NORWICH – Most teenagers don’t know much about batting, basting, binding, piecing and stitching a quarter inch seam. At least not as they apply to quilting. But students in Kathy Stewart’s Early Childhood Development class at Norwich High School do.

Working in pairs, the students spent four weeks creating colorful quilts from fabric scraps recycled from a clothing design class Stewart teaches. The project wasn’t simply a sewing lesson, but a way of helping out a worthy cause. Once complete, the quilts were donated to the Catholic Charities of Chenango County’s Crime Victims Program, where they will be given to victims of domestic violence.

“We normally give them to our women, or mothers with children, who are leaving our Safe Dwelling,” said Rosie Knecht, who works as an advocate with Catholic Charities.

Each year organizations like Helping Hands in Bainbridge and a number of area churches donate handmade blankets and quilts to the program, but according to Knecht, Stewart’s class is the only student group that has gotten involved in this way.