Mad Skills

Last Saturday, I held a class called, "Finishing Techniques - what the patterns won't tell you." Next time, I'm calling it "Mad Skills!"
Five experienced sewists came to the class to hone their skills in working with silk chiffon and other wriggly things. Instead of making a garment, we crammed by making samples of the techniques. I think this is the best way to learn if you are experienced, because you get all the cream at once.
We went over:

• Pattern matching for a pocket,
• Using bias as a facing so it sits flat and perfectly,
• Perfect bias binding
• Using organza as a facing for silk chiffon,
• Teeny, tiny french seams
• Teeny, tiny, tidy rolled hems

and a bunch of other stuff.

I noticed a couple of really interesting things:

•  These were all really smart, experienced sewists yet they got a huge amount from the class, because they had the understanding to hang the new information onto;
• They got really, really excited about the new stuff! Like REALLY excited! It was lovely, like Christmas morning with children!

It struck me how often we think of skills as something that the more you have, the less you will get out of a class, yet it seems to be the other way around. I guess the more you know, not only are there more likely to be gaps, but also the more you can get out of new learning as you can then take that and extrapolate it.
It was FUN, I am doing it again, because I can't think of a nicer way to spend a Saturday than seeing sewists get excited about sewing silk chiffon!
Unfortunately for the Blogging world, we were FAR too busy to take any photos. Next time, maybe. :)
UPDATE: Next class scheduled for 27 June.