the delivery during the school day. So instead, she took the pillows to Jean Jones, owner/administrator of the facility near Rosewood.
"We passed them out to all the residents," Ms. Jones said. "They're using them. They appreciate it.
"They're just thankful that they're being thought of. It doesn't matter how big or small. They love children and it means something, any little thing."
Ms. Jones said the residents' appreciation for the generous gift was readily apparent.
"They're tickled. Some carry the pillow with them in their wheelchair, some they're on the beds," she said. "It's just a joy that people think of them any time."
And the effort will not stop there, Ms. Jones said.
"We're going to do something for (the students) for Christmas," she said this week. "We want to take some residents there to meet them and recognize the students for doing this.
"We're really thankful they would do that."