NEW ORLEANS – At just one camp, sewing machines replace swimming pools.
That’s right, kids don’t have swimming pools, they have sewing machines.
WGNO News with a Twist features guy Wild Bill Wood says this situation causes the kids to dive, fingers first, into their own sewing camp.
It’s not actually called sewing camp, it’s called fashion camp.
It’s where we find a group of Wild Bill’s Amazing Kids brought to you by the Keating Law Firm.
The campsite is way in the back of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans.
The camp counselor is Alison Parker.
Alison is here because of where she spends most of her time.
That’s being a Hollywood costumer dressing big stars like Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis for the movies.
Now, she’s shining her spotlight on kids. She’s showing them the way, in a big way, with needle and thread.
The first day at fashion camp, kids fashion themselves standing tall against one of the walls at camp.
They outline themselves, their entire bodies right there on the wall. It’s a way to measure how they’ll soon model what they make.
Wild Bill asks fashion camper Sydney Clay what made her strike her particular pose against the wall.
She says she has no idea. She just wanted to do something interesting.
Some kids are sitting at sewing machines for the first time ever at this camp.
And then there’s James Favor. He’s been sewing since he was three. He started at the top making Barbie doll clothes for his cousin’s Barbie.
Remember the name: James Favor.
One day it will be in the label of something either you or somebody you know is wearing.
Fashion is not the only high note for James. He’s also an opera singer. And he just started with ballet.
It’s two weeks worth of work that works for you.
Kandace Thomas is another fashion camper who says, “sometimes when you’re anxious, you might need to sew to get anxiety out.”
Wild Bill says for him, he’d need to sew an entire wedding dress for anxiety relief.
Sewing camp is more than just what you make.
It’s really what it makes out of you.