Fashion statement

For a couple hours Saturday, budding young designers will show off their creations at the Train Depot.

Sherry Carrington said the Youth Fashion Show will be the fourth of its kind she’s organized here. Competitors come from all over and none is older than 18. A lot of them are her students.

“I teach sewing and then there’s another lady in Wasilla that teaches. Some of them are just kids that have learned from their moms and grandmas,” Carrington said. “We just try to put the word out to different teachers and people that are doing it.”

She said interest has grown since she started hosting the shows.

“It doubled sort of from year one to two, and then it doubled again from year two to three,” she said.

This year she had a drop-off, though. The depot wasn’t available at the time she usually tries to host the shows. So the competition had to take place at the end of spring break.

“We lost some girls because of spring break,” she said. “We’ve already got the girls saying, ‘just don’t have it on spring break (next year).’”

Each girl who enters is given a ticket for the grand prize drawing — a sewing machine. There are different prizes also in each category for first, second and third place.

“Usually every girl goes away with something,” Carrington said.

The judging proceeds in two phases. Last weekend, judges looked over the entries to see how the pieces were constructed and how they looked. Then at the show judges give their scores, which are tallied at the end. One of the judges this year is a former competitor, Carrington said.

“She was an amazing seamstress. She did a lot of sewing for all of her sisters,” Carrington said.

She’s a judge this year, Carrington said, because she’s too old to compete. The youngest competitor is 6.

“You’ve got a lot of beginner sewers and it gets them all really excited,” Carrington said.

The categories include sports wear, casual wear, business/semi-formal wear, outerwear, costumes and children’s wear. Asked to choose a favorite, Carrington picked two — formal wear and costumes.

“I usually look forward to seeing the formals,” she said.

This year she’ll have to settle for costumes, though, because nobody submitted any formal wear. Carrington said that might be because she added the business wear category this year. But costumes are nothing to sneeze at.

“Last year we had a gal who had made some real cute outfits kind of inspired by a Star Trek character,” she said. “This year I know we’ve got one that is kind of a medieval look.”

There has also been a Spanish dancing girl-type dress, poodle skirts and Indian garb.

Carrington has taught sewing for about five years. She’s taught children of all ages and also teaches adults. She used to have a store in the Koslosky Center in Palmer, but now teaches from her home.

The show generally lasts a couple of hours. The girls take turns on the runway while the emcee introduces them, using as a guide the 120-word essays they turned in with their pieces about the garment and their sewing experiences. Afterward there’s a chance for adults of children who didn’t want to enter the contest to show their work.

The event is open to the public, admission is $12 for adults and $8 for kids. There’s a discount for tickets purchased in advance at learning2sew.com. Carrington said visitors won’t be disappointed.

“Some of them are just downright amazing,” she said.