Story Weekend Theme: Sewing
I’m a Project Runway fan. That’s a bit odd, since I couldn’t design something wearable to save my life and I really don’t care that much about clothes to begin with. Give me jeans and t-shirts and a comfy sweater. What more do I need?
But I still get a kick out of watching Project Runway. The talent and passion is what gets me, and even I can recognize the beauty in the designs of this season’s winner, Anya. Here’s the amazing thing: Anya only learned to sew four months before she auditioned for the show.
That brought back memories of learning to sew when I was a kid and all the clothes my mom made for me as well as the dress my sister created that you could convert from floor length to mini. My male readers might have a hard time participating this weekend, but come on. Give it a try!
If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. I’ve loved reading your stories. As always, there are a few “rules”:
▪ The story must be true.
▪ Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.
▪ Avoid offensive language.
I look forward to reading your stories!
In college, I figured it out: who needs a needle and thread when you have a stapler?
Sewing is only second in my life to reading. There is nothing as marvellous as holding a bolt of material and imagining it coming to life as a dress, a doll or a decorative object.
There is no greater pleasure than being able to sew a gift for a relative or friend.
I still sew on a very old original Singer sewing machine that only sews forward and backwards but the garments are still beautifully made with love.
I can still see my Aunty sewing on her old Singer treadle sewing machine making those gorgeous bed dolls we used to love.
Sewing is a lifeskill that I treasure and thank those who helped me to learn.
I loved Anya’s work, it was amazing. My mom was always sewing so I started sewing young. I would use scraps of material and make my own barbie and doll clothes. As I got older I started making clothes for myself. I didn’t use patterns and never mastered pants. LOL. I haven’t sewn anything in a long time. You have reminded me I need to get a sewing machine and start sewing again. 🙂
My grandmother was a woman of the cloth and I mean that in the most literal but not religious way. She braided rugs from rags, crocheted for hours, knit me cold defying double knit mittens every winter, and made my dad’s long underwear while knitting on eight, yes eight, needles while she watched the telly and never missed a stitch. I was a stitch challenged teen with a taste for heavy metal music and eyes permanently circled with krohl. However when her farm lady friends gathered at dusk around the quilt frame stretched the lenght of the diningroom smelling of moist soil and boiled potatos, I was enthralled. Their paisley cotton dresses and nylons rolled to their ankles could not disguise their amazing talents as artisans of the thread. They stitched the quilts and their lives together while giggling like school girls until it was to dark to see and they welcomed my heavily perfumed presence like I was one of them. I loved the comraderie as much the the quilting and became quite adept at it. My grandmother is who I want to be if I ever manage to grow up. She taught me that sewing pieces of patches of our lives together , need not be perfect., you just have to show up and make an effort to find acceptance in life and at the quilting frame. I continue to learn that lesson, one stitch at a time.
I cannot sew to save my life, let alone knit. But my mother can, when me and my brothers were little she used to sew our carnival costumes every year (Carnival is the Greek halloween). Around mid-January every year we were designing our costumes, we searched on encyclopaedias and magazines for the perfect design. One year my brother wanted to be Robin Hood and my mom thought to buy the costume instead of making. She came back from the store furius. “The Robin hood costume had green and BRIGHT YELLOW, Robin could NOT wear YELLOW in the FOREST!!!. She bout Green and brown fabric and made my brother an AMAZING Robin Hood costume. Another year we searched every French book in the house (mom went to French school) for a musketeer costume. Last year (I was 36) I wanted to be a Jedi Knight for the carnival. My mom made me the cape and the robe and I was the most awesome Jedi you have ever seen. All the kids recognised me (I was young Obi Wan Kenobi) and all adults thought I was Luke Skywalker. This year she is Knitting me a HUGE coloured Dr Who scarf. Guess what am I going to be this carnival
You know sometimes you hit on a subject that makes it hard to make a decision on what to write. I think that I will tell this one since it is November and the anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy is upon on us. My grandmother stayed with us often as I was growing up. I can remember coming home from school and finding her there in our living room in front of the fireplace with the quilting frame holding another one of her beautiful quilts. I was in the first grade when President Kennedy was shot. I came home from school and my grandmother set at her quilting with her eyes glued to the television. I played under the quilt while she watched the news and shed tears all the while putting the tiny stitches on the quilt. A very sad time in our history.
The only sewing story I have to share comes from when I was in 7th grade in Lexington, Kentucky. I took “Home-Ec” and one of our projects was sewing a “navy blue A-line skirt”. (I am sure anyone that is around MY age will know what I mean by that!) It took us 5 days a week for 9 weeks to make that skirt! I was so irritated and bored with it by that time, that I never wanted to make anything again! ha ha ha!
I am not great at sewing clothes because I get impatient when they don’t turn out as well as my mom’s. however give me some quilting fabric and I am in heaven. Snuggly baby quilts that warm the soul as you are making them, asian quilts that almost sew themselves, the civil war reproductions that remind me that quilts went to soldiers throughout time and comforted them and their families. A tea cosy that keeps that cup of tea warm….Ah yes these are my comfort things. They all go along with a book – snuggled over my knees on the couch. the pot of tea on the table in front of me.
My grandmother was awesome with a needle; sewing, darning, knitting, crocheting, quilting, whatever, she could do it all! Although Gramar tried to pass her talents on to me, my only creations were the grand Halloween costumes I made for my children.
One of my son’s favorites was Snoopy when he was three, he barely took it off for months.! Thankfully Snoop walks around on two feet or the knees may have worn out. An Ewok I made for my daughter got even better millage; it became a dancing bear the following year and I only had to create a jester collar for the transition! We then used the hood/mask for years to greet Trick-or-Treaters. Good times & good memories!