Some things are harder to teach than others.
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I think this dynamic of people learning a task wanting formal official steps leads to people thinking that there is "One Right Way" to do tasks that can be done in many ways.
A frustrated teacher formalizes something that just isn't formal to avoid having everyone bugging her over and over "but how do I start it? how do I knot it?"
Will I cause someone in 20 years to be told "That's the Wrong Way to do it."
hmmm
@futurebird I have a new-hire mentee that I keep having the same conversation with
him: should I do it by X?
me: sure. Y is also fine.
him: I don't understandI mean....yeah, that's clear and is also the problem. I'm not going to micromanage your keystroke by keystroke.
**I need you to understand the task.**
Only then will "instructions" make sense.
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@futurebird @va2lam @bucknam
I would really like a diagram of a way to do that...OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
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OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird @Anke @bucknam that's sort of how I finish sewing!
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@futurebird @Anke @bucknam that's sort of how I finish sewing!
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OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird Thank you!
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@futurebird @Anke @bucknam I was definitely taught, by a teacher maybe?
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@futurebird @Anke @bucknam I was definitely taught, by a teacher maybe?
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I think this dynamic of people learning a task wanting formal official steps leads to people thinking that there is "One Right Way" to do tasks that can be done in many ways.
A frustrated teacher formalizes something that just isn't formal to avoid having everyone bugging her over and over "but how do I start it? how do I knot it?"
Will I cause someone in 20 years to be told "That's the Wrong Way to do it."
hmmm
you'll do a lot better than the Ontario education system did when i was in it. they teach that there is only One Way, and if you do things Some Other Way, you will be punished for it.
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@futurebird I have a new-hire mentee that I keep having the same conversation with
him: should I do it by X?
me: sure. Y is also fine.
him: I don't understandI mean....yeah, that's clear and is also the problem. I'm not going to micromanage your keystroke by keystroke.
**I need you to understand the task.**
Only then will "instructions" make sense.
-
@futurebird @va2lam @bucknam
My grandmother taught me how to weave in ends on the back of the work when doing embroidery, but no-one ever taught me to sew. Wishing I had known to ask now. -
OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird @Anke @va2lam @bucknam i do the second one but i usually tie one knot. sometimes it starts to slide but it definitely works
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OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird
and on a machine generally you sew forward a few stitches and then backward over them and then go... same at the end, reverse over the ending... i feel like thats probably taught more explicitly than hand stitching these days. like if you found a machine sewing beginners guide book theyd have it in there explicitly
@Anke @va2lam @bucknam -
@futurebird
and on a machine generally you sew forward a few stitches and then backward over them and then go... same at the end, reverse over the ending... i feel like thats probably taught more explicitly than hand stitching these days. like if you found a machine sewing beginners guide book theyd have it in there explicitly
@Anke @va2lam @bucknam -
@futurebird @va2lam @Anke @bucknam yeah I was def taught with a knot, and later learned to end that way, but never thought to start that way too
Great to know, and great visual :) -
OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird @Anke @va2lam @bucknam I mean, knots are just friction made small, right?
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OK I've tried to draw it.
Do not overthink the details of these diagrams. Consider the difference between using a knot to hold the thread vs. using friction.
Friction is often a better, more robust solution. There are many ways to start sewing. Just overlap your stitches, back-stitch a few times until you feel it will not slide out.
@futurebird @Anke @va2lam @bucknam Why not both?
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@futurebird
yeah makes sense, I just mean that this knowledge of how to start or stop sewing using friction is more likely to be taught today in terms of a machine. the idea extends easily to hand sewing, but probably your students dont know machine sewing either.
@Anke @va2lam @bucknam -
@futurebird
I think I kinda had to figure it out sometime last millennium, but it's been a while. I borrowed a machine for something, so needed a better solution and it transferred.This century I'd probably look it up online.
All I ever needed was a running stich with a few backstitches to start, or just a backstitch, anyway.
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Some things are harder to teach than others. One of the most difficult things to explain is "how to start sewing without putting a knot at the end of the thread."
Like many tasks that I stumble over when teaching I made the fatal mistake of thinking "this is easy"
I think I need to draw diagrams?
What makes it worse is it's not that important when you are sewing a book signature how you "knot the thread" since it will be covered in glue later.
My students want an "Official Procedure"
@futurebird
Having similar struggles.
Show & tell: Diagrams help person showing their idea to transmit it visually so observer can build their own mental models.
I saw your explaining diagram before the words & it totally “made sense” as I had lived experience of “end of string knot failure” mode compared to relying on earth friction physics-https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/115950780276008456
Had I seen the words first, I’d have interpreted them drawing my own imaginary diagram, that would not likely going to match yours. -
@futurebird I'd love to learn that. @va2lam @bucknam