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            Annette Becker knew she was on to something when more and more people came to her for help. Holes in sweaters, rips in jeans, missing buttons. You name it; she can try to fix it.

            Becker, a Norton sophomore, had so many friends ask her to fix their clothes that she decided to make a little event of it. About five people came with their torn clothing, and she taught them how to stitch up the holes to be as good as new. 

"Doing it in a group takes away the social stigma of being embarrassed that you don't throw things away," Becker said.

As people are reaching further into their pockets during the economic recession, they are looking for new ways to cut costs. Whether it's reattaching lost buttons, mending holes, stitching up tears, or creating a whole new item altogether, sewing is a quick and easy way to save a little money.

Leslie Ahlert, who owns the Stitch on Needlework Shop on Massachusetts Street, said she's noticed a trend in customers getting back into sewing.

            "People are seeing it as a leisure activity, and they use it to take the place of going out and spending money on entertainment," Ahlert said.

            Ahlert said her customers are also trying to consume what they already have into new projects, purchasing new things to incorporate with their extra fabric to create something different. 

            Kathy Barland, one of the owners of Sarah's Fabrics on Massachusetts Street, said she's also noticed an increase in interest for sewing. Her store offers sewing classes ranging from beginning sewing to advanced quilting. Barland teaches the majority of the classes.

            "The classes are consistently full, and we are having them more regularly because they are so full," Barland said. "Beginning sewing is the most popular."

            There are different beginning sewer's classes offered, depending on what you want your first project to be. Barland said bags and simple drawstring pants are usually the easiest to start with. There is also a beginner's class to teach sewers how to use their machines, and another for those who want to get back into sewing and need a refresher course.

For Becca Braun, Hutchinson sophomore, it all started with a pair of ripped jeans. But not just any ripped jeans, Braun's first pair of jeans after her days of high school uniforms. The ones that are perfectly broken in, and fit in all the right places. Her favorite jeans.

            After discovering the huge hole in them, Braun knew she had to do something to save her beloved pair from being thrown away. So she decided to sign up for the beginner's sewing class at Sarah's to learn how to sew. Her goal was to patch her jeans and rescue them, which would help her save the money it would cost to buy a new pair.

            In the class they worked on a small project while they learned the basics of sewing with a machine. Braun chose to make a quilted duffel bag for her project, which was another way for her to save money.

            "I wanted to learn to make something to curb my Vera Bradley bag addiction," Braun said. "I really wanted a large duffel, but it was going to cost too much money to buy, so I decided to make one myself."

            But making your own clothes doesn't always end up saving you money. Fabric can get expensive, not to mention purchasing a sewing machine, thread, patterns, and other accessories. Sarah Fayman, the owner of Sarah's Fabrics, said getting started is probably the most expensive part, and a lot of people don't realize how quickly the costs can add up.

            Most of the classes at Sarah's Fabrics cost $35, plus the cost of the fabric you will be using. Fabric at Sarah's usually costs $5 to $10 per yard, but the price varies with the quality of the fabric. Decorating fabric is more expensive, usually close to $20 a yard. And in order to sew a project, you will probably need a pattern, which sets you back another $10. The classes can provide a sewing machine to use, but if you want to continue sewing you will need your own machine. Simple models cost around $100, but nicer machines cost around $200 or higher.

            The cost also depends on what kind of item you are making. Both Barland and Fayman said if the goal is to make high quality clothing, chances are you won't save much money doing it yourself. But for small projects and minor alterations, sewing is a great option to cut costs.

"Absolutely you save money," Barland said. "But it depends on what you're making, you have to compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges."

Barland said that if you wanted to make something you would find in a designer store, you probably wouldn't save money. But if you just want a simple garment without a lot of detailing, you could probably make it for a little more than half the price.

Annette Becker said she started being more money conscious about her wardrobe when she came to college, especially when she started purchasing all of her clothes herself. She buys most of her clothes from vintage and discount stores, fixing any minor imperfections herself.

While her initial motivation was to save money, she continues to shop there to find items that are one of a kind, and to be environmentally friendly. She explained that by fixing up a shirt, she is giving it a second life instead of purchasing something new altogether. 

            "It's nice knowing you don't have to lose a piece of clothing you like just because it was ripped," Becker said. "And you can make it more personalized."

