Good T-Shirt and Good Sewing Teachers

Here's the first completed Pamela's Patterns Perfect T Shirt that I wore out to lunch this week.  I came out of the workshop with an almost perfect fitting T but had to make a few minor changes.  I lengthened the size Small to the Medium length, I added a center back seam with a swayback adjustment of about 1" total and widen the bicep of the sleeve 3/8".   


I like the fit but I did not like this knit fabric.  I bought it on my recent NYC visit at Metro textile but it's very thin and wants to grow as I wear it.  Shoulders and hem are stabilized per Pam's instructions but the knit itself is just thin and very stretchy.  Overall, however, I'm very pleased with the basic pattern and have plenty of ideas for future knit tops in my wardrobe.   

My center back seam adjusted for that back curve

Pamela's workshop was such an enjoyable experience.  While I was adjusting this pattern I was thinking back over all the sewing classes I have taken over the last almost 20 years and evaluating those many instructors.   I did not have good home ec experiences with my 9th grade sewing teacher....I'm sure some of that was my fault and some of it hers.   When I returned to the world of fashion sewing I was inspired by Sandra Betzina's Sew Perfect cable HGTV show.  But mostly I was inspired by her personal fashion sense and her good will towards all.  She didn't insist on one right way and she was creating fashionable, chic garments that fit her lifestyle.  Both of those elements, attitude towards students and a personal fashion sense are important to me in a sewing instructor.  I've taken classes from a well known instructor who had that fashion sense and always wore beautiful garments that she had created herself....but she was snobbish, judgmental, petty and unkind to people without her taste or supposed social standing.   Sorry, I just can't support those values no matter how nice you look or what a great fashion resource you are.  I've also seen both of those things violated by a  few instructors.  Perhaps they had great sewing skills and techniques but their classroom outfits were so unflattering, unfashionable and dowdy that I couldn't whip up the enthusiasm to enjoy the class.  Perhaps shallow on my part but I have plenty of alternative instructors out there.  And then there's at least one instructor who I can recall, another industry expert, who appalled my by talking demeaningly about former students and other  sewing industry participants.  Hey, you can impress me with your superior knowledge by showing me how well it works on real women, not by talking down the techniques of others!  


So who does inspire me?  Well, I'm adding Pamela Leggett of Pamela's Patterns to a long list....Sandra Betzina, Shirley Adams, Susan Khalje, Judy Barlup, Sarah Veblen, Rae Cumbie, Patti Palmer and Marta Alto, Linda Lee, Stephanie Corina Goddard, Nancy Zieman, Marcy Tilton, David Coffin and the late Fred Bloebaum, Shannon Gifford and Roberta Carr.   
What does it take to inspire you in a sewing class?  Is it strictly the topic or technique?  How does the teacher's style and attitude affect your learning?