SCHOLASTIC & LIFE SKILLS TAUGHT WITH SEWING CLASSES

At the Sunroom Sewing Studio here in Jackson, TN my students learn a wide variety of skills necessary to successful living as a well-rounded, educated person.  Below is a summary of the types of things I naturally teach along with sewing skills.  Read on…I think you’ll be AMAZED! 

Scholastic/General Education Skills

Terminology: 

• clockwise, counterclockwise
• lengthwise, crosswise
• vertical, horizontal
• parallel, perpendicular
• equidistant
• radiate
• symmetry, asymmetry

• Fine motor skill development.  Hand-eye coordination. 
• General Math Reinforcement:  estimation, counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing for real-life situations – reinforces the importance and use of math in everyday living.
• Fractions: 

• • Understanding fractions – how used in every day living.  Example:  measuring, portions of an inch – foot – yard….
  • Converting fractions to decimals (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8) for use on a calculator, cash register, phone, computer…..

• Measurement – how to read a ruler, fractions of an inch to 1/8’s.
• Money – how to calculate what something will cost as one shops.  Example:  3 3/4 yard @ $5.95/yard with a 30% discount and an additional 20% discount on the total purchase.  Example:  “Additional 20% off of 30%” is NOT = 50% off
• Proportion calculation.  Example:  If the ratio of ribbing to neckline circumference is 2:3, given the neckline measurement – how much ribbing length should be cut?  Applicable also to recipe conversion in the kitchen! 
• Geometry:  circle basics including Radius, Circumference, Diameter.  Example:  Given the circumference around a skirt, how to calculate the radius of a circle in order to draft a flounce. 
• Basic Art/Design Principles:  Balance, Proportion, Rhythm, Repetition.  Even/odd …
• Color: color undertone, value, intensity, flattering colors to complement complexion/hair 
• Copyright understanding. 
• Business potential.  I could make these and sell them……..  I could learn to do hems and offer a service. 

Life Skills

• Which way to tighten and loosen a screw:  ‘rightie-tightie, leftie-loosie’
• How to tie a bow (on a girl’s dress!)
• Frugality:  I need to cut this shape from the remaining fabric, so to save the most fabric for another purpose, where does it make sense to cut it?
• Measuring!  How to measure a distance with a ruler or a tape measure in a 1:1 ratio.
• How to sew on a button, stitch up a h*** in a seam…
• How to read and follow verbal and written directions….sequential thinking.  “If I need to accomplish ____, what might I need to do first?”
• An introduction to technical writing…something I love to do, and have mastered in designing and writing my line of patterns and books.  A possible career?
• Having learned a basic principle, to apply that principle over and over given the same situation. Example:  clipping across corners where 2 seams intersect to eliminate bulk. 
• Eye-hand coordination on steroids!  I tell the students that if they learn to drive a sewing machine, they’ll be able to drive a car much more easily.
• Ironing – more eye/hand coordination.  Seeing results.  Pride in appearance.  Use of multiple tools to create a product, achieve desired results.
• Responsibility:  keeping track of the tools in the basket at their sewing station.  Keeping track of what they bring – take home – and need to return with for the next class.
• How to not get ‘stuck’…how to ‘fix it’.  How to figure out a different way to solve a problem.
• Precision – what it is, when it matters.
• Mastery of a technical machine.  How to work with a machine – remembering the ‘how to’s of a specific machine.
• Diligence – how to ‘plow through’ and continue to work at something until it is accomplished.  How to ‘un-do (rip) and re-do’. Pride in accomplishment and finishing a project.
• Making DECISIONS.  Figuring out the options – being creative in doing so, then implementing the decision made. 
• Empowerment.  I CAN do this.  It looked formidable, but I conquered it and have a good result. 
• Fibers – where do they come from?  What is polyester made from?  Why does fabric stretch?  How is fabric made? 
• Modesty in dressing. If you can’t buy it…make it!
• Safety:  given use of scissors and sharp rotary cutting blades, pins, needles – how to do so with CARE to prevent injury. 
• The JOY of giving a gift one has MADE themselves……
• CREATIVITY!!!  If I can THINK IT, I can MAKE IT!  How to be ‘inspired’ by shopping looking on the internet.  How to take an idea and use it, change it to become what you envision.    

 8