           Freshman Julia Barnard flips through the pages of her planner, looking up what she has to do today. The pages are all filled with highlighted lines of text, written in meticulously uniform handwriting, color-coded according to subject with check boxes next to each thing. There are events, meetings, and guest speakers listed, things Barnard would have never had time for last year, back when it took her at least five hours a day to complete her homework. Back when she had to look up nearly every word of her assignments in her French dictionary. After graduating from Lawrence High School in 2007, Julia spent a year in France, studying at Le Collège Lycée International Cévenol, an international boarding school.

But don't even try to tell her how cool you think it is. She'll just slyly smile and push that one piece of hair--the one that always seems to evade her ponytail--behind her ear and say it's really not a big deal.

Julia had only one year of high school French before she went to Le Cévenol, where all of her classes were taught in French, and few of her classmates spoke English.  She studied in the literature program of the school, and had all of her classes with the nine other students in the program.

"I hated it there at first, I couldn't interact with anyone because of the language barrier," Julia said.

Being thousands of miles away from her parents didn't help either. As an only child, Julia is very close with her parents, and the limited contact with them was difficult. Because Le Cévenol was located in the mountains there was very limited Internet access, and only one phone for the 70 girls at the school.

Cheryl Lester, Julia's mother, said it was difficult to see her daughter struggle so much, but through their communication they were able to make it through the ups and downs and grow together.

"Going to school in France with rudimentary language skills was a courageous thing for Julia to undertake and endure," Lester said. "I admire [her] for having found the strength to endure the isolation and the many other challenges of life at Le Cévenol."

Julia went to the school for ideological reasons. Two Protestant Pacifists founded the school in 1938, and during World War II the school was a hiding place for thousands of Jewish refugees pretending to be Protestant students. Julia's parents are Pacifists, and she is also Jewish.

Le Cévenol was founded on Pacifist ideas, but while it wasn't taught in her classes, Julia felt she soaked it in while there. The school environment really helped her reach that conclusion. She explained that raising the tuition at Le Cévenol in the 1990s attracted wealthier students who weren't focused on their studies, and led to problems with violence, drugs, and theft.

"That was really alienating for me, coming from Lawrence I'd never really been around a lot of that," Julia said. "I feel more connected with it now, I would definitely consider myself a Pacifist."

But her parents didn't want her to go to the school only for those reasons. When he was a boy Julia's father, Philip Barnard, went and studied at Le Cévenol for three years. Early in their marriage he and Cheryl Lester also lived in France, and Julia said it was important to them both that she go and study the French language.

"Our primary motivations were to give Julia a 'bridge' year to develop before beginning university work," Barnard said. "It was opportunity to develop some independence, to gain international experience, and to learn French."

Barnard said that while he was there Le Cévenol was set up differently. It was run by Pacifists and Quakers, and had a different sense of community because the faculty lived on campus. He also said there was a more intensive course of language instruction, which helped students to immerse themselves in the language and learn at a rapid pace. Because the system was gone by the time Julia went there, Barnard said it was much harder for her to learn French.

Before going to the school Julia talked a lot with her friend Libby Johnson, Lawrence sophomore, about her fears. Johnson spent a semester living in Germany during her junior year of high school, and Julia came to her to talk about her experiences there. Julia also came to her for advice on how to interact and make new friends.

"My biggest piece of advice to her was to be outgoing, don't let anything intimidate you," Johnson said. "She was very happy to hear that I had made friends in Germany, and that a social life is possible with the language barriers."

Johnson said they emailed and talked through Facebook while Julia was gone, but not on a regular basis. Johnson said their friendship picked up right where it had left off once Julia came home. She decided to start school at the University of Kansas in the fall, and once again came to Johnson to ask questions about college life, getting involved, and joining a sorority.

Julia is now involved in many things on campus, including working as community service chair in her sorority, participating in Alternative Breaks, and running for a seat on Student Senate. She said all of her activities are a stark contrast to last year, where she would spend most of her day working on homework or reading books.

But not all of her experience at Le Cévenol was difficult. Julia made three close friends while at the school. Her closest friends are her roommate, Nathy Fofana, is from Tunisia, Nicole Nuisier from Rwanda, and Claire Huntington from Barcelona. Julia said they really helped her adjust to the new culture and language. She still keeps in contact with each of them through email, Facebook, and phone calls.

