One of the creative electives offered at Plainfield South is their fashion course. The class combines technical skill, creativity, and presentation in order to make a well-rounded seminar for students.

According to fashion teacher Hannah Greene, the course is designed around the student’s prior knowledge.

“Not everyone comes in with the same background, but nowadays, a lot of freshmen do come in because of their middle school programs. I let the students dictate the pace of the class, so if they’re moving along faster, then we get to do more fun projects. If we’re moving a little bit slow, then we don’t do as many fun projects,” said Greene.

Sophomore Melissa Heaton describes herself as a sewer but says she joined so she could learn more about the subject as a whole.

“I joined fashion to expand my knowledge, and I have learned a lot about color theory and major fashion districts in the world,” said Heaton.

There are two levels to the class: fashion 1 and fashion 2.  Fashion 1 focuses on learning the basics,  covering the history of fashion and working on hand sewing, whereas Fashion 2 develops skills in color and the principles of art and design.

The one thing Greene makes a point of teaching is fine motor skills, particularly being able to do work by hand.

“That’s the very foundation of fashion- being able to sew in a basic button on a [pair of] pants in case it pops off. The fine motor skills of being able to sew just a basic stitch,” said Greene.

Heaton describes the work in class as promoting self-expression and allowing for an ample amount of time for projects to be completed.

“Projects are very fun and allow you to express your creativity. We are given plenty of time as well, which allows us to really focus and do the best we can with the projects,” said Heaton.

She also stated that a trend she had seen over the years was student reliance on sewing machines rather than their own abilities.

“They rely more on the machine rather than themselves, I want them to rely on themselves,” said Greene.