Preparing for 4-H District Activity Day

There’s nothing that quite compares to a project completed. At the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year two students met with me each day after school to learn basic sewing skills. Leah Wood, fifteen and Alyssa Marescalco, thirteen consequently applied these skills to a presentation to be used at the North Carolina 4-H District Activity Day that was held on June 23rd in Cullowhee. Leah decided to focus her presentation on “The Shock Factor of Fashion.” Alyssa took a different approach by researching the history of brocade and damask fabrics both woven on the Jacquard loom. Leah and Alyssa both learned many sewing techniques including how to operate a different type of sewing machine, the serger. Leah fashioned her dress of emerald green satin after one that was worn in the movie musical “Burlesque.” Alyssa decided to construct a garment that would have been typically made from brocade. Her Shakespearean period costume featured a soft white under dress layered with a brocade over dress. The dark teal over dress was trimmed with silver. The bodice and the sleeves of Alyssa’s dress both featured silver lace ups. The girls have been working on their presentations since they completed the actual costumes that will be worn to illustrate their individual topics. Hopefully the girls will take the skills that they learned this year and apply them to a project for the 2012 District Activity Day.

Pictured: Alyssa Marescalco