The Jerilyn Sewing School in Cranston held its annual fashion show June 18 at The Gamm Theatre. The show was the 18th for the school and has taken off since its debut.

Admission to the show is a canned good to be donated to the RI Community Food Bank.

“We have been giving to the food bank right from the very beginning. Instead of charging admission, we ask all to bring canned goods, and every year it gets bigger and bigger,” says Jerilyn Perry, who founded and runs the school.

The theme for each show changes yearly. One year they had a “Go Orange” theme, to support childhood hunger awareness. This year’s theme is “The Future.” In the lobby of the theatre was a display of pictures, drawn by the students, depicting what they thought the future would look like in 2050. The children also designed items based on what they want to be when they grow up. Planning their designs started in January. Fabrics were chosen based on their dreams. Creations highlighted in the show included bags, shirts, pants, pillows, dresses, scrunchies, and headbands.

The fashion show has been at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick for three years. “We change venues every three years because as we grow, we grow out of the space,” said Perry.  Next year, the Jerilyn’s Sewing School’s Fashion Show will be at a location, large enough to accommodate the size of the show. Perry is exploring Hope Highlands Middle School in Cranston.

For Perry, the fashion show is a family operation. Her sons, Tyler and Evan are in event production.

“They do all the production work, the set, lights, music, and theater magic.”

Her daughter-in-law, Emily, is a theatre director, and manages traffic control and troubleshooting. Liz, another daughter-in-law is the stage manager and “is awesome at organizing all the children and helpers.”

Her husband, Dan, also helps. Perry said, “He is my support, while also taking care of the lobby and food donations.”

Perry opened her school 18 years ago. The first fashion show featured eight students. The event has evolved and grown. This year 88 students were highlighting their talents.

Perry started the sewing school as a hobby. At the time,  she was a part-time accountant.

 “When my youngest son was in the fourth grade, he didn’t want me to help with his homework anymore.”

Her sewing school started small in her basement with eight kids. Now, her students are from all over the state. Though many are from Warwick and Cranston they also come from Barrington, Coventry, and Richmond. She starts working with students as young as six years old and has adults sign up for classes as well. Each student in the class gets a workbook and as they advance their sewing skills, they get a new book.

For Perry, community service is incorporated into her classes. They donate items to organizations like Project Linus, Ryan’s Cases for Smiles, and Warm Hands Warm Hearts. Perry invited middle school and high school students needing community service time, to come to class and make baby blankets. Her students also made pillowcases for Ryan’s Cases for Smiles, an organization that gives pillowcases to childhood cancer patients. She said, “I brought in a bunch of kids because somebody had donated a bunch of really fun fabric so that’s what we did. We cut it up and I taught them to make pillowcases.”

Perry has directed her students to make hats, mittens, and scarves to donate to Warm Hands Warm Hearts. This was their first project of this past year. “I usually do this around Christmas time, because I want the kids to make a gift that they can donate to the community.

Perry is already thinking about the theme for next year’s fashion show.

 “We have already started planning for next year.” She continued, “We do a different theme every year.”

The Jerilyn’s Sewing School has three to five classes a day, six days a week, running weekly during the school year. They also offer summer camps and classes, anyone who would like more information or is interested in registering for classes can go to the Jerilyn Sewing School’s website, www.jerilynssewingschool.com.