Sewing Comes in Handy Lots of Times, Like Now
Sewing used to be part of every high school curriculum included in what was known as Home Economics. Over the years, not only was sewing eliminated, home economics was eliminated and replaced with a generic class that could be taken by any students regardless of gender.
My sewing experience began when I was about 10 years old and visiting my grandparents on their farm in RoEllen, Tennessee. Over in the corner of one of their bedrooms was a Singer treadle sewing machine in a brown oak cabinet.
Isaac Merritt Singer patented his sewing machine August 12, 1851. The first machines were very expensive for the time at approximately $100. Singer offered buyers an installment plan of five dollars a week. At the time, mostly men were operating the sewing machines. Singer introduced the new machine at fairs and events across the United States, while emphasizing using it was easy, even for women.
Elias Howe actually invented the sewing machine, but Singer made his sewing machine the first one that was practical, efficient and priced for the general population.
My grandmother was trying to entertain me on my visit when she first introduced me to her Singer treadle sewing machine. It required hand, eye and foot coordination to operate as you had to turn the wheel to start the needle with your hand, push up and down on the treadle with your foot while watching the needle going in and out of the fabric. It was certainly a learning experience.
She started out teaching me to sew straight and she gave me a piece of lined notebook paper and told me to try and make the needle go into the lines. It worked. Next, she let me cut out some fabric and sew the two pieces together with the machine threaded. Little did I know that some 60 plus years later I would still be sewing almost on a daily basis.
Most people have hobbies that take them into another dimension of their life than their regular jobs or day to day activities. Sewing has always been not only therapeutic for me, but also profitable. Today, I sew on a twenty-five year old Bernina that I purchased new at the International Quilt Festival in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
All quilting and sewing festivals and seminars have representatives of the major sewing machine companies where you can get hands-on experience before buying. Bernina is a top brand, made in Switzerland, prices start for a basic machine at $1,000 and top out with all the bells and whistles at $15,000. Sewists such as myself are particular about their sewing machines.
Over the years I have gone to many seminars and schools to hone my skills, pants fitting, learning to tailor, alter, hemming, deconstruction where you learn how a Chanel jacket is constructed, pattern making, on and on. Funny, you can always tell someone who is a devoted seamstress, because they are usually not dressed to the nines and very casual, but they know their fabric content, how to measure a yard of fabric just by stretching it from fingertips to their nose(really, it’s a yard)), and in conversation at the cutting tables. How many times have inexperienced customers ask me to help them at a fabric store?
Yes, I have made face masks before for a pediatrician who wanted some made from cartoon character fabric, but that was for fun. This time it was not for fun. First, I made one that resembled a loose fitting surgical mask, but have developed a tighter fitting one that is held in place with two ribbons that go over the ears and is tied in the back of the head. CDC has said that these masks are very limited in their prevention of catching any small virus particles, but can help remind the wearer not to touch their face and can prevent some particles from sneezes and coughs of others getting into the wearers nose and mouth.
Sewing is a wonderful hobby and knowing how saves a lot of money and leads to all different directions from home decor, clothing, to making face masks during a world-wide emergency.
