OK, I have figured out how to remove the add. It doesn’t show up at all.
The add is an Adobe Flash thing. You have to install a program called “FlashBlock” (this is on Mozilla)
http://flashblock.mozdev.org/installation1.html
The add won’t show up unless you click on the little “F”
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Thanks!
I thought you were getting rid of an addition to Bernina!
Add = adding; Ad = advertisement.
OK, so spelling is not my best subject!!!
I do own 2 Bernina's though, and I won't get rid of them!! LOL. I have a 1530 & an 1130.I like that my computer underlines misspelled words, but it doesn't solve all my problems! (spelling or otherwise!)
Judy
I know this has little to do with sewing (spelling), but then again, maybe it has a lot to do with it! I grew up blessed with the ability to spell. Others in my same class did not and since we all had the same teacher(s) why is this so? I get perturbed when I see so many spelling errors and incorrect language usage in the areas where it should not be, such as our newspapers. If it happens in our pattern instructions I have not been privy to it, thank goodness, because if it does occur the novice sewer would be lost trying to figure it out only by the pictures. My husband is a notoriously poor speller so I have a lot of sympathy for other's in his predicament, but, one must agree, if your spelling is all whacko, it's very difficult to see how you made it through school... let alone college and beyond, but it is happening more and more! I have no problem with the gatherings spelling errors, probably because the sewing knowledge comes through so loud and clear and sometimes it's just one's mind working faster than his fingers (or is it vice versa?) and so many use shortcuts that they use in messaging. We usually get the message, I think.
It is a difficult situation. I have a masters degree in nursing - I'm a nurse practitioner, but I also failed most spelling tests and took 4 terms to get through algebra in High school. I'm a very good nurse though.But, relating this to sewing, I have evaluated many sewing patterns (by the 'big 4') and have seen numerous mistakes in the pattern drafting. As a professional dressmaker and pattern drafter (I teach that now instead of working as a nurse) I have great sympathy for the novice home sewer that doesn't realize the reason the garment she (he) is making is not working is because of errors in the pattern,
I have found so many errors in patterns, I can't even tell you. Thank goodness I'm a VERY long time sewer (60+ yrs.), so I usually can figure out what to do. I was teaching my 18 yr.-old granddaughter to sew this spring, and if I had not been able to interpret the pattern, she would have been in big trouble.
Speaking of spelling, our local newspaper is SOOO bad about that. The latest thing I saw was a report about local highschool girls on a rowing team. One girl was quoted as saying, "we rode". AAAARGH
"rode" love it!
Kinda like the arm war I saw in the furniture classified ads recently.
Did the "Arm War" match the "Chester Draws" that was advertised in our paper a while back? For those of you who don't have Southern ears, this is a chest of drawers--giggle! (I'm coming in late to this discussion, and it has really gotten off topic--sorry for adding to it.)
No problem, got my giggle of the morning from it. Reminded me of the Amelia Bedelia stories the girls loved me to read to them. Cathy
Loved your furniture ads - I'll never look an an armoire or a chest of drawers the same again without smiling. Our local paper advertised "Dungeoness crabs" for Father's Day - pretty scary, eh? Wonder which dungeon they came from :)
Gloria
I'm working with a 16 yo that I'm teaching to sew, she selected the ruffled blouse and skirthttp://www.paisleypincushion.com/dresses.htmlthis pattern and the instructions were/are awful. The darts are marked as tucks, no where in the directions does it say to line the blouse, but it calls for "make all 16 darts" (there are only 8 in the blouse!!!) the directions tell you to buy a 7 inch zipper for the skirt, but never mention anything about inserting it. The center front is not marked (OK, so where does one lap it over and place the buttons and button holes etc.)I sent an email to the independent pattern maker, and got a short quip back about that this was one of her first patterns, and yup, there were omissions, so sorry have a nice day!!!I couldn't believe the email.Well, at least I know what do do, and this young lady is very creative and figured out how to clean finish it without lining it. I love working with this young lady, her mother gets a bit frustrated and worried about her because (like me) she doesn't want to read and follow the printed instructions. I think it's wonderful that she wants to do it on her own, and I've explained this to her mom who doesn't sew. I've also warned her mom that I may just decide to keep the girl and not send her home one day!!
