My mom bought me my first sewing machine when I was 10 years old. It came from Sears, where mom worked. The Sears lady came to our house a few times to give me instructions on how to use it, and from there, I was pretty much on my own. I am thinking I wore some pretty goofy looking clothes for many years!
I spent the next 33 years sewing and sewing...making many of my own clothes and most of what my son wore to school all through high school. Then I worked at a quilt fabric store for one year before moving to NM in 1993...and managed to stash enough fabric for lots of quilts that are now wanting to be made.
These last weeks have been such fun, getting back to sewing again. I've made several baby quilts, small enough to fold easily and stuff in a diaper bag. Small enough for me to see an accomplishment in a day's work. Fun enough to keep me wanting to do more...and a nice balance to my evenings of hand quilting on the antique quilt. However, having said that...there's a new spinning wheel in the house, and it's calling my name....
8 comments:
Love those little quilts! I grew up sewing too. Made all my own clothes all the way through high school. Most of the fabric came from a suitcase full that Mom got when her grandmother passed. Do you still have the sewing machine from Sears? I think it's wonderful that the young girls now are sewing again! Cathy G
I wanted to comment on your last post too about the trash and the way some of earth's residents are ruining our shared planet. The big companies like BP who are reckless and greedy hopefully will be drowned in a big barrel of their own oil before they ruin the entire planet. Thanks for speaking out. In the meantime lets hope others will join our efforts and keep picking up other peoples garbage. Cathy G
Dear Cathy: No, sadly I let go of the Sears machine in 1975 when I traded it in for a Bernina (which I used for many years but frankly never liked as much). I am now using a 3/4 size machine from Janome that weighs only 12 lbs but sews like a champ. My favorite machine ever was my industrial straight stitch which I had to let go of because of lack of space in our home. It was awesome at a fraction of the price of the fancy machines that do all the tricks.
Cathy: Thanks for backing me up on the trash. I must confess I am starting to shriek at the TV set when that idiot from BP starts with his gratuitous advertisements about how sorry he is. In the end, it's all about greed, from the people who make the big money to the rest of us who mostly refuse to compromise our lifestyles enough to have it start adding up. Sometimes I really wonder if anyone will figure it all out before it's truly too late (if it isn't already).
I bought my first sewing machine just this year. I'm slowly learning. At first it was just to sew the edges on my rug hooking but this weekend I made my first pair of curtains for one of the bedrooms at the cottage!! They turned out OK so now I will make some for the other 2 bedrooms.
Kim: Congratulations! That's so cool that you made curtains already. I'm not sure if it's really cheaper to buy patterns and fabrics to make many clothes these days, but there's so much other stuff to have fun with. Also...lots of videos to help with techniques on YouTube...I already got bailed out by one of them.
Martie: Sewing. I remember my grandmother sewing on a foot pedal Singer machine. I later found out that she sewed for WPA during the Great Depression. I've told Brenda about this post because she came to her first sewing machine about the same time and it was a Sears. She said she would like to have an industrial-strength machine like you had.
Hope all is well out there on the coast.
(Sage to Meadow, Jack Matthews)
Jack: I hope someone in your family still has your grandmother's treadle machine! I wish I could have known her and talked to her about what she did for the WPA. I have a treadle machine at the house in Taos but have never had any urge to sew out there...that will all probably be different when I go home next fall. Tell Brenda sewing on the industrial machine is like driving a race car instead of an old Rambler...zoooooooooommmmmmmm...
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