I’ve been sewing in one way or another since I was a toddler. My first experience was a set of sewing cards with laces that endlessly fascinated me!
I graduated to a toy sewing machine at about age 6 (which I still own) from JC Penny. It came in a red box with hinges and a clasp, and when the box was opened, a little flap lifted out and held the machine up so it was on a ‘bed’ just like my Mama’s machine! I made doll clothes and baby blankets with it, cranking the little handle to make a (not very perfect) chain stitch.
As I grew older, I was graced with a fabulous home ec teacher (no consumer training there, just plain old fashioned cooking, sewing, and housekeeping). She cultivated my interest in fine tailoring, and to this day I still fashion many of my own garments.
Over the years, I met and married a wonderful man who grew up in a household with a sewing mother and three sewing sisters. He still loves those hand-tailored shirts best, and tolerates my sewing obsession with a wry smile!
Our son and daughter have worn many things made with love by their mom, including Halloween costumes, t-shirts, little pants and bibber overalls, sleepers with feet, and prom dresses for daughter as she grew older.
I have sewn pretty much anything that will go under the presser foot of a machine, including all the seams in a tent for a friend who didn’t want his wife to know he’d left it out in the rain!
While teaching adult consumer classes, I met my good friend Joyce, who kept telling me she’d make a quilter out of me. I couldn’t see spending my time cutting up all those beautiful fabrics and sewing them together again when I could be making beautiful clothes for my family and myself. However, children grow up, and our fashion tastes become more classical, and I found a growing interest in the creativity and artistry of making quilts.
Embroidery sort of came about naturally, as I had an interest in and knowledge of computers gleaned from hubby’s engineering inclinations and the influence of computers in several workplaces. When computer and machine met and married, I tagged along for the ride, and never looked back. Creating unique embroideries piqued my interest, and I soon moved into the world of freelance embroidery and sewing instructional consulting.
Although our mothers and grandmothers sewed for practical reasons, often to save money for large families, or to help make ends meet when times were tight, today we sew mostly because of the satisfaction and joy we find in the originality of our creations. Sewing becomes an oasis of peace and quiet, away from the stress and turmoil of work and daily life. If we wear a garment we’ve sewn or embellished, or use a quilt or pillow created just for our home, we feel a warm and glowing sense of accomplishment that gives us strength and happiness in our daily life.
So, whoever you are and wherever you reside, I hope sewing brings you happiness. So many people have joined or come back to the world of sewing in one form or another that our circle of sewing friends has grown phenomenally in recent years. Even during current relatively hard times economically, many have given up travel and eating out, but are still piecing their quilts and fashioning those one-of-a-kind garments.
The rewards are great, and today's toys and tools are so sophisticated yet easy to use, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can translate any old project into your own!