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.


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