Serging Ahead

As I move on from fertility woes to focus on the next school year, my mind is wild with ideas and lesson plans and how to bring more money and quality donations to the classroom.  It is no secret that my favorite classes are my Fashion Design/Clothing Construction classes. I love to see the light bulb go on in a child each time they do something as simple as sew their first straight line. So when I saw the possibilities in the latest Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway, I about fainted! They are giving away this Husqvarna Viking s21 Serger (retail value $1199)!  All you have to do is write a blog on why you should win. So here it is:


I fell instantly in love with my very first sewing machine which was a Husqvarna (the Husky Star, as a matter of fact). I still pull it out and work on it because I love it even though it doesn't have any bells and whistles. I did not have the same sort of instant attraction to my serger. My cheap, $100 used, (never taken out of the box) not-so-quality brand serger was used when I took a class at the local community college on how to use it, and then promptly put on the shelf and never used again. Even after service, I can't get it to have a balanced tension, and abandoning it seemed a healthier option then deal with the stress and anxiety of it. 

Fast forward a few years, and I started teaching, I was thrilled to see that my classroom had fancier versions of my first love. Could I also love the classroom serger? No, because there is no serger. How on earth do I teach a future generation of fashionistas anything without a serger?  It is an integral part of the fashion industry, and telling students to flip up the hem of their T-shirt to see the difference between a serged seam and a zig-zag seam doesn't make a very big impact.  And, of course, the school district doesn't have funds for one. Money rarely gets dumped into Junior High Electives. The big money goes to the high schools. So I often have to suck it up and make do. But "make do" doesn't sit well with me, and I try to tackle all sorts of outside resources for quality stuff to teach and bring creative learning processes to the kids.

That is where this giveaway comes in.  I think this serger would be the perfect compliment to my classroom's existing 25 Husqvarna machines. If I won this serger, I would take it straight to work, and allow the students to use it, and learn from it. It would be nice to have a brand the kids are already familiar with to aid in the learning curve. I already have the perfect place for it. It is also a stellar (yes, I said stellar) machine. And it would not be that terrible of a burden for me to take it home in the summers to make sure it stays in good running condition. It is a machine meant for sharing after all. Even if it is with the teacher. And I would have to keep my skills up to be a better teacher. I can't imagine a better recipient than the youth of America. Corrupting junior high students one pair of pajama pants at a time.