How a Great Teacher Can Have a Bad Class
I had one more class. The teacher was solid--upbeat, knowledgable, approachable--and has designed a ruler and technique for making flying geese that I both bought and really will use. Yet, with all that going for it, this was not a good class. Why?
Bad machines: All the sewing machines at Quiltweek are provided. This is awesome, except when they're awful and the machine instructor is even worse. One class out of three had this convergence of events. Guess which one. Yep. We were doing a quilt that required a precise quarter inch seam allowance and involved lots of sewing of pointy edges. And--even according to the sewing machine helper--this particular model does neither well. Wait, what? So, everyone's fabrics were getting chewed up and their blocks weren't aligning. Ugh.
Bad students: One can sense a problematic class climate ahead when
1) students start over sharing personal family issues with strangers;
2) students proudly state that they don't sew well and don't know anything about quilting;
3) students begin one-upping strangers on the quality of their machines, friends & vacation homes;
4) students can't stop complaining about how super stressed and over busy their lives are;
5) even though they're literally less than 2 yds from the largest concentration of quilting supplies in the known world, students don't seem to have the required supplies.
This class hit all five. Double ugh.
So, sometimes, it's really not the teacher! At least I got a cool new technique out of it--flying geese here I come.
Bad machines: All the sewing machines at Quiltweek are provided. This is awesome, except when they're awful and the machine instructor is even worse. One class out of three had this convergence of events. Guess which one. Yep. We were doing a quilt that required a precise quarter inch seam allowance and involved lots of sewing of pointy edges. And--even according to the sewing machine helper--this particular model does neither well. Wait, what? So, everyone's fabrics were getting chewed up and their blocks weren't aligning. Ugh.
Bad students: One can sense a problematic class climate ahead when
1) students start over sharing personal family issues with strangers;
2) students proudly state that they don't sew well and don't know anything about quilting;
3) students begin one-upping strangers on the quality of their machines, friends & vacation homes;
4) students can't stop complaining about how super stressed and over busy their lives are;
5) even though they're literally less than 2 yds from the largest concentration of quilting supplies in the known world, students don't seem to have the required supplies.
This class hit all five. Double ugh.
So, sometimes, it's really not the teacher! At least I got a cool new technique out of it--flying geese here I come.
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