My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.
Penn Jillett
Having started a new hobby (sewing), I am once again learning as a beginner. There is a lot I don’t know. Compared to learning during my youth, at least I know that there is a lot I do not know. And I also know that it is okay to make mistakes. Sucking at something is the first step to becoming better.
(Causalities so far: Some wasted invested fabric and a broken sewing machine needle. Turns out the sewing machine has a problem with sewing through seed pods. Who would have known?)
Anyway, having to learn everything about something again, I thought about the options.
There are some books that might be good. (I can’t judge the quality with my current level of knowledge.)
There are also lots of interesting websites (some with patterns).
There are also courses, but I am not a group learner. I want the essential knowledge in compact form and then develop the skills on my own. Courses are often … well, bogged down by the dumbest participant.
But still, looking people over the shoulder is extremely valuable, and it would be a mistake not to use it.
Luckily there is YouTube.
And yeah, that’s nothing new. I think I wrote … just a moment … yep, I wrote about it on page 70 of «Organizing Creativity» (book from 2012) when it comes to developing skills:
But it is nice to see that it works (and that I gave my future self good advice, I should read what I write 😉 ). Because there are a lot of interesting videos about sewing on YouTube. And in contrast to courses, you can skim them quickly or skip them if the YouTuber is … creepy. Or just plain nuts. And you can download the videos to build a nice offline video-library. 🙂
So yeah, happy learning.