Patch together your skill set

Whether it's learning a musical instrument or a traditional skill, developing a talent is always worthwhile, writes JOHN HOLDEN.

THIS WEEK Transition Times looks at the second category in the Gaisce Award – personal skill.

Most of us have things we keep meaning to do but never find the time. For example, it would be nice to learn another foreign language. Or how many older people have you met who say they always regret not taking up a musical instrument? Have you wanted to learn a martial art or do an extreme sport but keep putting it on the long finger?

The Gaisce Personal Skill category is the ideal opportunity for young people to take the bull by the horns. Sixteen-year-old Melissa Ní Bhiain (below) is a TY student at Coláiste Colmcille in Connemara, Co Galway. For her bronze award, she has taken up a very traditional skill but put her own modern twist on it.

“I’m doing patchwork or quilt-making,” she says. “It is a very popular skill among women here in the Gaeltacht and it is something new and interesting for me.

“I take different materials and cut them into shapes, sew them together, make a pattern out of them and then make whatever size I want it to be. When you’re happy with all you’ve got, you sew all the patches together and add wadding to make it heavier.”

Like many students who do Gaisce, Melissa exceeded the number of hours needed to obtain her bronze award, as she has carried on attending her patchwork classes.

“I’ve done my 13 weeks already but I’m continuing on,” she says. “It’s actually very useful for me. When I finish school I plan to study art and design, so patchwork is a good place to learn about colour schemes and different fabrics.

“When I first started it I was conscious that it was a little old-fashioned. I’m the youngest in my group, which was weird, but they’re all very friendly.”

In times like this when money is tight, being able to make your own quilts is a skill that may prove useful and cost-saving.

“I have done two quilts in the log-cabin style,” she says. “This is where you start with a patch in the centre [representing the hearth of the house] and add materials out from there. I’ve made a baby quilt and a throw for a chair. I’m really enjoying it. Gaisce is great for TY students. It’s a really good thing to have on your CV and you learn so much from the experience.”