Sounds like the young lady is an independant thinker who is not afraid to think outside the box. She probably has that creative brain like the rest of us.
And that pattern was $10 US??? Obviously, the company didn't read the directions - or, worse yet, didn't care, especially with that uncaring e-mail they sent you (I would never deal with them again). Even if it was a 'first pattern', that is no excuse. The designer will never be successful with directions like those. I've come across sketchy directions like those in the past & it's so terribly frustrating! Especially trying are directions (handouts) that had originally been given in a class, but are now available to others - most of them you HAD to see how it was done to understand the directions, as they make no sense at all; in some cases, huge parts of the process were left out!
Enough of my rant. What I really wanted to say was: Good for you & your student that you were able to get past those terrible directions to find success. Creativity is alive & well.
Gloria
Hi Gloria,
I'm sort of glad this happened because it is really making her think through the process of sewing. This way she won't be tied to a patterns direction. We've had to make some fitting changes and then re-drafted the entire top, so she's learning quite a lotHopefully we'll get the top finished tomorrow.
You're making great progress. Do show pics when it's finished. She'll be SO proud of herself, eh?
Gloria
A persisent spelling errors are usually a sign of dyslexia
So true. Daughter cannot spell. We have tried everything. Tutoring and extra help. She works hard and puts in extra effort to no avail. Same spelling mistakes appear all the time, even with practice. She gets frustrated with it. Did some research. Schools test for 4 kinds of dyslexia, and there are 128 different kinds. No wonder kids fall through the cracks.
In the UK it has been said that 90% of the 'non-achievers' are dyslexic
What it comes down to is that not everyone processes information the same way. Some brains are "wired" differently. I have had to deal with 3 people with head injuries, and 1 with learning difficulties. Each had to be dealt with separately, what worked with one person didn't always work with the others. Schools, and later in life, the business/career life work on the basis of what works for the majority. So many are pushed towards achademic careers now, where they used to have access to trades training. Some are just not book learners. I do not believe that streaming someone based on grades is a good idea, however, I really believe our kids are being shorted in school by not being exposed to more alternatives. Whatever happened to making them take shop, mechanics, home ec (living skills)?
An older gentleman I know can barely read. He is a successful businessman, active in the community. I worked for him for a while. When I caught on, he confessed, embarrassed, but said " I never got the knack for reading, so I decided I would make enough to get other people to do it for me."
It is within ourselves to achieve our dreams. Cathy
If I knew how to change the topic of this thread I would but..>>>>In the UK it has been said that 90% of the 'non-achievers' are dyslexic<<<<that may be so, but how many of the great genius achievers in this world are /were dyslexic - Most of them!By definition, people with "learning disabilities" (dyslexia) are above average intelligence. Steve Jobs (apple computers)
Cher
Walt Disney
Thomas Edison
Nelson Rockefeller,
George Patton
Pablo Picasso
Hans Christian Anderson
Lewis Carroll
Leonardo da Vinci
Sir Richard Branson
Sir Winston ChurchillAnd the list goes on and on.It was interesting when this discussion first got started about my spelling error, and that dyslexia is inherited. One of my twin sons has dyslexia. His biggest issue is in writing - getting the words in his head onto paper. The older he has gotten, the more I've wondered if it wasn't me he inherited it from! I have certain 'spatial' issues that I find so frustrating to have to deal with (right and left!!!) but I think women learn to compensate for this better than men.
Judy
Our oldest son had problems with spelling and English courses all through school and I was really concerned, this was years ago when there was not as much information about learning disabilities or any help in the public schools.Luckily, he carried on with extra English classes once he finished one year of community college and went to university. He ended up getting his PhD in Engineering Physics. I learned never to judge a child's intelligence or potential from how he or she spells.
