Sewing 101 Class Projects!

 I took on a new adventure this September.  I decided to teach sewing classes for our local community college, Parkland College, and for the Urbana Adult Education program.  I've taught private sewing lessons before, but not a group, so I had to think about how to go about it.  I, myself, am a project based learner- learning through actually making something, not by listening to a lecture or reading a book. So, Shirley suggested that our Double Duty bag pattern would be a great project that would appeal to a wide variety of people, and could be used in many situations- knitting bag, diaper bag, beach bag, etc. Shirley has made over 50 of these bags herself, so I invited her to be my teaching assistant during class.

The students were amazing and very patient with us as we learned what worked and what didn't with our set-up.  They did a fantastic job, and here are the pictures to prove it!

    We held the class here at Sewbaby because I had collected enough Bernina sewing machines over the years, and I knew that if something went wrong during class, that I could fix them.  Also, we set up a cutting station and two ironing stations to be shared among the six students per class.  I have new respect for home economics teachers who somehow manage to coordinate 20 or 30 students and their sewing projects! 































We had a lot of fun teaching and are planning on Sewing 102 in the very near future. If you are in the Champaign-Urbana area and would like more information, you can contact either the Parkland College Community Education or Urbana Adult Education programs for our next offerings!

-Ann