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At the age of 9 my parents were told by my arts and crafts teacher that it would be better for me and the world (!) that I would never ever hold a needle again. I heard that and I really believed I couldn't do anything with a needle.
At the age of 33 I got the greatest teacher in the world. Within one lesson I was quilting 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted. I do handapplique and my goal is to have a quilt juried in in Houston or Paducah. Now who was not capable, the teacher or me? Teaching is not something you can do easily. Especially children and beginners should be encouraged to try, to experiment. Your SIL should not walk, but run out of class. If these teachers are not professionals, why would she want to learn from them? Have fun quilting! Emphasize fun. Anymart |
That teacher sounds like my high school home ec teacher. Took me YEARS to sew again after I graduated. The teacher made me put a zipper in 5 different times.......and to this day I still don't know what was wrong, because it looked good every time!!!! Good that it was the teachers last class..........now my encouragement for your sister is same as others...tell her to find another teacher!!!!
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I hope this does not turn her off from wanting to learn to quilt!
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Personally, I think too much perfection takes the fun and creativity out of quilting. Some of my favorite quilts have been ones where I had to be creative to fix/change mistake....
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Teacher from H_LL
I was not so lucky with my first teacher. She told me I was a terrible quilter and would always be a straight line quilter. I found out that she meant that all my quilts would be pieces of fabric sewn with straight seams. You cut them up in straight pieces and then sew them right back together. Was that a blow. I riped every seam I sewed in her class until I finally quit the class and quilting. I am back at the sewing machine but that will always be a bad memory for me.
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That is no way to teach. I teach both sewing and quilting in my home. But this reminded me about 20 years ago while still living in So. Calif. my girl friend (also a quilter) and I had the opportunity to take a one day class from a nationally recognized quilter, who specialized in hand piecing and has written many books. During the lunch break Paula asked me if I looked closely at her work when she passed it around. I hadn't. "It's not perfect," she said. "Her stitches aren't any better than ours are." So please encourage your SIL to keep working.
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My first quilt class was like that - very controlled and critical. I didn't do anymore quilting for almost 5 years but did collect fabric and other quilt items. When I took another class, the teacher was great and so patient! So don't give up - just keep trying other classes and teachers until you find the one you can work with the best.
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I take very few classes and do not belong to a guild for these very reasons. Some of the women (and men) but mostly women are just mean. To them I say get a life. Quilting is lots of fun and I thoroughly enjoy quilting with my friends but it is not my WHOLE life.
I love this board because it seems that there are many compassionate people on it who want to further the art and heart of quilting. |
Originally Posted by Quiltingthetownred
(Post 4647565)
At the age of 9 my parents were told by my arts and crafts teacher that it would be better for me and the world (!) that I would never ever hold a needle again. I heard that and I really believed I couldn't do anything with a needle.
At the age of 33 I got the greatest teacher in the world. Within one lesson I was quilting 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted. I do handapplique and my goal is to have a quilt juried in in Houston or Paducah. Now who was not capable, the teacher or me? Teaching is not something you can do easily. Especially children and beginners should be encouraged to try, to experiment. Your SIL should not walk, but run out of class. If these teachers are not professionals, why would she want to learn from them? Have fun quilting! Emphasize fun. Anymart He kept up the practice and even though he didn't take any classes is now a tattoo artist who does a large amount of custom work for clients, including some portraits. His dream went from cartoonist to tattoo artist doing custom flash. One thing I always heard and i'm sure in some instances agree with, "those who can do and those who can't teach." Hope you get your dream of having your quilts juried where you would like to have them seen. |
Just support her in her efforts. Quilting is suppose to fun. My first projects weren't perfect but I sure did learn from them. Give her an atagirl pat on the back.
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My first quilt teacher was me. Everything I did in my class was perfect!
I want to put a smile face on but can't any more, there are none I can find, though others have!. Don't know how! sad! |
Originally Posted by jaciqltznok
(Post 4644387)
I taught my daughter like this. She just wanted to sew and did not think that 1/4" seam was important. So I let her try to make one block HER way...after that..she ripped, and ripped and ripped...and NOW...she can make a perfect 1/4" seam in her sleep. I was really proud of her when she phoned one day just to say THANK YOU...because of that perfection on seams, she was able to quickly strip piece a rail fence baby quilt for a friend with NO pattern. She still has her first seam ripper and says she rarely uses it, because she knows her machine and it's 1/4" seam line!
