Sew cool
Volunteer Laura Schmidt helps Logan Schmidt, 9, sew a backpack during the annual youth sewing and quilting camp Tuesday afternoon at the Coeur d’Alene Shrine Club Event Center in Hayden.
David Balija, 10, sews a backpack during the annual youth sewing and quilting camp Tuesday afternoon at the Coeur d'Alene Shrine Club Event Center in Hayden. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Photos by LOREN BENOIT/Press Volunteer Ellen Marlatt helps Elise Kopp, 9, sew a backpack during the annual youth sewing and quilting camp Tuesday afternoon at the Coeur d’Alene Shrine Club Event Center in Hayden.
Mirra Elliott, 12, pins the drawstring for her backpack during the annual youth sewing and quilting camp Tuesday afternoon at the Coeur d'Alene Shrine Club Event Center in Hayden. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
HAYDEN — Mirra Elliott gingerly inserted pins into yellow cloth decorated with red, green and blue elephants.
The Coeur d'Alene 12-year-old eyed the spacing between the pins, making sure everything looked even.
"I'm pinning so I can make the casing for the drawstring to go through so it will close," she said.
She chose that particular fabric to make her backpack because "it was just cute and I liked it, so I grabbed it," she said, grinning.
Mirra and about 25 other teens and tweens are busy this week with the North Idaho Quilters. They're learning the ropes (and threads) during the quilting club's annual youth camps at the Coeur d'Alene Shrine Club Event Center in Hayden.
"I’ve wanted to sew for a really long time but I didn’t really know how to do it with a machine, and I’m saving up for a machine, so my parents sent me here to learn how to do it so I could do it at home,” Mirra said. "It’s also really fun because you get to make your own thing. They give you kits, but you get to pick out the cloth."
The camp projects include backpacks, neck coolers and quilts, as well as pillowcases campers will be donating to the Shriners Children’s Hospital through Ryan’s Case for Smiles, a volunteer organization that helps kids feel better mentally and emotionally while in hospital care.
"They’re learning how to sew, they're learning how to follow directions. They’re learning they can make something themselves," said Carlene Litz, co-chair of the North Idaho Quilters youth camps. "The kids really like the idea of making the pillowcases — 'I can do something to help other kids.'"
She said she loves watching the boys and girls get excited about learning new skills or becoming more capable with their sewing and quilting abilities.
"They don’t get it in school,” Litz said. "A lot of moms are busy working and don’t have time, if they have the skills. Grandmas often have way more time to help."
David Balija, 10, of Coeur d’Alene, worked on making a camouflage backpack. He said this was his third time coming to the sewing camp.
"You get to learn a bunch of new projects,” he said. "You get to learn more skills about using (a sewing machine) so when you have your own you already know how to use it. And you learn hand-sewing, too."
Judy Gordon of Coeur d'Alene volunteered as a mentor and helped while her granddaughter, Lily Rice of St. Maries, 11, worked in a group with Hailey Schmidt of Hayden, 11, and Stephanie Flores, 13, of Spokane.
Lily said her grandma taught her how to sew when she was 6 or 7 "and I just liked it."
"I really enjoy it," Gordon said. "It's a good pastime, good stress reliever and you get a finished object as a result."
This is the fifth year for the five-day camp, which concludes Friday.
Info: www.northidahoquilters.com/activities