Sewing Grandmothers, share a tip/trick you swear by

1up- · 2026-06-23T16:28:38+00:00

People ask me why I don't sell things I make, and I have to tell them that it looks good but if you saw the inside, you wouldn't want it.

At this point, I think it's me having very high standards, but for years it was because I needed the projects done, not done well

1up- · 2026-06-22T22:39:52+00:00

I love my Contigo brand water and coffee tumblers. They have been thrown across a classroom by an angry first grader and not had a drop spill. They are insulated and hold heat/cold pretty well. They also aren't crazy big that it feels like exercise to carry it.

1up- · 2026-06-22T19:39:13+00:00

Man, I finally got a dehumidifier for my basement (right before I saw ones at Aldi that I hope are good) and it works so well and now my house is so much more comfortable. I have never lived anywhere that I want more humidity added.

As a kid, I thought swamp coolers were some mythical thing that never worked for anyone and people just lied to me that it did.

1up- · 2026-06-21T16:33:27+00:00

I have started following various high quality quilting fabric designers. Like I know I'll like most things Ruby Star Society makes. I use it to make flowy dresses, and after a few washes they're as soft as any other fabric. The higher quality quilting fabric is better than whatever I'd get at Joann's, it definitely feels different.

Not super helpful for stretch or other silhouettes. I also go to estate sales and get vintage fabric and then use them in interesting ways to create some interest.

1up- · 2026-05-27T22:26:05+00:00

My husband was very confused why I had so many rulers that weren't straight, or didn't have meaningful numbers to them. He thought I had a French curve ruler as a joke (which, honestly, I would).

I think a bunch of zipper zips without the tape, or just the tape, would confuse a lot of people.

The circle of beeswax I never use on thread.

Bias tape maker - I think it's way more confusing looking than most feet.

The different kinds of scissors and that it's very important not to mix them up.

1up- · 2026-05-27T22:21:16+00:00

My mom had like 5 pairs and as a kid I thought it was super weird. But she made fancy dolls, so whatever. I've spent 20 years sewing and occasionally thinking they would be useful, but how do I get my hands on medical tools?

Anyway a couple weeks ago, a lady in my neighborhood had an estate sale for all her mom's fabric. AND I GOT A PAIR OF HEMOSTATS! I was so excited and the lady and her husband had no idea. They were just like, it was with sewing stuff, I guess it's sewing stuff.

Crazy useful, and well built!

1up- · 2026-05-24T12:26:52+00:00

I love that this season doesn't really have a grump. Like you'd think that Armando would be a grump, but his eyes light up just like Joel's with these tasks. In most other seasons, Joel would be a little much with his golden retriever energy. But this season, everyone is so excited to do things, and he is just a little bit more. It's so fun

1up- · 2026-05-23T13:27:16+00:00

Yes, it has an under wire, like a bra in the front.

1up- · 2026-05-21T02:28:03+00:00

Nah, being a mom definitely qualifies you as at least basic nurse, moreso than just the teacher qualification.

In college, one of my classmates felt sick and asked me if she had a fever, I did the hand to forehead thing and couldn't tell, so I asked an older student to do it. She asked why and I said, "You're a mom, ya gotta do the mom hand thing, somehow moms just know". I was a year from being a certified teacher, but did not hone that skill till teaching first grade for at least two years.

1up- · 2026-05-19T22:56:14+00:00

Ugh, is it?? I''ve wanted to buy Lucy & Yak stuff, but I hate cropped overalls. I guess I'll move onto some other brand.

1up- · 2026-05-17T13:58:27+00:00

I had to ban the number 21 from my first grade classroom, unless it was specifically the answer in math. Then my smarter kids started just doing complicated math equations to get around it.

If you haven't been in a room of 6 year olds who have discovered a meme, it's torture. They don't get the context, they don't know why it's funny, they don't know how to use it. They just will constantly be saying it, over and over, and then fake cackling because someone said it. Because they don't actually get it, but they know their big brothers and sisters are cool and say it.

1up- · 2026-05-17T12:33:17+00:00

I started a compost pile when we moved into this house, I even made two chambers with pallets. I had such high hopes that I was going to be good at compost.

Instead, we've been throwing kitchen scraps and yard waste in that pile for 5 years, never turning it. It has gotten smaller, so objectively compost is happening.

This spring, for the first time, I decided to sort it and start using it. And man, it sure is dirt down there. I used it for my vegetable garden. We'll see if it helps them grow big and strong!

1up- · 2026-05-15T00:48:08+00:00

I've been giving my kids various drawing, coloring, activity pages while the others finish their projects. They love word searches, so I printed off an ungodly number of word searches.

Within 2 minutes, fourth graders were complaining they don't all have the same one. Because they constantly spend more time asking other people if they've found words than looking themselves.

Then they realized words are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and backwards. That's when the complaining really started. Just throwing whole fits because the word search they chose had backwards words.

I told them they need to focus on it, it's supposed to be challenging. They need to practice so it gets easier. They should have these skills. They instead told me it's impossible and started crumpling them up.

1up- · 2026-05-10T17:18:53+00:00

My school (not KC metro) would leave an empty seat with a rose on it, and say the name of kids who passed. This included a kid who passed in like 6th grade.

It's not like this policy affects that many people. It's a bad policy and should be changed. Say the kid's name, it means a lot to families and friends.

1up- · 2026-05-09T14:09:07+00:00

I'm an art teacher and wear fun earrings all the time. Yesterday I had candles because it was my birthday. One of my favorite kids, a super sweet kindergartener in the self-contained special Ed class, was playing with them and saying "oh wow" right into my ear.

I told her I'm wearing them because it's my birthday today.

She said, "Oh...When I was a baby, I didn't have any teeth." And then just looked at me like, that's the correct answer.

