It\u2019s keeping a dedicated handful of teenagers off their phones and teaching them patience. These boys love sewing club and they\u2019re \u201cnot worried what people think\u201d.<\/p>\n
The bell shrieks signalling the end of the school day at Westlake Boys High School. Throngs of stripey green blazers surge out of classrooms; some are heading home, others to practice and a handful are setting up for their sewing club.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cooper Phillips, a year 13 student with a mop of blond hair, explains the origin story. He\u2019d admired a jacket made by his media studies teacher Casey de Wit, telling her he\u2019d be keen to learn how to sew. \u201cA few weeks later, she came up to me and said \u2018how would you how would you feel if I made a sewing club?\u2019\u201d Pushing concerns about his own work ethic aside, \u201cobviously if you do it, then I\u2019ll join\u201d he told her. \u201cI\u2019m glad I stuck to it, it\u2019s like something that I really like.\u201d<\/p>\n
In May this year, Cooper and Prince Mancilla became the founding members. Kruze Agnew found out what they were doing and wanted in too. More followed. The boys meet every Monday after school. While there was some judgment from their peers and a few guys had a laugh, \u201cwe\u2019re not too worried about what people think,\u201d Joseph Wrightson tells me, unpacking a machine. His extracurriculars are rugby and sewing club.<\/p>\n
Joseph gets the sewing machine, a classic Bernina, set up. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
They learned to sew on scraps, made tote bags, then moved on to garments. These required more fabric, which was a bit of a wake-up call. \u201cAll that stuff was expensive,\u201d says Cooper. \u201cSo that\u2019s why we did the bunting.\u201d Selling handmade bunting to the teachers was their fundraising initiative. Cooper, Prince and Justin Gordon pitched the project in the teachers\u2019 lounge. \u201cThe whole staff was there\u2026 it was a bit nerve wracking.\u201d They made 33 sales and the money they raised went towards materials \u2013 an exciting trip to Spotlight \u2013 with some left over. \u201cThat\u2019s what led to us going to New Zealand Fashion Week,\u201d explains Cooper. \u201cThat was really cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing garments on the runway was exciting. They were \u201cmore like artwork\u201d, adds Prince. He\u2019s busy cutting out his shorts, a little behind the other boys because he took on another project, a soft-toy bunny. \u201cThat took me a whole week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The machines they use were all donated to the club or purchased secondhand from Westlake Girls. The boys share, setting them up carefully and asking for help when they\u2019re unsure about a lever or button. The mood is light; they\u2019re here to learn but also to hang out. Though some were friends before, they\u2019ve all become closer through the club. It gives them a chance to connect outside of school, says de Wit. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice for the friendship side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prince and Kruze work on their projects with the help of Casey de Wit. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
The boys chat as they work. They\u2019re making trousers and shorts, their first real garments. Kruze is at the ironing station, concentrating intently on pressing his trouser pieces. Ironing before you sew is important, Kruze explains. He enjoys the ironing, he says. What about the club? \u201cI love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The others are sewing up their trouser legs. They check they\u2019ve got the right pieces together, sit down at the machines and begin to stitch. School shoes rest tentatively on pedals and the room begins to hum. It\u2019s disrupted with jokes, gentle razzing and plaintive cries of \u201cMiss?\u201d. \u201cAccidents happen when you\u2019re sewing,\u201d explains Prince. If something goes wrong, they unpick and try again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019re learning patience. \u201cWe\u2019ve stuffed up and had to unpick for ages,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cWe get frustrated a bit, it\u2019s harder than you expect.\u201d Understanding the time, money and effort involved in making something raises the stakes of the task at hand. Seated at his machine, Joseph worries aloud whether he\u2019s done something wrong. Then, it clicks: \u201cI get it now!\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph and Kruze inspect some half-finished trousers. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
Around the room there are similar cries of exasperation and breakthrough. These eureka moments make de Wit smile. Kruze has one as well. Despite exclaiming \u201cI\u2019m not OK!\u201d while hunched over his machine, he\u2019s quietly delighted when his side seam and pocket bags are successful.<\/p>\n
Sewing is teaching them resilience, explains de Wit. \u201cThey get so frustrated if something goes wrong.\u201d Instead of giving up, she encourages them to be patient: unpick, work out what happened and try again. And again. Although they want everything to be perfect, the process of slowing down, taking your time and doing it yourself is rewarding. She\u2019s been surprised by how much satisfaction they get from it. \u201cThis is something that they actually enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It helps them focus \u2013 a major feat for teenage boys (and everyone else) in 2026. Cooper says it gets him off his devices at home, where he uses his mum\u2019s machine. \u201cI\u2019ll go upstairs, leave my phone in my room and just sew for a couple of hours. I just feel like I\u2019m in the zone, it\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper talks through his pieces with Miss de Wit. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
