Elizabethan gown not your average home ec project

Hampton - Anyone who says home economics in high school is a thing of the past needn’t talk to Erin Van Osten. And, anyone who says nobody learns how to sew anymore needn’t talk to her either. The Kittatinny Regional High School junior couldn’t wait for classes to resume when summer vacation started in June. So when she spotted clothing arts teacher Danielle Tooker in a store a few weeks later, she asked if she could start her fall project early. Tooker wasn’t about to squelch that kind of enthusiasm. The results were nothing less than spectacular. In November, Van Osten, 16, finished a resplendent Elizabethan-style gown that has drawn rave reviews from Principal Susan Kappler and other admirers. “This is the most sophisticated piece of clothing I’ve seen,” noted Tooker. Tooker’s students usually craft skirts, pants, simple dresses, and even the occasional gown. But a hoop skirt, bodice, jacket, underskirt, overskirt, the American-equivalent of a bustle, 57-loop collar ruff, and two matching wrist ruffs definitely presented a new tweak on a 200-year-old style. Van Osten credited the machine- and hand-sewn gown’s creation to her interest in costume design. If all goes according to plan, the Stillwater teenager envisions herself dressing celebrities on movie sets. She spotted the dress style in a pattern catalog and almost immediately her fingers started itching. The project was a bit of stretch, but she already has created elf and hobbit Halloween costumes for her brother. Van Osten, who started quilting in fourth-grade, previously stitched elf and medieval attire for herself. Her latest fashion presented a few new challenges, including hand-stitched piping. However, she loved the task so much she didn’t even bother to keep track of her hours. Van Osten worked on the gown over the summer and during her daily clothing arts classes, frequently toting it home for special touches. “I love it,’ she said, her skirts swishing and sweeping the floor. Tooker shares the sentiment. “Erin is so dedicated to her work. When you have a kid ask you in the middle of the summer if she can start her project early, you know how committed she is,” she explained.