Sewing class: week one

The beginning sewing class began last night. It's a two hour Adult-Ed class, held at a former junior high school here in town. It appears to be in a classroom formerly used for home ec classes. There is a kitchen attached.

There are ten students! Wow! Two of them are high-school age and the school requires an adult to accompany them, which was no problem. A mother came along. The room has two rows of tables, each with two chairs behind it, but with ten students we can each have a table. Small table, but table. There are electrical plugs all over, designed for the class, there are four ironing boards, and in the kitchen we can lay out and cut fabric and have tea or coffee. I'm lovin' it already.

The teacher, Linda, told us a little about herself and asked each of us if we'd sewn before. A few students have never sewn. Most of us have a passing acquaintance, can get around a machine. Linda has a room on the upper level of her barn that is 800 square feet - devoted to sewing. She has seven machines ready to go at any time and a number of other machines are on shelves just because she likes how they look. She spent $1000 on a restored Singer Featherweight - that was painted a bright blue. She says sewing can be an expensive hobby and she's addicted.

She told us we'd be going over various basic stitches next week. We did no sewing today. She said she can teach us how to do stitches even when the machine is not supposed to offer them, and she can work with any machine no matter how old. She seems just perfect.

One woman asked her for advice in buying a new machine. She said stay away from the $80 bargains but if you pay $200 - $300 you've got a good machine. I paid more but I wanted more.

After we do the different stitches we will get a pattern for an apron. The week after next we start the apron. It can be lined, and I figure I'll line mine. The apron is supposed to take two weeks. The next project will be pajama bottoms, which will take another two weeks. The last week will be whatever we want to make, and she will teach us stuff about mending also.

Some cool stuff: the school gets discounts on notions and equipment. So if we want to buy something we can tell her and she will get it for us. She can get dress forms, which I would love. I wonder how much they are.

And some things we learned:

* Pattern sizes are different from ready-to-wear sizes. A size ten in the store will be a 14 - 16 in a pattern. This is because the pattern sizes have not changed since the 40s but ready-to-wear sizes have. So it's really important to look at the measurements on the pattern. She offered to do quick measures of us at the end and I took her up on that so I'm ready.

* Fabric is also smaller than it used to be and what it calls for in patterns. The pattern will say 45" fabric but you can't even get that any more. You have to get 42 - 44" wide fabric.

* There are some good sources for fabric online: Joann's is one, and Hancock Fabrics. Also ebay! She said she gets fabric from ebay a lot, and it's usually a really good deal. She encourages thrift shop buyers to find clothing and take it apart or just buy it for unusual buttons. And she says don't buy the stuff at Wal-Mart that's $1 a yard. It's like gauze.

* The school also gets a selection of patterns it can order. They each cost only one dollar. So she said we can choose what we want from the patterns posted on the wall and she will get them for us. I ordered four patterns. The patterns for the apron and pajama pants come with the class so that's a total of six.

The class is held in one of the rooms at the very end of the former junior high school. You have to go down two flights of concrete stairs to get to it. Fortunately, you can take your car down to a drop-off place and drop the machine off first, then park and walk down. We were all joking about the stairs on our way down, not knowing that there was that option. Called it the Sewing and Weightlifting Class.

This is going to be fun! I suspect I'm going to want to join the intermediate class when I'm done with this one.