Regarding learning disabilities:Years ago, I took a short training course with our county school system, to prepare me to volunteer in "Special Education" classes. The teacher of that course pointed out that most people have preferences in learning style that they aren't even aware of: visual vs. auditory cues, memory tricks, etc. She demonstrated this by having us memorize lists of words by using different styles - oral repetition, writing, visual imagery, etc. And we could each see that we may rely on one style over another because of a weakness; we've learned to compensate for that weakness by finding another way. Successful compensation makes us unaware of even having the weakness. I thought it was very interesting, and felt much respect for those teachers who are aware of and use teaching methods to reach large groups of kids with so many different learning styles.She also pointed out that there are possibly many different kinds of intelligence, and that IQ tests only measure certain kinds. Made sense to me. I've known folks who were geniuses in math and physics, but couldn't for the life of them express themselves in writing using a complete sentence. Spatial intelligence, as you've mentioned, seems to be yet another completely separate ability. Lots of us sewers like to see pictures or sketches when following pattern instructions, while others like to read every word of the material and still others benefit by hearing someone explain the directions. We rarely think of ourselves as disabled because of the preference of one style over the other, but there is probably a continuum, rather than discreet groups, of weaknesses/strengths in learning.I do go on, don't I?Edited to add: I should've read further in the posts before I responded. Please excuse the redundancy as this is a topic that is dear to my heart. And I'm fascinated by how learning is acquired. I do believe sewing is one of those skills that is a perfect example of how different our learning methods can be, still winding up at the same level of understanding.
Edited 6/19/2008 6:22 pm ET by Josefly
Josefly,
You are exactly right about learning styles. I learned a lot about this when my son went through all the special ed testing. The brain/mind is a fascinating organ. I've read many books on brain/ learning "differences". and yes, it's DIFFERENCES not DISABILITIES. I raised my sons to understand that everyone is different, but every one is good. If we were all the same life would be very boring.So this brings me back to the one student I have that it took me a while to catch onto her learning style and gear my lessons to that. I rate myself by the success of my students, but I'm starting to think I'm a failure! She just can't sew. I know it's not me, but she is making me feel like a failure! Oh well. I try and try again. She is very persistent in wanting to learn, so perhaps in the future she will have some success.
I hadn't heard of this as a reason, but can see why it would be. My husband cannot sound out the word. He is from the south and I am from the north so I thought maybe that was the reason... how could anyone sound out the word when it is spoken so unusually? But, I was young and naive then. I still haven't figured out the answer. I do not think it hurt my husbands career as he rose to the upper ranks of the military, even with those above him sending papers back to him with red marks all over it so he could rewrite it properly! I did help him when I could, but that takes a big man to take that kind of humiliation. Our oldest daughter seems to have the same problem, but she has a masters degree in math. Can't sew a stitch and lost the urge to learn when she enrolled in a beginners class in college and they were appalled that she really was a beginner and that wasn't what they really meant! My other daughter, though, inherited my English and Sewing genes quite well. Check out her blog below
http://sewingforlife.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the link to your daughter's web blog. Read some of it and put it in favourites for later.
Or lack of proper teaching in the first place. Gail
It's more that the teachers are not trained to recognise the condition
proper teaching
effective teaching would be a better phrase I think. What is important is that identification is followed through with. Too often I have heard the words "I don't read the IPRC and IEP. I'd rather judge for myself." (IEP=Individual Education Plan, IPRC=Identifcation Process) In our cases it was imperitive that the teachers knew right from the start that the girls had special requirements from health and safety needs as well as things that they were to be provided with in class so they could learn. I know teachers are often overworked and underpaid etc. etc. etc. and I am grateful for the great ones the girls have had. Yet it seems like the system often cuts off it's nose to spite it's face. It made me frustrated to constantly advocate for what they were entitled to under the rights and obligations set out by the school board. I was not very popular in the main office. However, my two older girls made it through, and are now in college, working. Sorry about the rant, bit of a sore point. Cathy
My own daughter did very well in school until about 8th grade, then began to stuggle. Because of her early successes, hormones, phases, bad attitude, laziness, disinterest and many other things were blamed for her falling behind.
