Teaching Style

 Devotion for the Week...

At one time or another, we have all been in the company of a person who seemed to need to make others feel small. It's not a good feeling. It's especially bad when that person is teaching us something, so they obviously have more knowledge or skills than we do and they can use that to make themselves feel superior.

My dad is not one of those people. Years ago, after Aiden had developed an interest in football, my parents were visiting on Super Bowl Sunday so they could watch the game with him. I can't remember what we were doing that afternoon, but suddenly the power went out. There were still a few hours to go before the start of the game, so we were waiting and hoping the power would be back by then, when we heard a loud noise from the basement. Dad and Paul went to investigate and discovered that our new wood burning furnace had burst a pipe because of the power outage. They spent quite a while working on the problem and Paul was very glad Dad was here when it happened because Dad knew more than Paul did about furnaces in general, so he could figure out things that Paul couldn't. Paul said to me later, "Your father is good to work with. He explains everything he's doing and he doesn't make me feel bad about the things I don't know."

The difference between these two styles of relating to people who know less than we do about a given subject is what comes to mind when I read Proverbs 15:2a: "The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing."

If someone is talking down to us as they teach us, it doesn't much matter how good their information is. We're going to leave that interaction feeling discouraged, irritated and as if we aren't good enough. How many of us have been made to feel stupid by a teacher?

On the other hand, if the person who is teaching us is patient and explains the things we don't know without making us feel bad about not knowing, then we leave feeling encouraged and valued. 

It is possible to learn from either teacher, but only one makes knowledge - and learning - appealing. Only one makes us feel like we are capable of learning new things in general.

We all teach things now and then. Sometimes it's a formal arrangement, like teaching school as a job or teaching a quilting class. Other times it's casual, like when we teach a friend how to make bread or teach a child how to put sheets on their bed. How we talk to the people we're teaching has a profound impact. It impacts not only how the person feels about the thing we're teaching and their ability to do it, but also their view of themselves as a whole. 

With that in mind, let's try to always be the wise teachers who make knowledge appealing.

A Lotte and a Cachet

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I had big plans for all the sewing I would get done over my Easter break. 10 days off? With no need to be anywhere else? I planned garments galore, plus the basting of my applique version of Spring Meadow and getting a start on the quilting, oh and finishing the embroidery blocks for version two. Even heading into the break, I knew I wouldn't actually get it all done, but a girl can dream, right?

I've been dreaming about making the Lotte Hoodie, pattern from Sinclair Patterns, for months. I was a bit intimidated by it, but also just stuck because there are soooo many ways to colour block it and they all look amazing, so I couldn't decide what fabric to use where. Then I saw a version that was all one colour except for the lining of the cowl and I loved how it looked, so that's what I did.

I love it! Our weather has been cold and damp for days on end and I keep reaching for my Lotte.

I keep stumbling over what to call it - the pattern is called a hoodie, but I don't really like hoods, so I chose the cowl option instead. Did I make a cowlie? 😆 When I was making the cowl, I was a little nervous I wouldn't like it because it seemed really big, but it's perfect. It's nice and cozy, but not too close to my face or too tight around my neck. 

I love the front pocket!

Now that I've sewn one Lotte, I know it's not as complicated as it looked and I have so many plans for more! If only I had more time!

After finishing the Lotte early in my week off, I took an evening and cut out 4 more garments - 2 Cachet shirts, an Essential Tank (pattern from Patterns for Pirates) and a knee length Summer Basics dress (that will be my fifth dress using the pattern from Love Notions!). That was pretty ambitious and most of them are still piled up in pieces, lol. The Essential tank is about half finished, but I want to cut a contrasting fabric for the neck and arm bands, and I haven't done that yet. The dress and one of the Cachets didn't even get started.

I did finish one of the Cachets, though, and I love this marbled pink print. This is the second Cachet I've made for myself (plus two for my Mom for Christmas) using the pattern from Sinclair Patterns and it's wonderful to make something using a pattern I already know fits me perfectly, plus the Cachet is so quick to put together. There are only three pieces to the shirt - the front, the back and the neckband. I don't think a shirt can get any simpler than that!

I had a few pink threads to choose from, ranging from light to dark, and I chose the darkest of them. I really love the added detail of the twin needle top stitching around the neckband. My topstitching has definitely improved as I've made more garments!

If you'd love to sew your own clothes, but you're intimidated by the thought of going from quilts to clothes, check out my Quilters Can Learn to Sew Clothes post. I fully believe you can do it!

After finishing the Cachet, I switched back to quilting for an unexpected secret project with a rather tight deadline, which is why none of my other Easter sewing plans got accomplished. That fun, scrappy quilt is coming together nicely and when it's done I'll be getting back to the other things I cut out over the break. So there will be more garment finishes in the near future 😊 

I'm linking with TGIFF at MMM Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, NTT, Finished (or Not) Friday, and Beauties Pageant.

Have You Tried?

 Devotion for the Week...

One of the littles I babysit has a new favourite phrase. I can't even tell you how many times a day he says, "But I can't!" when he wants to do something or especially when I've told him to do something. My standard response is, "You don't know if you can. You haven't even tried." And then I don't help him until he has at least put in a little effort to try to do whatever it is on his own (well, unless I know he actually can't do it himself or it needs to be done quickly). Sometimes he legitimately can't do it and I have to do it for him, other times he just needs a little assistance and other times he can do it completely on his own. No matter what the result, it's important that he actually tries to do the thing so he will eventually lose the "I can't" mindset.

His whines of "I can't" really stuck in my head lately and made me think about all the times we tell God we can't do the things He is asking us to do. I wonder how often he wants to roll His eyes at our unwillingness to even try new things. How often is He looking at me, listening to my assertions that I can't do _____, and wanting to say "You don't know if you can. You haven't even tried."

Paul wrote, "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly" (Romans 12:6-8). This list is by no means exhaustive. God has also given people gifts of organization, or feeding people, or making people feel seen and valued, gifts of writing, gifts of event planning, gifts of creating and making, and gifts of growing abundant food. All of the things we are good at come from God and He wants us to use those gifts to serve others.

Many of us love doing the things we do well and we would love to serve others with those gifts. Maybe we even secretly dream about what life would be like if only we could do ____ all the time. Unfortunately, imposter syndrome has attached itself to our perception of our gifts. Imposter syndrome makes us feel like we can't serve others with our gift because we aren't good enough. It presents in a lot of different ways (like feeling that we're a fake and people would be disappointed if they knew the truth about us, or feeling like everyone else is better than we are, so why are we even thinking about doing this thing), but the overwhelming feeling is that we can't do it.

I fully believe God is saying to each of us, "Yes, you can! I gave you this gift. Just try."

Are there things you want to do, but you feel like you aren't good enough? If you have a chorus of "I can't" in your mind, I encourage you to try anyway. Maybe you'll need a little help along the way, but you may discover you can do more than you thought you could.