Vanessa Andrew – aka “Madam Chino” – started selling her sewing creations in 2003 at the East Side Green Market of Milwaukee. Two decades later, she’s a full-time seamstress and artist with an entire building in West Allis where she works on projects, sells clothing and teaches classes to people of all ages.
This summer, Andrew is hosting numerous sewing classes for kids, ages eight to 13. (She also hosts birthday parties!) The camps run Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $240 for the week.
Camps are theme based and offer up to 10 sewing projects per camp. This summer, camp themes include “Beach Babe Sew,” “Kamp Kerchief,” “Party Animals Fluffy Stuffy,” “Fitness Fashion,” “Self Care Sew” and “Back To School Sew.”
All of Madam Chino's projects use fabrics that are recycled, donated, cleaned and community-sourced items such as T-shirts, denim, sailcloth, sheets, towels and yardage. Thus, through the classes kids learn about sustainability and green practices.
Madam Chino is located at 6301 W. Lincoln Ave. The sewing school is a spacious classroom with tables, machines and tools set up for six participants per session.
“Kids do not need prior sewing experience to join sewing camps and will learn so many incredible folding and construction skills beyond just sewing machine operations,” says Andrew.
Andrew has taught sewing, entrepreneurship and community arts to kids independently as well as through the UW Studio Arts and Craft Centre, Discovery World, Boys and Girls Clubs, Fasten Co-op Clothing Gallery, Cream City Conservation, Agape Community Center, Project Ujima, Milwaukee Rec Department, Milwaukee Public Schools, Arts at Large, Waukesha Community Art Project, Cloud 9 Workshop and the Exposure to Creativity Program.
For more information about Madam Chino summer camps – as well as her adult offerings – go here.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