High school was difficult, her first attempt at college an utter failure.
Not until her SECOND TRY at college, in a study skills class, did she find out that she was an AUDITORY learner. In other words, she needs to sit in class, listen to the lecture, rely on her memory, and NOT TAKE NOTES.
That flies in the face of traditional wisdom.
Today she is a nurse (B.S.N/R.N), she passed her State Boards on the first try, and is in graduate school. Gail
Exactly my point GailAnn. My girls had to be RETAUGHT HOW TO LEARN. Yes, all those other reasons can come into play as well, believe me. The point is, learning is a unique experience. Education should be a buffet table of experiences and styles of teaching. Mary Kay Ash stated you can tell or show someone the same thing 10 times by 10 different people, and the 11th time it will make sense. Cathy
Our teachers are required to spend so much time on non-teaching tasks, it makes it difficult in a 50 minute class period to teach very much by one method, much less by a separate method geared to each individual student. Our teachers do yoeman's duty with little reward. I'm talking about our public schools here. And I didn't even mention the lack of discipline and the teachers' lack of authority to do anything about that little problem. Just my 2¢.
I understand that completely. And I am not saying that each student should have separate teaching methods either. Discipline and respect belong in a classroom, parents have the responsibility to uphold that too. Unfortunately it is not a perfect world. What I am trying to get across is the support systems that are supposed to be in place for those who need them don't work effectively because they often are not taken seriously. Teacher's earn a gold star in my book because the majority love what they do,get little respect, work against a greatly flawed system for little pay, little reward, and take their job very seriously.
You are so right on each and every point you made. Couldn't agree with you more. Good teachers are among our unsung heroes.My son is an auditory learner, exacerbated, or perhaps caused, by dyslexia. I am more visual, although I discovered that the more senses I use to study and learn, the more I retain. To study for important tests I would read and highlight the important facts. Then I would read aloud (mostly the) highlighted facts and record that on cassettes. I played those cassettes while I did other things like housework or driving. Then I either wrote or typed those same highlighted facts. I had used my vision, my hearing, my speech (taste??), and my touch. And trust me if I could have smelled it, I would have done that, too! Perhaps I am just a slow learner, but those things work for me.
I am a tactile learner and must feel or touch to learn. I have to take notes and recopy them to understand them, then recopy again to remember. I live by lists and notes to self to remember things. I have to read or see things to remember them. Fortunately words are pictures for me and easily remembered. Numbers are ghosts in the air however. Math skills were poor until I started sewing, then the numbers had something I could relate them to! Once I could see what 1 foot or 1 yard of fabric was, measurement made sense. Fractions I got when I began cooking. I still have problems with basic math skill like balancing a checkbook. The numbers don't make sense. You should see me calculate what I need to make a set of curtains though! It still takes me a long time to figure it out on paper, a calculator does me no good, but it is correct.
Thank you for making (What I think) is a very important point! Home Ec built my Math Skills stronger than math class ever did. I think it is an important way for many women to learn the valuable tools they need to be successful in their lives. Gail
This is exactly what I mean. Life skills training(home ec), basic mechanics, woodworking, electronics, music, art, theater, all put the basic dry stuff we learn into the hands of the students to USE. It proves that you actually need all the stuff that you learn in school. It reinforces those skills/knowledge and makes sense of it for those who don't quite get it.
'I have a lot of sympathy for other's in his predicament'. Now, I wonder what that apostrophe is doing there! 'Others' is just a plural, not a possessive, and I'm one of those freaky people that would like to carry a tin of paint around so I could delete all those apostrophes people seem to stick in wherever there's an 's'!! Nothing to do with sewing I know, but I couldn't resist replying!