All photos courtesy of Julia Barnard

Julia said the challenges definitely made her stronger than before, and both her friends and family have seen a change in her as well. Johnson said Julia matured while she was there, and made many friends who had positively influenced her. Her mother said the challenges helped her grow into an adult.

"She is more resourceful than before, and she has developed more discipline, worldly capabilities, maturity, and knowledge," Lester said.

Julia said that while her experience was a little different from her father's, she still understood why it was so important to him, as well as her mother, for her to go. Barnard said the change in times and structure of the school made Julia's time there a little different from his, but he felt she got the valuable experience he wanted her to.

"It's wonderful in retrospect, but at the time it was really hard," Julia said. "But now I definitely want my children to go there too."

If your child hasn't had chicken pox yet, the new immunization requirements for the 2009-2010 school year might have you paying a lot more money. About $100 a shot to be exact.

            The Kansas Department of Health and Environment just changed the requirements for immunizations for students, adding another dose of the Hepatitus B vaccination, a booster of Tdap--which covers diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis--and restricting the requirements for the varicella vaccine, which prevents chicken pox. The changes were based on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

            Patty Kracht, the provider educator for the Kansas Immunization Program, said that she and the department have been getting a lot of feedback about the changes from parents, both positive and negative.

"It is going to require more effort from parents to get their kids in and vaccinated," Kracht said. "The restriction of the varicella vaccination has been getting the most response."

The new requirement states that students who have not already had chicken pox must have two doses of the varicella vaccine before entering kindergarten, instead of just one. Students in first through ninth grades will now need one dose, but last year it was required only up until fifth grade. KDHE says they plan to up the vaccine again for the 2010-2011 school year, requiring all students to have two doses.

But the new changes also affect students who have already had the chicken pox. Before the changes, parents were allowed to sign off that their child had had the chicken pox. Now KDHE is requiring a physician signature, not a parent.

Kracht said this has been causing a lot of problems with parents, particularly because it is a hassle to get a physician's documentation of chicken pox for their older children. Many families have moved, or their physicians have retired, making it hard to get a signature. They have altered the restrictions to help with this, making it necessary to have a physician signature only for new students to the district and those who get chicken pox from this point on.

"The response has been a lot like what we had when we changed the signature requirements for the mumps vaccine a few years ago," Kracht said. "Eventually it works itself out."

Kracht said KDHE changed the Tdap requirement because they saw an increase in cases around the age of 11. A booster is now required at that age as a follow-up of the initial vaccine to help suppress the outbreaks. They also now require 3 doses of Hepatitus B vaccines through the ninth grade, instead of fifth grade.

But the new vaccinations come at a price, and not a low one. A single dose of varicella can cost around $100, the Hepatitus B vaccine costs around $30 per shot, and Tdap is $5 per shot, according to estimates by the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.

The new vaccines could also require more work of the school nurses, who keep track of students' vaccination records. Dianne Thomas, the school nurse at Deerfield Elementary, said she's not sure if it will greatly affect her workload, but it will take some effort to get everything up to date with the new requirements.

"We're constantly updating and making sure our kids are under the state regulations," Thomas said. "It's an ongoing process, the requirements change often and we have to stay on top of it."

KDHE requires that all students have at least the initial series of each vaccination before starting school in the fall. Thomas said that she sends out letters to parents notifying them of what vaccinations their child is missing. They have 30 days to complete the vaccination, or they will receive another notice that their child will be excluded from school until they finish the vaccination schedule.

Thomas also said that some parents choose to opt out of the vaccinations for religious or health reasons, and can sign a waiver exempting their child. The nurse has to keep track of this child though, and alert their parents if there is an outbreak of that particular disease. In some cases those students must be excused from school during the outbreak in order to avoid contracting it.

"Most parents are pretty diligent about following through," Thomas said. "Very rarely do we have someone who won't complete the schedule."

Thomas says she works with parents to find solutions to avoid running into problems. In the case of families who can't afford the vaccinations, she refers them to the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, who provides all of the vaccinations for free to families who qualify. Health Care Access also gives vaccines to those who are uninsured.

Both Kracht and Thomas are supportive of the new vaccines because they help protect children, and are encouraging parents to be supportive as well.

"I'm all for [the changes], anything to keep kids and the community safe," Thomas said.