Three Sundays of hands-on sewing in San Jose — English paper piecing at Found SJ, then giant citrus and carrot pillows at Jumbo Jibbles — from Aug 30 through Sep 20. Here's what each costs and how to skip the beginner fee.

If you've been meaning to learn to sew and want a project you'll actually keep, San Jose has three Sundays lined up this fall — one cheap and portable, two large and ridiculous.

Sunday, Aug 30 — English Paper Piecing, Found SJ. 10 a.m.–12 p.m., Found SJ, 57 Barack Obama Blvd, San Jose 95110. $65 (plus a $1.63 service fee), all materials included. Taught by Amy Brown of Jumbo Jibbles, this two-hour class covers English paper piecing — a hand-stitched patchwork method that needs almost no tools and folds up small enough to work on the train. You'll leave with a finished eight-piece pincushion and a demo on freehanding your own quilt block. This is the low-commitment entry point: no machine, no big spend, and a skill you can practice on a bus.

Sunday, Sep 13 — Giant Lemon Workshop, Jumbo Jibbles. 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Jumbo Jibbles Sewing Studio, 1068 The Alameda, San Jose 95126. Three hours, materials and machines provided; ages 16+. You'll get an hour on the sewing machine and two hours building a larger-than-life lemon (or lime) pillow from Brown's own pattern. Tickets are $175 with the beginner machine lesson, or $125 for "Lemon Only" if you've already taken the intro.

Sunday, Sep 20 — Giant Carrot Workshop, Jumbo Jibbles. Same studio and hours, ages 16+. Here you make the four-foot carrot body pillow that's turned up at Comic-Con and on The Tonight Show — the shop says Questlove bought one for a white elephant party and Parker Posey won it. $250 with the machine lesson, $200 for "Carrot Only."

The move if you're new: start with the $65 paper-piecing class Aug 30 to see if hand-sewing is your thing before committing to a $200 carrot. The move if you already sew: book any Jumbo Jibbles class as "Project Only," arrive at 10:45 a.m. to skip the machine hour, and save $50. The Alameda studio sits just northwest of downtown San Jose; plan to drive and park on the street. All four listings sell tickets online, and the giant-pillow classes are small — Brown asks you to flag in advance if you're bringing your own machine — so don't wait until the Saturday before.