I’m really, really enjoying the Tiramisu 30 Minutes a Day Sewalong. To be sure, it’s a lot of work, but *this* is why I started making patterns- so I could put my concepts into your hands and we could work together to make pretty clothes. It’s just so fun!
I’ve been carefully monitoring the flickr stream discussions and the sewalong comments sections because it’s important to me to keep my ears open and tailor the sewalong to your needs and questions. I’ve been teaching this way for years locally, and now that I’ve mostly filled my technological knowledge gaps, I want to bring my offline teaching concepts online and into your sewing room. I’ve shown a lot of restraint in my blogging over the past several years, preferring to sew socially online and teach offline, but that’s changing.
I hadn’t planned to make a video for today’s lesson in the sewalong, but after reading some underbust seam troubles in the flickr group and on some blogs, not to mention the emails, I chose to change today’s lesson to show you how to problem solve on a real Tiramisu dress in motion. I’ll publish those clips in Lesson 5.
Once I’d finished the sewalong clips, I found I had a lot of thoughts to share about body speech and body comparison. This is not aimed at any particular person, this is me sharing with you a topic that is really close to my heart which underpins everything I’m doing and will do with Cake Patterns. Brisbane students of mine will recognize parts of this chat, it comes up in almost every class I teach. I hope you’ll indulge me and lend an ear- and please feel free to share your perspective in the comments below.
I’ve listened to too many women say too many awful things about themselves (sometimes I feel like a body-image confessor of sorts- I think other sewing teachers and fitters will know what I’m talking about). Lately it’s been coming up in all kinds of other conversations I have- all the time! Even worse, I’ve been hearing women compare themselves to other women unfavorably. Stoppit! It’s not useful! Collaborate, don’t compare!
(I’d been taping and sewing and trying on a dress all afternoon in the very warm livingroom, so do forgive the state of my hair! ) This is not the first time I’ve discussed body speech and sewing, but these are perhaps the strongest words I’ve used.
Meanwhile, if you live in Brisbane and you’d like to work with me to build a solid foundation in basic sewing, I’m pleased to announce a 5 week beginners class I’ll be teaching at Voodoo Rabbit from the 22nd of this month. We’re calling it “From Zilch to Zips” because that’s what we’ll do- learn solid sewing techniques from nothing to invisible zipper insertion.
We’ll make a simple shopping tote on the first night, and discuss fabric shopping for your other two projects- a Blank Canvas Tee (basic knitwear, paper pattern provided in class) and a lovely A-line skirt (wovens, hems, zips!)! It’s a weekly Tuesday evening class, from 6-9pm beginning on the22 of January. Space is limited to allow maximum teacher interaction, so do go check out the class listing at Voodoo Rabbit and sign up!
I’m also starting up intermediate classes once again- the “bring your own,” ever changing, open sewing class we used to enjoy so much. I’ll be announcing the date soon so keep an eye out- it’s a one or two session weekend class.
**Also, I’m teaching an all-day Tiramisu Knit Dress class at Voodoo Rabbit on Sunday the 13th (this Sunday) from 12-5. If you’d like to join up, I still have a space! Email me stephc@3hourspast.com