Sometimes...striving for perfect is NOT a bad thing! And if you don't learn that seam early on..while doing the simple seams, then trying to figure out what went wrong on your more complicated blocks later will only be more frustrating! I teach beginners on paper first..then fabric...and only straight bar blocks..till they get that seam down pretty close to perfect. It really does matter! I tried teaching a class you all said...all nicey, nice, nothing is wrong, do it as you can..and I got royally pinned to the wall by two ladies who were seriously upset that their projects did NOT meet their standards. SO..no more playing nice. You want to learn a skill with a machine..be it a sewing machine or bandsaw then learn to do it right the first time...even if it means undoing it...at least in sewing you get that 2nd, 3rd of 10th try to get it right..in welding, pottery, woodworking,, you don't get those chances! AND if you are paying to learn this craft, why wouldn't you want to learn to do the BEST? |
A person who knows how to teach would not criticize her student in front of everyone else. I always feel that the teacher has "got above her raisin'" and has forgotten when she was a rank beginner. I won't take that from any teacher now; I have learned to express myself and let the teacher know that she or he is wrong. I am left-handed and dyslexic and I had a teacher call me a whiner and a trouble maker in a class (a nationally known teacher, at that) but I soon set her straight and we were on good terms after that.
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Originally Posted by Panchita
(Post 4645196)
I disagree that perfection is the primary aim in quilting. Enjoyment is the primary aim in quilting (I'm assuming no-one here quilts because without it their family would not have bed clothes).
Sure, aim for perfection, there is nothing wrong with that, but not to the exclusion of everything else. A good teacher should be able to tell the difference between someone who is doing their best, not getting perfection, but is OK with the learning experience, and someone who is not getting perfection and is therefore getting discouraged. For a beginners class encouragement should be the order of the day - whether that is in relation to the 'can't see it from a galloping horse' category or the 'try again but do it this way' category. It doesn't sound as if your SIL is getting the encouragement she needs, so I would vote for finding another class and/or send her here!!! |
Hoo boy, classes can be a challenge sometimes. Remember, you are going there to learn something new.
Believe it or not in only two classes of all the classes that I have taken in my life, I was better than the teacher- one was in binding a quilt, (my binding was smoother, straighter and faster.) and the other was a color and a creative art quilt.... I too am a problem student, usually far behind the others, I think because I sew slowly -especially when I am learning something new. I had soooooo much trouble with paperpiecing, I took several classes.. Finally I learned. First piece = right side up and all the rest = right side down! (Truly -That was the secret to sucess!) LOL! I hope you laughed! jpthequilter |
You will find that sometimes members of a club can be trying for new learners. They can be stiff and unresponive or stiff and critical, and only talk to each other. The only thing I can say is - keep quietly asking questions. Every club has a kind member, who will help you.
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Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of something does not mean they can pass that knowledge along to others. Sad for their students!
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Where did the smileys go? Please - how?
Originally Posted by ube quilting
(Post 4649200)
My first quilt teacher was me. Everything I did in my class was perfect!
I want to put a smile face on but can't any more, there are none I can find, though others have!. Don't know how! sad! Please, put a little devil in the list, It is mighty useful sometimes. Jeannie Ooooops - sorry, there they are! Under here ! Jeannie |
...and they didn't work? What did I do wrong? and they went away - none for this reply.....Sigh.....
Jeannie |
I was always taught that if your 1/4" wasn't perfect on your machine, to just be sure you used that machine from the beginning to the end of the project since all machines measure out a little differently.
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Any one who asks for perfect work of me when I was in any kind of training got my patented 'I'll do it like you want when you resurect a dead person in front of me.' No one is perfect, and when a teacher is so unreal, they are doing it out of spite and to make themselves feel better by hurting another person.
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My first quilting teacher was like that - I found this place and a friend who quilts. And you tube. If she is a show me teach me learner you tube may not work for her. Tell her that she might want to just practice on her own, with out the teacher. Otherwise, the teacher might suck all the pleasure out of it for her. I wonder how many others experience this, and if this contributes to LQS closures?
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Encourage your sister to keep quilting. No matter how long she quilts, there will always be the "quilt police" that are so insecure in their work that they have to criticize others work. I have been laughed at for not knowing how to use a rotary cutter when I first started quilting about 2 years ago. I went to the LQS to ask someone to show me how to use the cutter. Then I signed up for a class and the same lady was helping with the class and she told everyone in the class that she had a lady come in that couldn't use a rotary cutter and she had to show "her" (me) over and over how to use the cutter. She and everyone in the class laughed hysterically at my "dumbness". Of course the lady didn't remember that I was who she was joking about and poking fun at. So now when the "police" say something stupid to me now, I just look at them and go away laughing. They are so pitiful in their arrogance.
The closest I ever get to perfection is when I am on my knees praying to Jesus as He is Perfection and no one else nor anything... |
A friend of mine bought a new sewing machine -- took a class -- broke down in tears -- and put the sewing machine in a closet for 2 years! She brought the machine out a year ago, and with the help of some very kind teachers, she has made some amazing projects! The same holds true in our children's classrooms as well....
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That is rough. I can understand as I was treated similar at my beginners class.
