Tuesday night I taught the second quilting "class," here at work. Again, lots of laughs and fun. I brought along a Keepsake Quilting catalog which totally amazed them with all the possibilities!
I started off with a list of quilting terms (e.g., FQ, Cakes, Jelly Rolls, etc.) and what they mean and how the catalog uses these terms. I tried to demonstrate on a white board how to cut a FQ. I knew the dimensions but do you think I could remember how a FQ cut differs from a 1/4 yard cut? NO! Complete brain freeze. They loved that! :-) And, later in the night, when I cut my finger, using SCISSORS no less, they laughed even harder! Not at my boo-boo but at all the disgusted faces I made at my own stupidity!
From there, I asked them to cut their FQs into 2.5" strips and those into 4" rectangles. We're going to make the Chinese Coin pattern which is 3.5" but, given that their rulers were slipping, I had them cut to 4" so we can square up later.
Lesson learned.... The Fiskars beginner's pack that includes a rotary cutter, mat, and 6"x18" ruler is really not a good buy. The mat is okay but the rotary cutter is very slippery and is not the self-closing one from Olfa that I prefer, and had them buy, for safety reasons. The worst is the ruler -- no non-slip stuff on the back! Thankfully, I had some Invisi-Grip with me we used and that helped. If I teach another beginner's class, I'll have them buy everything individually, not in packs.
For beginners, they are doing super! Considering it's only the second time we've met, and the first meeting included unpacking their newly purchased sewing machines, they've come a long way. They managed to not only get their rectangles cut, they actually had time to sew a few sets together. Again, they were amazed at how fabric choice can make a pattern come alive!
Next Tuesday is class #3; I'm so looking forward to it. I couldn't ask for more enthusiastic students. (Reminder to self: bring bandaids!) :thumbup: