Lessons I Learned Teaching Middle-Schoolers Sewing

They say you don’t really know something until you try to teach it. True.

Stumbling while I explained to a group of middle school students how to sew was eye-opening.

As I taught them, they taught me because sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to point out things you never thought of.

14 Sewing Lessons I Learned From My Students:

The lining of anything can become the exterior (and usually this occures half way through a project).
Not every seam has to be straight, or even sort of straight (and seam allowance is only a suggestion).
Leaving an iron flat down on fabric, or the ironing board doesn’t scorch as fast as I thought.
Hand basting stitches can be left in the finished project. It’s becomes a decorative element.
Be flexible – if you sewed it backward or all cattywampus, just go with it.
Some of us are planners, some of us are not even close and it doesn’t matter.
Fancy, decorative machine stitches are always preferred over the straight stitch (even for sewing seams).
The machine’s guides for threading it are more important than they look (They are actually there for a reason, Ethan).
Sewing machines give many clues that something is not right; clanking noises, knotting thread, breaking thread and more (whether or not you choose to pay attention is your decision).
Sixth-graders are the reason magnetic pen holders were invented. Placing pins into a pincushion takes too much time.
If you can picture it in your head you should be able to just sew it up (easily and in the 45 minutes we allow for class).
After cutting out your fabric on the floor it’s important (for humans and scissors) to pick up your scissors immediately.
Putting pins just under the top layer of the skin on your palms and fingers is fascinating to some and disgusting to everyone else.
Teaching what you know and enjoy to someone who wants to learn is a wonderful experience.