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that's too bad. My sister just finished teaching her first beginning quilting class - she went over how to check your sewing machine to find 1/4 in seams but also has said emphasized that as long as the quilter is happy with the work - that's the truly important thing.
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Teaching is an art just like quilting. Rare people have a gift for doing both well!
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All wonderful comments and suggestions for beginning quilters. I am going to teach a beginning Machine Quilting Class for our guild beginning in February, and will take your comments and suggestions to heart. I mainly want to give them the basics and techiniques that I had to learn by myself. I know none of us are perfect and have expressed to guild members that we DO NOT point out our mistakes. We sew & quilt for the fun and creativiity and the joy it brings us.
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Originally Posted by LucyInTheSky
(Post 4642279)
My sister-in-law is learning how to quilt.
Even if they want her to sew a scant 1/4 inch seam they should "show" her how to go about it. That is why I like the "Dummies" books. They assume that you don't know even the smallest of things or how to do them and then teach you the 'how's and why's' of what you should do. |
Tell her not to take a lot of notice about seams, as long as they are all the same. Nothing that is handmade is perfect, that is the beauty of it. I agree with DebraK not everyone can teach.
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I took a stained glass class about 35 years ago. Spent tons of money purchasing the equipment. The teacher was so "perfect" I still don't like stained glass to this day. I see stained glass and the only thoughts that come to mind are how wrong I did it. Tell you sister to hang in there. Quilting is not about perfection, it's about how much we enjoy doing it. I try to quilt some every day and make some of the worst mistakes, but the good side is I am the "queen" of the seam ripper club. I am still proud of what I do-wobbly seams and all.
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was "yes, but they are not for people like this group, they are for real quilters
My first teacher would have been horrified at this statement. Her attitude was if you can't see it from a horse at a gallop it doesn't matter. Just enjoy your self. I wish I was more like my teacher. I tried to teach my DGD to quilt and I think I turned her off completely. I made sure her points matched perfectly etc and made her rip out. She finished one block , which was perfect, but didn't make any more.:-( My bad. |
Thank goodness she has you to help her! You have a good attitude and I hope she does not become discouraged by this teacher.
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I believe that I am a customer when I go to a class, and the instructor is a service provider. It took me a long time to reach this point, but when I did, it certainly helped my confidence and self esteem when I went to class. I f you take this attitude, you shold feel it's your right to ask all the questions you have on the topic as long as you are not interfering with the other students taking the course. Try to get your friends who take classes to adopt this attitude, and you will find that you have a much better mind set to handle inappropriate comments from the instructor. I find that I can respond with, "I don't believe I understood your explanation. Could you please review it? A response of "no" is not an instructor's option.
I find that it's also useful to teach this attitude to students going to college, so they can feel less intimidated by professors. After all, they are just instructors that you have paid to teach you what they understand. |
Think of it this way. They teacher was a failure in teaching, because she didn't accomplish her goal of starting you in a hobby that you were interested in.
Originally Posted by jodyma
(Post 4651292)
I took a stained glass class about 35 years ago. Spent tons of money purchasing the equipment. The teacher was so "perfect" I still don't like stained glass to this day. I see stained glass and the only thoughts that come to mind are how wrong I did it. Tell you sister to hang in there. Quilting is not about perfection, it's about how much we enjoy doing it. I try to quilt some every day and make some of the worst mistakes, but the good side is I am the "queen" of the seam ripper club. I am still proud of what I do-wobbly seams and all.
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Not everybody can teach. However, I respect that they are making her take it out to learn to make a 1/4 inch with her machine properly. Getting it right in the beginning will save her many tears later on. Practice does not make perfect. Practicing CORRECTLY is what makes perfect. However, I'd never harass a student to keep taking the same thing out. Even in my own stitching, if it still isn't right the 3rd time, it is a design element.
However, that said, I do think an introduction to quilting class should have a simple pattern that goes together well even if the 1/4 inch is off a lot. You are more encouraged to perfect if you have a great looking beginner piece than getting it all right off the top, as other quilters have indicated. |
My quilting instructor always told me that it was okay to be wrong with your seams as long as you are consistently wrong with the entire project. Then it all fits together, just smaller. With time I have gotten so much better with my 1/4" seams.
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I live south of Albuquerque and shop at the local stores. I've heard a couple of the shops are like that so I think I can guess where she took the class. Ask her not to give up and if she wants to take more classes to try Southwest Decoratives and Kokopelli Quilting. Here is a .pdf of their newsletter and it has the class listings. This is one shop that I have always found excellent customer service, pleasant staff, and the teachers are very patient and encouraging. Not to mention the fabric is amazing.
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I agree. Practice and learn the 1/4" seem first, then piece blocks and see if they come out the correct size. I guess I'm a perfectionist too!
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Life is too short to spend money on a class like that.
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