Ditto. Have you read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"? That describes me to a T. I have a fit when I read bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the newspaper, from people who supposedly graduated from a journalism school.
Yes! I've read it - I could have written it! We're clearly in the same league!
I loved that book.
I don't think that it's because people are poor spellers but that they rely on spell check too much without proof reading it themselves.
Chris
It may be that people rely on spell check too much. When I was typing very important grant proposals, I would use spell check, and then go back and read the whole thing. Surprising how many mistakes I could catch.
>>>>I don't think that it's because people are poor spellers but that they rely on spell check too much without proof reading it themselves.<<<<Nope, I'm a bad speller! always have been, always will be. Spell check helps me a lot. My biggest problem is when I misspell a word so badly (poorly) that spell check hasn't got a clue.I can't spell, I can't do more than very basic math, but I've got a masters degree in nursing, and I'm a VERY GOOD nurse practitioner. Spelling and math have absolutely nothing to do with my skills at diagnosing and treating a medical condition. It also has absolutely nothing to do with me being a very good dressmaker.And, I still won't tell my son that he probably inherited his dyslexia from me. I do have trouble knowing left from right, and have to hold up my right hand to verify what I'm dealing with. This DOES come into play both as an NP and as a dressmaker, but I am very careful about it. When I put in sleeves, I will put the sleeves on my arms first to keep the Rt & Lt in the correct place.
I do that and I don't have dislexia. I always put the notches in sleeves. And double check the overllap on the front of shirts so I don't put the buttonholes on the right side of my son's shirts.
But while spell check will correct spelling, it doesn't correct for work usage. Write, right, and rite are all spelled correctly but have very different meanings. Spell check doesn't tell you that you have typed the wrong one in the sentence.
Chris
I think SewChris703's response is correct, but that didn't stop me from immediately going to Amazon and buying Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I'd never heard of before. Wonder what rock I've been under? The book sounds as if it will appeal to my warped sense of humor!
I would love to get rid of the discussion about getting rid of the Bernina ad and see new discussions on some of the topics that have come up in this discussion.
I assume you are insinuating the pot shouldn't call the kettle black! I have to check and recheck my writing to make sure I have it correct and sometimes it still isn't. That's why I included the following paragraph in my first post...
I have no problem with the gatherings spelling errors, probably because the sewing knowledge comes through so loud and clear and sometimes it's just one's mind working faster than his fingers (or is it vice versa?) and so many use shortcuts that they use in messaging. We usually get the message, I think.
What do you think of using that when you mean who? "I'm one of those freaky people that would like to" Maybe it's time to stop being so picky about our spelling and language usage and get back to the pleasure of reading about sewing issues.
Edited 6/19/2008 11:49 pm by sewelegant
Well said; Gatherings has members all around the world - for some English is a second language. The important thing is all the education we get here. There's a huge range of topics on Gatherings, from techniques, to supply sources, to cultural differences - fascinating. Many of the comments about learning styles apply to knitting; some knitters manage better with text-only pattern writing, others prefer schematics and charts. All the Albanian ladies I know are functionally illiterate, yet all knit superbly, and spin their yarn from their own animals on drop spindles. They learn by oral tradition. Come to think of it, when you learn in this way, neither spelling nor grammar are issues!
Katina
That's this pot put in her place! Thankfully I'm a light-hearted freaky person! In this context I often see people's huge and admirable efforts to communicate in a language that I suspect is not their first. We all need to accept that language is growing and changing, but I'm afraid I can't help noticing grammatical errors (except when I make them myself!)However, let's get back to the skills and language of the needle and thread.
Edited 6/20/2008 4:36 am ET by moira
Thank you, Moira. I was thinking... if we keep up this #### for tat on spelling, etc. it might keep a lot of people from joining in and wouldn't that be a shame?
