The Estonian Ethnographic Society (EERK) course organizers and sewing instructors Helle Arro and Maaja Matsoo were very pleased with the turnout on the first day of the four-week course on Saturday February 7th. The Gallery Hall of the Estonian House was a beehive of activity as a contingent of 20 women arrived for the course - 12 of them course participants and the remainder EERK members who had come to instuct, support, mentor, assist and observe. Pattern making was the order of the day and by the end of the two-hour session, every course participant had achieved an individualized pattern for a shirt, dress, pants or combination thereof for their particular son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, grandniece, grandnephew and so on. At the next session on Februarty 21st, the small hall at Esto House will be humming with the sound of sewing machines and if all goes according to plan, the finished products will be ready to wear by the end of the fourth and final session on March 21st. In the meantime, the next three sessions will include the art of braiding drawstrings and garters and finally there will be a treat for the participants themselves – beading necklaces to accessorize their own folk costumes.
