Family Sewing

This weekend I am running my first family session at Prema Arts in Uley.

It is a Christmas themed workshop with 6 families taking part. It is something new for me! I have ages 6 plus coming along with their parents, so they will be supervised.

Planning has been a bit of a challenge. I don't know the sewing abilities of the families and I have had to decide whether or not to introduce them to sewing machines..

After a couple of weeks of planning and thinking I finally decided that if my 7 year old can use the new Janome sewing machine, then the children coming will probably be excited to give it a go.

So sewing machines have been put onto the risk assessment for the class. 

Then there is the actual project....

I have decided on these cards:

Which will combine sewing machine skills and allow the families to get creative!

And a fun project that introduce the families to quilting in a really simple way:

I am also planning on taking felt, stuffing and embroidery threads along with paper templates for felt ornaments.

Really looking forward to trying the ideas out with my lovely families tomorrow!

Making changes!

The last few days have been quite exciting!

Through my lovely friend Abi at Sew You - she makes amazing bunting - I discovered I could hire Janome sewing machines for a small amount each month. She gave me the contact and suggested I get in touch with them.

Up until this point I have been teaching sewing on Brother machines that I had bought when I started teaching. As you can imagine, starting a new business meant money was tight so I bought affordable, beginners machines. They have worked really well. They are hard working machines, but I ended up with 4 different machine so each learner would need support in using the machine in front of them. Bit of a pain..

So when Abi suggested the hire scheme I thought I would apply and see if I could get 5 machines of the same spec for my classes to make teaching easier.

Luckily my classes all over the county and work for Adult Education qualified me to be part of the rental scheme! So today I am expecting delivery of 5 brand new Janome machines:

The CXL301 is a gorgeous machine with computerised settings, drop needle facility and a hos tof other scrummy features!

I will also be listed on the Janome website as a tutor, so people searching for private lessons will know that they have good quality machines to work on and, of course, fabulous teaching!

 

So very exciting!

 

Ps Despite some comments made by friends 17 sewing machines is not obsessive, it means I appreciate the beauty of sewing machines........ and I am sticking with that argument!