Day three of the sewing camp at the Fairfield Woods Branch Library was the most intense. The teens learned about patterns the day before and had actually cut out their fabric for pajama bottom shorts. There was so much to accomplish and they did it all so well.

Pajama shorts look pretty easy, but believe it or not, the biggest obstacle is knowing which piece is the front and which is the back. Sounds so basic and simple, but from a quick glance it is hard to tell the difference. Upon careful comparison you can see that the back piece is slightly wider to allow for our derrieres. Then there is the issue of knowing what is the right side and the wrong side. With many fabric choices this is not an issue, but our fabric was a soft cotton in a solid light blue that the right and wrong side could only be perceived when examined very closely. To combat both of these issues and because the pieces were cut the day before, I labeled them before the next class with four strips of blue painters tape: front left, front right, back left, and back right. The side that had the tape on it was the right side. This made the whole process so much easier and did not cause any confusion when putting them together.

The teens concentrated hard on the challenge of keeping all those seams straight and within the seam allowance, to insure a proper fit and to make sure those elastic casings were not too narrow. These teens were awesome and were so industrious all day long. They were practicing to be so precise in everything that they did, including clipping those curves and pressing everything.

Amazingly, no one complained that we did not finish them that day as planned. We gave them the option to come in an half hour early and to our surprise, some were so eager that they were there almost an hour before. What desire and motivation!

Congratulations on a job well done. I am so incredibly proud of them. They worked hard and succeeded.