I write many of my own patterns and instruction sheets for the kid’s classes that I teach simply because most project patterns are written for adults – not 9-12 year olds. When I ran the Stitching Stallions maker lab at my previous school, our Friday sewing club members served as my unofficial pattern testers. I was able to tweak designs before teaching classes at Stitch N Quilt or the SQTM.
The students who sew with me in my home studio on a regular basis are referred to as my CraftLAB kiddos. Working with them gives me a really good idea of how long it will take to complete a particular project. They’re scheduled to make the READ pillow around the same time that the kids at the SQTM will in December. Fortunately, one of my CraftLAB kiddos wanted to make the pillow early. I am so glad she did! With everything precut and fused, it still took 90 minutes to complete the pillow and almost as much time to do the applique letters. Yikes! My “pattern tester” definitely informed my decision to contact the SQTM and advise that we needed to revise the schedule by extending the December project into January and rescheduling the January project to a later date. There’s no way I can reasonably expect the 6 students at the SQTM to complete this project in 75-90 minutes. To ensure student success, I’ll modify the project so the girls can cut their own applique letters using the SQTM’s die cut machine and use any extra time for them to make/stuff their own pillow inserts! A win-win because the SQTM has an abundance of polyester fiberfill!
Come Stitch With Me 