sewing class: night 2 (lessons learned)
Tonight’s class taught me all about fabric…types, weights, weave, print direction, selvedge edges, grainline, crossgrain and the absolute importance of pre-washing. I learned more about fabric than I thought there was to know.
I also learned that while there is value to being ‘self-taught’ in many areas of crafts and creativity, when it comes to sewing, there’s more value in learning from a professional.
For me, anyway.
For example, I couldn’t figure out why I was having such difficulty threading the bobbin and getting it to cooperate with me. Well, it turns out that I was making it way more complicated than it needed to be by actually taking the whole thing apart each time I tried to thread it or needed to change the thread color. I’m pretty sure I was messing with parts of that machine that only a repair man should.
So, while being self-taught is worthy of many accolades in many areas, when it comes to learning the intricacies of a sewing machine, I think it’s better left to a professional.
Tonight’s projects were to make continuous bias tape and to start what will become a picnic carry-all and placemat. Sounds pretty easy, right?
continuous bias tape...don't be fooled by its apparent simplicity!
the purpose of continuous bias tape...to cover rough sewn edges.
my soon-to-be a picnic carry-all and placemat!
Let me just say that my respect and admiration for those who can actually make more than the above mentioned items grew exponentially after tonight’s class. It was a very technical night of measuring, cutting, ironing and sewing. However, the not-quite-finished-product was totally worth the effort!