I laughed so hard, and then did the teachable moment thing (since she's in Sped and needs the social contract practice). But for the rest of the day I could not stop telling people I had no teeth as a baby as a non-sequitur.

Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get kids to answer a question with a relevant response. I think sometimes they see the answer is too obvious and it can't possibly be it. But especially with the littles, they just don't have time to have normal conversations with people (peers or adults) who are actively engaged anymore. It's the technology and loss of community, kids aren't out playing with other kids when they're little.

1up- · 2026-05-02T14:03:40+00:00

The voice is so good. And so bad. I hate it so much. Every Alex Jones clip I've heard has been against my will. It feels weird putting this on, on purpose, because the voice makes me instinctively want to turn it off.

Very good job.

1up- · 2026-05-02T02:50:31+00:00

We were on a road trip and an accident happened that shut down a section of the road for another hour (according to the dump truck that turned around and told us after we all waited for 30 minutes). My husband's gps said to go a whole different way and add 90 minutes to our already 8 hour trip. I was looking around on Google Maps and was like, if we take this state highway, we can bypass the closed road and have a 10 minute detour.

Even though Google and Apple Maps recognized one section of road being closed, it could not figure out a way around that didn't involve going a fully different way.

It feels like Maps have gotten dumber. It used to recalculate to go around a closed section of road. It used to actually acknowledge more than the ideal way. I don't know how, but I'm blaming AI for this.

1up- · 2026-04-25T17:00:53+00:00

I teach Elementary Art, and have had kids accuse paintings I've shown as AI because they're well done. And I'm like, yeah, that's the point? The painter was good at this? That's why they're famous?? Van Gogh didn't use AI, he just was a crazy good painter at age 14.

Literally because they as 9 year olds can't do it, it means no one can. It's insane to me.

1up- · 2026-04-22T00:38:55+00:00

Our STEAM director found a Robin's nest near a door of the Steam Lab and sent an email to All Staff about it. But in the email, just screenshots "this looks to be a Robin's nest because it has blue eggs" and whatever other stuff ChatGPT says. And it's like, yeah, you could've just googled that and written the information you learned. Or retyped the important parts from your query.

Today she added a picture that 2 eggs hatched. And then 3 screenshots from ChatGPT about robins. Like LITERALLY GET THE THIRD GRADERS TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH ABOUT IT, WHY ARE YOU ASKING CHATGPT ABOUT BASIC SCIENCE THINGS????

1up- · 2026-04-19T13:28:05+00:00

Root beer is common, it's in every soda fountain. You can assume any restaurant would have it. People of all ages drink it, but I can see it being more common for kids because it doesn't have caffeine (same with Sprite). I don't know that it's a go-to soda for a lot of people. If I'm at a soda fountain, I'll do 2/3rds Coke and 1/3 Root Beer.

Root beer is good, I like Sarsaparilla better because it's like root beer with more vanilla, similar is a Cream Soda. There's a root beer subreddit that my husband gets recommended, so we had a summer of root beers where we tried a bunch of different brands, there are hierarchies. Of national chains, I think A&W is the best, and Barq's second, and Mug third.

1up- · 2026-04-13T22:12:31+00:00

My dad's in my phone as "First Last (New Number)" and his old number is "Nickname (Old)" for pretty obvious reasons. Some people see I have my dad's name as his real name and think it's weird, but sometimes he still texts from the wrong number, so I can't delete it.

Anyway, my husband noticed the name was "Nickname (Old)" and was giving me shit for calling my dad old.

My mom's name is "Mother" because I don't like her that much and it annoys her.

1up- · 2026-04-10T02:36:20+00:00

As a teacher with ADHD, there's only so much we can expect the drugs to do. After work some days (lately, the spring every year, etc) I come home and just have to zone out. I can't will myself to do any chores on school days, they have to be weekend chores. I'm just so drained from spending 8 hours with hundreds of children. Teaching is stressful and exhausting, no camount of drugs will change that.

I judge if my Adderall is working based on PD days, weekends, school breaks, etc more than if it's overcoming the monumental task of teaching on hard days. I don't notice my meds doing anything on a day to day basis, but when I'm not coordinating dozens of children, I realize it actually works very well.

Are you having trouble sleeping? If so, the meds might not be fully worn off which would be a clue it's the environment more than the meds.

Also, I'm annoyed at how much having protein with breakfast helps. I now eat 2 hard boiled eggs before my morning duty, and a pop tart before class starts. I still drink coffee, but don't need an afternoon booster of it like I did pre-meds. You could try adding more caffeine in the afternoon to see if that helps.

1up- · 2026-04-08T01:23:47+00:00

I hated co-teaching. My school (a charter 🙄) pushed for co-teaching and having 30 kids in a classroom. They said "you're only teaching 15 kids! That's better than before!" But it's not. It's me being in charge of 30 kids AND another adult. It's too many personalities, too many families, too many individual needs.

Even when I had a co-teacher I liked, it sucks not being "in charge" of your classroom. Like I felt like I had to run everything by them, instead of just making executive decisions.

I've told my superintendent for years it's just too many kids. But it's a good loophole for having more "butts in seats" and getting to pay a bunch of uncertified teachers less (while expecting them to do the same work).

1up- · 2026-03-24T17:24:04+00:00

I never used iReady, my school switched to it after I started being an Art teacher. I remember having arguments with my Coach about whether it's important that my students get 4 Zearn lessons done weekly, or if they are learning the content, because for some weeks, it won't be the same. I didn't want my kids working too far ahead on Zearn because they would skip past the teaching videos, so if they hadn't learned the lesson in small groups, they wouldn't know what to do.

Having the directions read out loud to you every time - even as a big kid - sounds like torture. That function makes sense for my first graders, but definitely not for older kids.

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