But modern technology does help learn more skills; he looks up tutorials on YouTube \u201call the time\u201d and often sees sewing content on TikTok and Instagram Reels. These boys are savvy, fluent in clothes as a means of self expression (they prefer that term over \u2018fashion\u2019). \u201cWhat you wear really represents who you are as a person,\u201d explains Cooper. \u201cIf you can pull off certain things, it shows people how confident you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph agrees. \u201cWe all care about [clothes].\u201d He tells me they\u2019re not the only boys at Westlake picking up a needle and thread. \u201cLots\u201d sew at home \u2013 one modifies \u201call\u201d of his clothing and another tweaked his school trousers.<\/p>\n
Modifying clothing is popular because it\u2019s cheaper and easier than buying material or starting from scratch. Prince has \u201calways wanted to adjust clothes to what I want them to be\u201d. He got into sewing through skateboarding, because skaters have great fashion sense (he\u2019s right) and often modify garments.<\/p>\n
From left, Kruze, Justin, Cooper, Blas, Prince and Joseph out of uniform at New Zealand Fashion Week in August. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
It appeals to Cooper too. \u201cI\u2019ve always been real big into clothes\u2026 but lots don\u2019t fit how I want.\u201d Sewing gives him the means to adapt them. \u201cIt\u2019s a good skill to have for upcycling.\u201d He\u2019s done a few projects at home and modified things for his friends. \u201cI got all the boys coming up to me now asking me to tailor their stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m no pro or anything, I just have very basic sewing skills.\u201d During sewing club he\u2019s making a pair of shorts, bent over the table to get his pocket placement just right. \u201cIs that too high, Miss?\u201d<\/p>\n
As they pin and sew, the boys talk about hanging out after school, meeting up with girls and other teenage business. It\u2019s Joseph\u2019s birthday and he\u2019s just turned 18, so the topic of voting comes up \u2013 some of them are enrolled already. They discuss political parties for a while before the conversation swerves in another direction. It swerves a lot \u2013 these are teenage boys, so any focus is challenged by the frenetic energy of adolescence.<\/p>\n
They ask me whether other clubs like theirs exist but I don\u2019t have an answer. They\u2019re surprised to learn that sewing, or rather \u201cfashion and textiles technology\u201d and \u201csoft materials\u201d, is offered as a subject at other schools. In New Zealand, 763 education organisations are consented to assess on apparel cutting and sewing to level two, but that doesn\u2019t mean they all offer it. (Westlake Boys is among them, but doesn\u2019t have soft tech as a subject.)<\/p>\n
At a secondary school level, New Zealand doesn\u2019t have enough technology teachers, explains Westlake Boys technology teacher Ellie Basterfield, who also helps with the club. For the school to offer soft tech as a subject, there would need to be more students interested. \u201cIf it gets really popular, then it\u2019s something we could propose,\u201d de Wit confirms. For now, they have the sewing club.<\/p>\n
Miss Basterfield helps Blas while he pins his pieces together. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n
The boys\u2019 sights are set on finishing the school year (exams are looming) and planning what\u2019s next. Although Cooper likes the idea of studying fashion design at a tertiary level, he\u2019s not ready yet. \u201cI\u2019m gonna go into a sparky apprenticeship,\u201d he explains. \u201cMaybe further down the line, if I\u2019m still keen, I\u2019d definitely love to give it a shot.\u201d He likes using his hands to get stuff done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of students that want to go into trades,\u201d says Basterfield. If apparel manufacturing was a viable trade pathway it \u201ccould be something really good\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kruze also wants to do an apprenticeship next year too. \u201cDrainlaying or plumbing, I\u2019m not sure.\u201d Prince plans to relocate to Perth for a job and Joseph has applied to the University of Otago. With most of the boys finishing year 13, de Wit hopes they can keep the club going in 2027. Only Blas Chacon-Monreal is year 11. \u201cHe\u2019ll bring the new recruits next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper, Prince, Joseph,
Kruze and Blas after sewing club last week. (Photo: Emma Gleason\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s keeping a dedicated handful of teenagers off their phones and teaching them patience. These boys love sewing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[302399,39426,156,1438,111,139,69,6649,2935,47066],"class_list":["post-614064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-boys-schools","tag-clothing","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-schools","tag-society","tag-teenagers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}