The fashion studios II class at Newton High School has spent this semester furthering their skills with creative new projects. The students taking the class are currently getting a lot of freedom with their projects. Whether they are making a quilt, a swimsuit coverup, or whatever else they want, the students have got the chance to explore the world of sewing and fashion.

Junior Brylee Budde is currently enrolled in the fashion studios class and chose to make a swimsuit coverup for her project. For this semester, Budde said that they have done a few different projects. They had to do one project with a zipper, a project with a button and for the zipper project it had to be serged, which basically means to finish an edge with stitches.

“You have to do a project with a zipper in it, a project with a button in it and then in that zipper project, you also have to do projects that are serged,” Budde said. “We should have the first one done in the first nine weeks and the second one done in the second nine weeks.”

Budde says that this class has helped her learn a lot. This semester, she has learned a lot of new skills and has enjoyed the new experience the class has given her. Specifically, she has learned the importance of being precise while working with clothes and fabric.

“[I have enjoyed it] because it is something new and I have learned a lot of new skills while working on it,” Budde said. “I haven’t been able to just ‘eyeball’ everything, I have actually had to go through and look at measurements and make sure that everything is going to match up perfectly.”

Sophomore Ava Claassen is currently working on her serged zipper project. She plans on making a green, flowy skirt that will be perfect for the current spring season. Claassen has spent some extra time on her project outside of class because of the more intricate parts of her soon-to-be skirt.

“I have had to come in for seminar every once in a while just because I have had a lot of pieces of fabric that I needed to cut out,” Claassen said. “Recently though, I haven’t done that much outside of class because I mostly just spend the class time sewing now.”

Claassen has specifically enjoyed the process of this project, although it has taken her quite a bit of time. The students in this class have been working on these projects since the beginning of the semester and it has been a tedious process. Even though this has been a longer project, this makes her more excited to see how her skirt is going to turn out in the end.

“I have enjoyed doing this project because I am very excited to see how it is going to turn out in the end,” Claassen said.