"Sew" Many Thoughts

I can sew. Don't misunderstand me. When I say that, I mean that I own a sewing machine and I have read the owner's manual for how to use it. I have, also, at various times in my life, purchased patterns, read the instructions, followed the directions, and have been a little bit surprised when the project turns out to be a wearable item. I do not mean that I sew like my friend, who can create things without patterns, who has taught her daughters to sew so that they win 4H fair ribbons, and who is now currently making her oldest daughter's wedding dress. I am not just talking a pretty white dress out of lacy material. I am talking a gown that rivals those in bridal stores with hand bead work all over the front, sleeves, and down the back of the train. She doesn't just know how to work a sewing machine--this amazing woman SEWS.



To make a long story short, I am working on costumes for the upcoming musical that my daughter is in. The musical is set in the 50s, so mostly what I am making is poodle skirts. On the easy-to-difficult scale, poodle skirts fall somewhere on the easy end. The most difficult thing about them is finding a place large enough to spread out the fabric and cut the pattern. You know, like a football field.



The other day as I had all of the furniture pushed against the wall in my living room and I was mass-producing poodle skirts, I thought back to women who lived in colonial America. These women made all of their families' clothes, and I am not just talking three seams for each garment, either. Look at pictures of dresses from 1775, sometime. It is pretty amazing. I would bet that most of those homes didn't have computerized sewing machines that have 85 different stitches programmed into them and practically run themselves, either. Those women didn't sew for recreation. They sewed out of necessity. And they still managed to take pride in their craft and made absolutely beautiful things. Plus, they managed to cook from scratch, bake their own bread, clean their houses, work in the garden, raise their children, and birth said children at home with no anesthesia.



So, sewing in my house is definitely a recreational activity--or as recreational as making 10 of anything can be. Just ask my husband, who can't get a button sewn on a pair of pants or get those pants hemmed by me to save his life!