Photo by Wendy Williams. In what used to be a storage room in Brooklyn's Upper Room Full Gospel Baptist Church, Wendy operates her classroom for anyone wanting to learn the art of needles, fabric, and thread. She keeps her rates low, making it possible for those on fixed incomes to afford classes. The school is open to adults, and children ages six to twelve. Through her classes, Wendy hopes not only to teach her students how to sew, but also to use this new skill to improve their lives.
Money management is an underlying theme in every lesson.
Her students learn tricks of the trade, such as how to get two outfits from ten dollars worth of fabric and ways to earn extra cash by selling the items they create. Lifelong Ambition Wendy has very little formal training in dressmaking. Her mother, Leola, was a seamstress who made and sold clothes, but Wendy doesn't recall her mother actually teaching her to sew. Most of her sewing skills have come from trial and error, reading books, and watching sewing programs. Wendy was 12 when she touched her first sewing machine, quickly learning how to draw patterns and make clothes for her dolls.