Jemison High School students utilized their sewing skills two months ago to help children they had never met have more comfortable hospital stays.

Students in a Family and Consumer Science class and in the school’s FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) club made 30 pairs of pajama pants and donated 72 new pair to patients at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.

Raynette Ellison, FACS teacher and FCCLA sponsor at JHS, accompanied the students as they delivered the pants to Children’s on Dec. 14, 2012.

Ellison said her church friend whose mother works at Children’s mentioned the hospital’s need for pants that patients could wear under their hospital gowns, and she thought her classes could help.

“The reason we did just pants is because they usually have to wear the hospital gowns,” Ellison said.

Students bought fabric and thread and spent about four weeks constructing the pants ranging in size to fit patients ages infant to 18.

“I had contacted the hospital, but the patients did not know to my knowledge,” Ellison said of the project. “It’s kind of sad that they’re there, so my students learned to reach out to them, knowing that they were helping somebody else in need. They are a caring, giving group.”

The pajama pants project counted as a community service project for FCCLA members.

Ellison said she plans to lead a similar project again in the future.