That may come as a great surprise to many but give me a machine and I will sew up a storm. The hand work can go to someone else.
I was trained as a child to embroider and piece quilts but never liked it. My stitches were like a drunken path. I did discover crochet and made rugs,scarves and afghans. There is where the joy lay, it moved faster and I did not have to thread a needle.
I have sewn many things in my lifetime including my finger with an old treadle sewing machine. When the girls were small I would lay them down on material and cut around them to make a pattern. It worked well. I have made Halloween costumes, play costumes and even sewed some hunting items that hubby would see in a magazine and ask me to make...just from the picture. I did it. I have sewn Pioneer Dresses for our yearly contest, I have made curtains and dog clothes. All with a machine.
Quilting was also something I was trained to do and the beauty of them was amazing but not when I did it. My goal was to enlarge the pattern and make fewer blocks, all by machine. I have hand quilted on a quilting frame and hand tacked many quilts. Not something I do to relax.
Now give me a pattern or not, it doesn't really matter and I will whip out a quilt top in a day...and it will be artistic and interesting and one of a kind. I made five home made quilts one year for my daughter's friends when they graduated high school. I also made all "new" seat covers for my daughter's car using old jeans. I make purses and yard quilts from old jeans with out one hand stitch.
Neither one of my girls sew. They have shown me pictures of curtains, balloon valances and drapes and asked me to make them...I did...all by machine.
Tonight I had to sew by hand, ugh, but it was a good thing. A patch has been hand sewn for the daughter that is training in the nursing field. I could not find a thimble, I could not see well to thread the needle, I believe I was bleeding when I finished but the patch in on. I must teach them to sew!
Sewing was a different thing for Mom and Grandma. They had such great pleasure piecing a quilt and such beautiful quilts they were. All their stitches were perfect, all the same length and in a perfectly straight line. Amazing. Mom sewed all my dresses from the flour sacks when I was small and I still remember how proud I was of them. Grandma's patching should be in a museum!
All three of us, my sisters and I, sewed our own clothes for school. In fact, I remember sewing some elephant leg pants with a sailor top, complete with tie the night they first walked on the moon.
Give me a glue gun, staple gun, duct tape and I can build anything but please, don't make me hand sew one single item.
I don't sew much any more. It is not a real joy of mine but it is a good talent to have.
I will paint, I will write, I will draw, I will sew by machine, I will crochet and create with saws, hammers, drills, and dremils but please, never make me sew.
...and all this came out because I sewed one patch by hand.
16 comments:
Tell ya what, you make me some car seats out of old jeans and I'll sew your patches on. Heck, I'll even hand sew the hems on your pants. I can still, on the wrong side of my 50th birthday, thread a need with a tiny eye with my naked (squinting) eye, but don't put me in front of a sewing machine - please, don't!
I admire anyone with your talent for sewing. My mother was like you. She loved sewing and was good at it, but I think she may have tried just a little too hard to get me interested. I loathe it now.
I can probably sew if I had a machine and someone taught me how but for now, my only other non-writing hobby is crochet. I love it.CD
PLEASE God...don't make Gail sew anything by hand ever again! Ok? Ok?
Gail...sweetums...I am not sure HE heard me, but I tried! :)
My mother was a seamstress , she could make anything by hand or by machine, she also did nitting, crochet, embrodery, heck there wasnt much she couldnt do, as for me I was into art I did scetches , drawings poetry and creative writing as a teen and built things. I wasnt that interested in sewing and stuff I have always loved the hand crafted quilts and what not and still do, I greatly appreciate those who can and have the talent ! Have a great day !
Well bless your heart! I am just the opposite and love to hand sew. I sew on a machine too but the handwork is my favorite. You just bring them right on over : )
I am with you, not much for hand sewing either, I have a apron that is is half done, waiting on me too, hugs
Yeah, I used to sew a lot and crochet. Even embroidered for a while. don't do much of that anymore but this summer I was teaching my g'girls to sew.
You are woman hear you roar! I can sew on a button. I can repair a rip. I've hemmed pants. Do these items look good afterward? Uh, no. I don't use a sewing machine. I remember my mother-in-law saying to me, "Can you believe that there are some women who don't know how to sew?" I laughed and told her that I was one of "those women"!
I am not much for hand sewing anything either, so I don't blame you. The nursing patch has to make you proud though!
I envy that you are so talented with a sewing machine. I purchased my first one about a month ago and I've only used it once. My husband wants me to hem his work pants and I told him I would do that this weekend and I'm NERVOUS about it. I wish there was a sewing class where I lived!
But strange thing is, I use a needle and thread to make jewelry. I love it. But don't get material anywhere around me. Go figure.
My mom didn't sew. I can mend, but I can't sew.
Whether I do it by hand or machine, I have to thread the needle. Does your machine thread it's needle?
It's great that you can do so much. I hope your daughters wise up and learn from you while they can.
Have a great weekend!
I designed my wedding dress and hand beaded every little tiny pearl bead in the middle of each of the flowers of the lace. I used to make Hubby and young Geek son matching suits for the holidays (what was I thinkin'???) Then my Mama taught me the ultimate way to darn...she'd hold Dad's holey sock and repeat...darn, darn, darn and toss the dang thing in the trash! Heeehehehe!!! To this day I've never darned anything!
God bless ya'll and have a marvelous day!!!
I'm a fairly new quilter and have got past any worry about my stitches being even. I just do the best I can and I have a needle threader gizmo that takes care of that part of the sewing. I think that having such perfect sewers around to compare your work to has made you hard on yourself. The quilt police are not going to show up. Just have fun! :)
I am sorry but I laughed. You have skills I would die for, I am just no good when it comes to sewing. I still try though. Hand sewing is my favorite but still I am challenged. I keep hoping I will get better by my eyesight is going too. It takes me so long to thread a needle. I am so amazed at all you can make.
I might have learned better when I was younger, but I would have rather been outside, riding a horse, shooting a gun, throwing rocks, or climbing trees. Now, It is two steps forward and three back.
It is a cute post.
I used to be quite a seamstress and learned it by hand first too, but didn't like that one bit. I liked sewing on the machine, but haven't done it in years. I've lost my patience for it and things can be store bought so cheap nowadays. Of course, I don't have to make car seat covers from old jeans.
You can still have obvious talent and creative skills without having the desire to hand sew. You are a testament to that. I enjoyed reading about all of your sewing, quilting, art and craft projects.
I, too am on the same page and detest hand sewing, which I just realized is really horrible, because all 3 of my kidlets are in scouts and are earning badges and patches left and right! gah!
I wish all patches and badges were iron on these days.
I really need to teach my boys to hand sew their own badges on.
Who knows.
They might even get a badge for that skill. hah!
~Lisa
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