Stitch-Up: Skill Share Workshop

A couple of weekends ago, Stitch Up gave me the opportunity to practise teaching craft by getting a set of sewing machines, materials and tools funded by Greeniversity Skills Share! I got to TEACH A SEWING CLASS, how awesome is that?! This first one was with a little bit of a test run with friendly faces, but I can still hardly believe how much I loved it. 

I learnt to sew from my mum, the internet and a load of practise, and it felt amazing to be able to pass the skills I have learnt onto someone who has never sewn before, or who was a little rusty. We are planning to run a bunch of introductory workshops, as well as a few more in-depth classes to get peopled hooked on sewing, so it was super useful (and fun) to see how this first one ran.

We ran this class in the incredible Stitch-Ups studio, which is such an awesome space and perfect for sewing. We went through some basic machine control, what stitches work for what and once everyone felt comfortable at their machines, we went onto sewing a lined tote-bag. I picked this as the introductory make because it covers so many techniques; backstitch, sew straight, turn corners, hem, box corners and top stitching. And, the final thing looks awesome and is something people can actually use and feel proud of.

It was kind of daunting being the one in charge of a class like this. A couple of the machines jammed a few times but I managed to work out the problem and get it sewing smoothly again, which was a huge relief. The best part through? Seeing how happy everyone was with what they had made! Everyone was so pleased with that they had made (they did look awesome!!). The pattern we used was sewn inside-out then flipped the right-way right at the end so when the final step came around and everyone could finally see what their bag was going to look like, it felt amazing. Everyone did so well, no major mistakes at all and they all looked incredible in the end. Thanks guys, you did SOOOO good.

So, if you're in Leeds or the surrounding area, give Stitch Up a follow: on twitter, facebook and instagram. We will be putting some dates out pretty soon, it would be awesome to see you!!

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