Posted by Racer on April 6, 2004, at 14:19:18
In reply to Re: Sewers- Noa, posted by coral on April 6, 2004, at 11:56:31
My aunt has been doing upolstery work since she retired a few years ago -- and she did the SMARTEST thing! She went down to the local adult ed center, and signed up for a class. It's taught at the local community college, and she just signs up for every class she can. That way, she has access to the heavy equipment, which isn't *necessary* but sure does help. You *can* do it without all the compressors, but it's like making pasta without the pasta machine. (Having done it both ways, rolling out the dough by hand is really not worth the effort, but fresh pasta is such a divine creation everyone should make it at least once.)
I sew out of self-defense, too. My waist is up around my armpits, my bust measurement fits two sizes larger than the rest of my body, and I'm just not built for anything sold in any store -- except the custom shops, which don't sell things I want. So, I sew. Of course, it's also because everyone in my family sews. Mother made most of my clothes as a kid, except my winter coats, which Grandma made. Silly me, I thought I must be a princess, in my purple wool coat -- I never knew it was because we were too poor to buy clothes!
And here's part of my pathology: do you know, I'm ashamed to admit that I've made something, even when I think it's turned out well? That's right: I am ashamed of my own accomplishments. How sick is that? When I should be responding to compliments on my clothes with, for example, "Oh, you like this top? Thank you! I made it from some silk noil that had been in my stash for years -- I always knew that it would be right for something someday, and it really did turn out nicely, didn't it?" Instead, I brush it off: "Oh, thank you..." Or, worse yet, "Well, thank you, but I can see the mistakes." And when people say things like, "WOW! You *made* that yourself?" I respond with something like, "Sewing isnt' that hard, it's just applied geometry -- and I"m really not very good at it." Or I point out that my mother taught me to sew before I had enough fine muscle control to thread a needle. She used to thread a needle for me and hand me some felt scraps to sew together. She'd sit at the machine and sew, and I'd sit on the floor next to her and sew those scraps together, wishing I were like her.
When my grandmother died, I was given her sewing supplies. The one thing that really made me feel special - one of the most special things of my entire life -- was finding one of those little felt projects in her case. It was a little sea shell shaped needle book, several layers of felt stitched together at one end, for holding needles. I'd made it for her, with Mother's help, when I was five or six. She still used it, and it still held many needles with little lengths of thread. That meant more to me than I can ever express.
poster:Racer
thread:331457
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040406/msgs/333362.html