And then I got a sewing machine that worked! Oh, what a difference that made. The sewing machine I started my project with would not wind the bobbin properly, which created a tangled mess when I was trying to work. It was very difficult for me to troubleshoot, because I wasn’t sure if I was causing the problem or if it was the machine itself. As a learner, this was very frustrating. I searched multiple sources for a fix; YouTube, blogs, help forums and I was even able to locate the online operating manual for the machine I was using. It was difficult to not be able to call other friends that were expert sewers and ask them questions or have them show me how to do it. I think that in a classroom setting if my high school students felt as confused and lost as I did with what they are learning about, they might give up on an assignment altogether. As a teacher, if I was to give an assignment similar to this I would need to evaluate the students’ level of understanding for that topic in order to guide them in a positive and proactive way that would allow the students to independently explore topics, without meeting too much adversity which might discourage them from completing the assignment altogether.
As for my project, I took the machine back to the original owner and she confirmed that it was the fault of the machine. I had spent hours trying to fix a problem that I was not capable of fixing, even with the help of the internet for troubleshooting. If I had some prior knowledge about how sewing machines worked in general, it might have been possible for me to fix the machine and keep working. However, I was fortunate enough to have access to another, working, machine so I was able to continue my project.
This week, I started fresh with my new machine. In my last blog post I was practicing on sewing a pillow, but I was ready to move on to begin sewing my stocking. I had to do several things before I started the actual sewing part. My first step was to find a tutorial that created a stocking similar the one I was envisioning. For this, I searched YouTube for tutorials. I found this tutorial that helped me to visualize what to do as I was making my stocking:
Once I had a visual of the process, I began searching for a stocking pattern to print. While searching for the template, I found one website in particular that was exceptionally useful for the rest of my stocking sewing process. In the blog, Sew Like my Mom , Melissa offers step-by-step instructions on how to make Christmas stockings. She provided a downloadable stocking pattern, gave a materials list, and added pictures of every step. As a beginner sewer, I found all of these things extremely helpful. Comparing this site to a few others, I decided that the information contained here was best-suited for my learning process. I am outlining the steps I took below:
1. Print out the pattern.
2. Travel to a fabric store. I needed fabric pieces for the body of the stocking, the inside of the stocking, and the cuff. I also picked up some useful items for sewing in general; pins, pin cushion, and a seam ripper.
3. Once I was home, I pinned my patterns onto the fabric and cut all the pieces I needed.
4. At this point, it took me a little bit to figure out how to pin all of my pieces together. Once I put all the cut outs together I was ready to begin sewing.
5. As I made my first stiches, I was met with a TANGLE! Again? I thought I fixed this! So, I searched YouTube for some help and got it with this video:
Once I restrung my bobbin and turned my knob a little, as the video demonstrated, I was ready to go and it was pretty smooth sailing for the rest of the way as I then sewed the outline to my stocking.
6. After I was finished sewing, I turned my stocking so that the printed fabric was on the outside. I realized I made a mistake. I incorrectly sewed the hanger loop in backwards. I had to rip it out and re-sew.
7. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I had sewed it in wrong again! So, I laughed at myself and I learned from my mistake. I will fix the loop this week and use what I learned in the steps above to make stockings for the rest of my family. This is a picture of my first attempt.
In the beginning stages of learning something new, I think that it is actually beneficial to make mistakes and have trouble completing tasks. For me, it helped to learn more about the machine I was using and about sewing in general. It also, most importantly, gave me an idea of the confusion and frustration that my students may feel when completing a task where they have little prior knowledge and are using similar strategies to research a topic. I felt a sense of pride when I finally completed my first stocking, even though it was imperfect, and I hope when using similar strategies in my classroom that my students will be able to reach a point where they feel a comparable sense of accomplishment.
Brittany Schroeder 