I don't believe it! Since when does #### need to be deleted by ####!
I've had the "#####" happen to me also. I think it's just a quirk that happens with Threads server from time to time. If you go back in to edit the message you can eliminate it and put back the correct word.
Thanks, but I thought the powers that be must have thought I was using a risque word and bleeped it. Say pit for pat, but substitute t for the p and you see what I mean because it happened in my second post too.
I believe it is just software used to catch obscene language posts that thought the word in your phrase was referring to the "other" meaning. Some software catches words that are made when two words adjoin like -- who really -- would be deleted -- or changed to asterisks or pound signs -- because it inadvertently spells a word that would be inappropriate on that forum. We all know you were innocent in your intent! :-)
Thanks. I guess I was a little shocked to see I was being censored for such a common phrase.
If we can't use the language properly, we can't communicate properly. Even in a sewing discussion we should use grammar and punctuation correctly. The English language will disappear if we don't adhere to the rules.
Nah, it'll just change as it has always done.
Chris
I agree, Many of the words that are in the dictionary today were not there 100 years ago. Our foremothers would not recognize the language we use today. Language is a living entity that changes and morphs as needs dictate. Usage precedes rules. This is how a lot of health care laws also come into play - action and usage precedes the rules of law.
You're the first person I have heard of who has an 1130. Mine is out on loan to my niece. I loved that machine but wanted to update to a computer. I have a Viking Designer SE with tons of bells and whistles but long sometimes for the simpler days when just moving a lever did all the work. Jean
Jean,
Isn't the Designer SE a dream? but yes, the way Bernina lets you adjust stitch length/width is much easier I think. My dream machine would be somewhere between Bernina, viking and throw in the dual feet of the Pffaf machines. I don't want all the gazillions of decorative stitches on the SE - who ever uses them? but I like the presser foot function, the pivot. I like the knee lift for the presser foot on the Bernina - you can control it better than the Viking.Judy
I worked for Viking in a Sewing Gallery store. After 4 years the rest of the crew convinced me to buy a Designer l. A year later the SE came out and I got a great deal to trade up so I did. Now there is the Designer Diamond. I'm waiting for one that knits too, so I can combine both hobbies in one. Jean
Jean,
the best would be if you could just throw the fabric at the machine and it would do all the work itself! LOL, then what would we do? (i'd get a loom and learn to weave, but just think of all the other "stuff" you need for that. I have one sister that does weaving, spinning and knitting. (not necessarily in that order)Judy
Now the ad shows up on my screen. I guess that they finally got rid of the flashing part. I can live with the ad as is.
Chris
I just signed in an noticed it,I have to say, I am impressed that we were listened to.A static (not moving) ad is much better. Although, I liked my little gray F better
Judy
The ad is so much easier to tolerate, now. Gail
What do you mean by "add". I've never heard of the word. Do you mean advertisement? In case that's what you mean, that is spelled: ad. If this is what you mean, this is frightening. I mean it.
I think the discussion here has gotten off track. I would surely like to get rid of the Bernina ad. The website you listed indicates that the flash "fix" is still in the testing stage.
Isn't this something that Threads has done and can therefore undo? It certainly isn't endearing anybody to Threads so it might be in its best interest to eliminate it or put it someplace else where it is less intrusive and distracting. In fact, isn't the Bernina Series ad at the top of the page enough!!! Amber, if you're listening or reading could you respond. Z
Zuwena,Yes, this discussion has gotten off track, but it's time it did. Bernina changed the ad from a moving one to a static one, thats good enough for me, I am able to ignore it now and really don't see it.It was just the flashing red and white stripe that made us all crazy when they first put it up. I for one am really amazed at the fact that we were able to get it changed and so quickly (well, it would have been quicker, but in reality, things moved along pretty well). It's really nice to know we are listened to and get results (now if the magazine would only go back to it's former quality I'd be a very happy camper)Judy
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