Sewing Classes at Tchad

About

Hi, I’m Tchad Elliott.  Welcome to my sewing and design classes in Chicago blog.

I started this version of the blog back in 2009-2010 after having run sewing and design classes in Chicago in some form since 2004. Everybody coming up here then was pushing me to get my workrooms a little more publicity and it seemed like a good idea. I had NO IDEA at the time that it would turn out to be a thing like it has, so I wrote on-and-off taking breaks here and there as life came at me.  In February-March of 2018, after having taken a 5 year break from writing about the goings-on up here, I decided to pick it back up.  I saw the buildup of pictures, events, and people in my iPhoto’s storage and thought “well, why not?” and here we are.

I don’t generally talk about myself directly on the blog – it is about other people and what they are doing for the most part – I prefer to let my personality and general sense of the world come out in the writing about their things rather than hit all of the world over the head with a hammer about fashion, fashion, fashion, or me, me, me.  So many times things like this are just bloated vehicles for someone’s ego.  

This may very well indeed be that, but I’ve found over the years that helping people get where they need (or want) to be gives me a better sense of self and makes me feel better about the world generally than telling them over and over what I’ve done.  Much better to ask “What have you done?  What do you think? Where do you want to go?” So if you are reading this or looking at the classes Instagram, the Twitter for classes, or the classes Facebook page, don’t expect tons of selfies or daily updates about my eating habits, sketches, or musings.

You’ll get it in classes or looking at my other more personal things online, but that’s it.  These classes pages are all ways to show off what other people are doing. What I do and have to offer becomes a vehicle for their sense of creativity generally and their projects specifically.

Having written that, maybe it is time to open up a little bit about where I’m coming from and who I am both as a person, a sewing professional, and a teacher.

The way I see these classes

I think the best way I would describe the classes I host would be to say that I try to get people expressing themselves in every sense, but starting with sewing.  When you have a reference point, you can start to zero in on who you are.

No, that sounds too high-flown, and it is.  So let’s do it this way:

These spaces of mine host adults who want to learn the technical skills necessary to learn how to fit and drape themselves to various degrees and then take their creations out into the world.

No, still too much and yet not enough at the same time.

How about this:

I built out this space in 2006-2010 myself without investors or outside funding to sew and teach other people how to sew at their own pace.  I don’t have syllabi, I don’t have set projects, and I don’t privilege or enforce any specific method or technique over another. I want this to be a space where people learn through their mistakes and celebrate themselves for their victories.

That’s a little better.  I may end up rewriting this, but there you are.

What these classes are not

These classes are not about my work in design, nor are they about selling you anything other than the class itself.  I am not affiliated with any company or manufacturer, so any recommendation I make or tool I use is based on my own experience with it.  I am not here to sell you fabric, sewing machines, notions, or anything other than skills.

When you see a link on this blog or anywhere else I write, it isn’t appended with a business tool for me to get a percentage.  When I send out a PDF introduction that has links to various projects and patterns, they are just that – links to projects and patterns. When I tell you that I love a Bernina Classic for this or a Brother cs6000i for that, it is because I do.  They aren’t paying me for that.  You are the ones paying me with your attention and class fees; that is enough. I am invested in teaching you how to sew and think about the world of sewing.

I think this is an important distinction to make.  Our world is cluttered up with all kinds of marketing and schemes.  Sometimes they are helpful, sometimes not.  I err on the side of less marketing and do my thing up here without worrying about all of it (or much of it).  Hopefully you guys benefit from that.