This month as my “first” was clothes-related, I thought I’d open with one of my earliest clothes memories.
When I was at my kindergarten graduation, I remember squatting on the stage with my fellow graduates for group pictures. I can still recall looking out into the audience, smiling proudly and holding up my certificate. I can also recall the smiling, laughing sea of faces. When I got home, my family informed me what the cause of some of the laughter was. That day I was rocking a soft yellow knee-length jumper with a floral print and accessorizing with a headband. I was also rocking the un-ladylike pose of a squat on a raised stage and my underwear was showing for all the world to see. I would have long forgotten this little faux-pas except for the photos that memorialize it and which family members continue to erupt with laughter at.
I could tell another embarrassing kindergarten story of how I conceived that it would be a fun idea to wear no underwear at all to school one day—might not have been a problem except that I was wearing the aforementioned yellow jumper. I could tell that story but then it would seem I have some weird obsession with undergarments (given the pair I wore on my head last month) so I best let it lie there.
Well, this month my dedication to the Year 30 was severely tested. I have been swamped, stressed, overloaded, overwhelmed—did I mention busy?—with work, full-time graduate classes, and student teaching (and a knee injury that has temporarily halted my running). But I’ve remained committed to seeing this year’s adventures through, even if my hair turns completely gray by the end of the semester.
For three Friday nights this month (and two Saturday mornings) I left my hectic life and entered a haven of calm that is my friends’ Leah and Sarah’s house. You see, they had offered to teach me how to S.E.W. and as these are my initials (no joke), I imagined it would come fairly naturally.
Leah and Sarah (sisters) bravely took me on as their pupil. The first Friday night we went to a fabric store and selected a pattern and a fabric. Sarah mentioned that an easy pattern would have an elastic waist and no frills. But of course the pattern I liked most was for a flouncy skirt with a waistband, a zipper, and two pockets with cute bows. The girls and I agreed that we might as well go big or go home. I selected a light blue twill fabric that would be appropriate in any season. At this point, we were all still optimistic and bright, not letting the fact that the fabric store didn’t have twill tape on hand deter us. We were confident, ready. I thought I would have a skirt by the next morning, though Leah cautioned against chrono-optimism.
Reality set in, though, when we unfurled the directions, which were written in Greek. “Press 5/8” top seam on the front left side. Baste.” And there were like 29 steps written like this! It was actually more like 42 steps but the sewing experts know that 42 steps would discourage novices so they bundle several steps into one. I occasionally asked, after hours of intensive labor, what step we were on and invariably we were still on step 2 or 3.
Needless to say, it was a lot of work but I learned a lot of cool things. Like that basting is not just something you do in the kitchen. I really liked pinning the pattern to the cloth; it would take awhile and we had to take the pins right out again, but it was still fun. I also enjoyed working the sewing machine; I think it would be fun to work the pedal and make stitches even if you were just sewing your thumbs together.
I marveled at Leah and Sarah’s patience as they watched me slowly pin, iron, stitch—for hours—and on five different occasions. Sarah told me to include in this blog that I asked them if I had correct “sewing form” – which I thought a valid question at the time. I think that at the moment I asked that question, one arm was sticking through the interior part of the machine and the other arm around the outer part so that I was hunched over the sewing machine kind of bear-hugging it. I think I needed some guidance as to form at that moment.
The first weekend we worked on cutting the pieces and making these elaborate pockets with bows. Every time I made a mistake, and the girls said we needed to rip the seam and do it again, my response was that no one would notice that little mistake. Thankfully, they did make me re-do those mistakes because all told, the mistakes would have finally become noticeable.
Probably my biggest mistake that first weekend (we usually had one big one every weekend) was cutting the fabric for a much longer skirt than I had wanted—but that was easily rectified.
The second weekend the skirt really came together and the whole process started to make more sense to me. Mom Gillian stepped in to help us with installing a zipper, which was actually kind of harrowing. The largest mistake that weekend was that I put the zipper on the wrong side of the skirt. Did not know: women’s zippers are supposed to be on the left side of the body. Mine is going to be on the right side. Please don’t judge.
I dashed over the third Friday night of September around 8:45 to see the project through to completion. We had like four steps left (in sewers’ terms, like 12 steps). We worked awhile, somewhat delirious with tiredness, yet trying to make the September deadline. It came time to try the zipper and pull the waistband together—and it came together, sort of. It was actually funny—the two sides of my skirt didn’t match up at all. One side was higher than the other and the zipper was askew.
Leah broke the news that this was, in fact, a major setback that would take hours to rectify…and it was already close to 11 p.m. So I bailed—yes, it’s true. Leah and Sarah offered me a lifeline and I took it; they are planning to rip the top of the skirt apart and put it back together correctly for me.
So let me conclude with a few reflections on sewing:
1. Sewing takes a lot of time and work. Did I find myself saying “I could buy a skirt at ROSS for $25 or less and be out of the store in 20 minutes, as opposed to 25 hours of sewing?” I confess the thought crossed my mind. But ROSS couldn’t give me the learning experience, which was what it was all about, after all.
2. I am not writing off sewing. I’m fascinated by the handwork, the precision required, the different side of my brain I got to exercise. When I had to measure cloth with a ruler, I was a bit flummoxed as I haven’t really measured since elementary school.
3. Sewing is best done with friends who make it more of a social event. It would be really scary to see what I would have done with a sewing machine and blue twill fabric if I had been on my own. I once tried crocheting and I just crocheted a dome shape that most resembled an alien’s hatwear. That was the last time I used crocheting needles. Hopefully the same will not be true of sewing.
Thanks, Sarah and Leah!! Can’t wait to try on the new skirt!
ADDENDUM
Several days have passed since I drafted the above. Yesterday I arrived home around 10 p.m. after a long, rough day to be greeted by a large package. Inside was my completed (corrected) skirt!!! Thanks so much, girls J
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