The Patchwork Project

7/29/2015

Last year I visited the wonderful Girls Club of the LES and was incredibly impressed with the facility, directors and teachers. I discussed doing a project with the sewing class, led by Mary Adams, and this July we launched the Patchwork Project during their Summer Camp session.

My assistant Chloe and I met with the girls ( aged 9 to 13 ) and I told them a little about my own design history, the Made With Love Project and working with Angelique Kidjo. The girls watched Angelique's music videos and I told them about her Batonga Foundation for girls their age in Africa and about her work as an Ambassador for Unicef.

The project was to design patch work fabric, in African wax print , at least 5 yds, for a costume for Angelique to perform in, so that girls in the US would be part of her mission for girls in Africa. It was a great 3 days, the girls were very inspired and in addition to the fabric created different accessories for Angelique.

The project culminated with a visit from Angelique to the Girls Club of the LES. With her were friends from Benin Africa, sculptor Romuald Hazoumé and his family. In addition to visiting the sewing group, we visited all the classrooms and became involved in the various art and music projects as well as an amazing visit to the Girls Club of the LES very own Planetarium !

Mary Jane Marcasiano July 29, 2015

First steps are sharing with girls the sketch for Angelique's costume and cutting the fabric into strips and then squares.