DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM In a novel program at Windward Community College, students once struggling or failing in high school, or who turned to gangs, have embraced a quilting class that complements their training in auto body repair. The free, voluntary quilting lessons, dubbed "Body & Sew," offer a change of pace as well as new math and vocabulary. Student Koa Kamanao, left, gets help from Melissa Frost as Windward instructor Donald Frost offers pointers to Anna Autele, at the sewing machine, and Markis Gecain. "I am not sure what void this class is filling in their lives, but it seems to be working," said Frost, who shares life lessons from his own tough childhood.

On the softer side

Students learn to quilt, and find they're not too cool for spool

They came to learn auto body repair after stumbling in school, getting in trouble or drifting into gangs.

But pounding fenders into shape is just part of what they're learning from Donald Frost, their wiry, tough-talking instructor at the Employment Training Center. After class, these rough-hewn guys spend hours with him and his family, sewing cuddly quilts.

"I never thought guys could sew," said 18-year-old Lyle Wells, of Kalihi, his beefy hands cradling a piece of cloth. "In school I was the troublemaker and fighter. But this is fun, making your own pattern and just putting it together."

The quilting club, which students dubbed Body & Sew (a pidgin play on body and soul), began in February in a borrowed classroom near the auto body shop at Honolulu Community College. It moved to Windward Community College last month when their teacher switched campuses.

Frost, his wife, Melissa, and their grown daughters, Leah and Dana, donate their time to teach a dozen students, and new ones keep coming, drawn by the homey atmosphere. Body & Sew is entirely voluntary, running on donations and the unexpected enthusiasm of its students, age 16 to 52. It started once a week but quickly expanded to three afternoons.

"It gets all the stress out after working on the car," said Todd Snyder, 19, who made a dragon-and-hibiscus-themed quilt for his big brother. "You come here, just sewing, just sitting, just talking and relaxing, you do whatever you want."

If not for Body & Sew, he added, "I'd probably be getting into trouble with the law."

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Racquel Tom hugs her pillow, whose case she made, while Markis Gecain watches. Windward Community College instructor Donald Frost and his family are teaching auto body students how to make quilts.

Instead, the Frosts offered to teach them, on condition that students each give away one of the first quilts they made, to learn community service. Body & Sew has donated several dozen quilts and stuffed toys to the Ronald McDonald House in Manoa.

"I really changed when I gave my quilts to all of the sick kids," Snyder said. "I'm always feeling down about myself, but there's other kids with big problems."

The auto body students do some hand stitching, but most of their sewing is by machine, given limited time and attention spans. The Frosts bought seven sewing machines to get things rolling.

"I am not sure what void this class is filling in their lives, but it seems to be working," said Frost, who shares life lessons from his own tough childhood. "Some of our students had never seen a sewing machine. Their seams are not always straight, but there is pride and satisfaction in their work."

The small room is filled with students measuring and cutting cloth, ironing, piecing together hexagons and kaleidoscope designs. Colorful displays define and illustrate terms like "selvage" and "miter." Without realizing it, the students are learning math, vocabulary and a new way to relate to each other.

Some of them haven't admitted their new hobby for fear of ridicule. On the wall hangs a quilt made by a boy who was scared to take it home, afraid of his stepfather's reaction. Another student, Koa Kamanao, 17, hasn't told his mother.

"Not yet," he said. "It's a secret."

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Melissa Frost gets a big hug from Koa Kamanao, who is holding a pillowcase he sewed. He said he loves her for what she and her husband, Donald Frost, are doing. Melissa said the students are like her children.

"At first I was kind of iffy about getting into the sewing deal," said David Sun Cho, 30. "It felt girlish. But Mr. Frost broadened our horizons. It's like art without a pen or paper. When you're stitching together these blankets, it actually tells a story about yourself, your life, without even saying a word."

Cho's first quilt featured a three-dimensional car, reflecting his passion for wheels. On the other side, he made a heart-shaped pillow. "It's stitched with lace and pretty fragile," he said. "You need to take care of it, just like human beings."

Abandoned by his parents at age 13, Cho dropped out of school and drifted into gang life. He has now found direction with help from Frost, and is going on for an associate's degree in auto body repair. "Mr. Frost pushes you to your limits," Cho said. "At the same time, he shows his students so much love."

The Employment Training Center offers noncredit programs to help prepare at-risk students for entry-level jobs.

"I'm close to the last chance they have," Frost said. "My job is to turn their way of thinking around and turn their life around. It's more about life skills. Body and fender is only a part of it."

To illustrate the point, Melissa Frost tells the story of a bag of cloth scraps she was given, scraps so dirty that she had to wash them several times.

"Everybody told me they were garbage," she said. "I refused to believe it. Some were frayed at the edges, they had pukas and they were stained. But working with them one by one, we were able to make this." She held up an intricate quilt.

Like those scraps, her quilting students have seen hard times. "Some of them don't know how to read or write," she said. "They're frayed at the edges. They've got stains. They've got pukas, experiences in life that we've never had. But they're making these beautiful things."

"I tell them that even though they've been put down and pushed to the side and neglected, they're worth something. They can be beautiful and turn their lives into something better."