needlework
This post dedicated to madcapmum and especially her daughter , with whom I share a healthy skepticism for the straight seam.
When I made my announcement, certain family members invariably asked me what I would make for the buka. I must have responded with a look of blank bewilderment, because the question was quickly supplemented with a statement like, “Oh, never mind. Today, they buy everything ready.”
Indeed, they do. But I liked the idea of making something for the buka, and of the buka having something made by me. My mom, who had given me a baby sewing machine for Christmas (just as a handy appliance to have around the house in case some trousers needed hemming), quickly came up with an idea. She wrote out the instructions for me on an appropriately labelled piece of paper.
On the back, she included a pattern. She sent a sample ribbon.
I was enthusiastic. The idea was simple. How hard could it be to sew tea towels together? But I never could get a straight seam with that stupid one-speed baby sewing machine… and then I really fouled it up by “adjusting” the thread tension until it wouldn’t stay threaded at all. Frustration is not my stong suit, even without the hormones.
I don’t know whether or not the sewing machine will ever get fixed. So, for more than one reason, I can’t sew. But I can embroider! Maria took me to a shop, to help me with the vocabulary. Turns out that’s all the help I needed. I started with a train for my brother’s baby. I made something else for Steph’s. Then I made the fairies and the flowers and the monkey and the bear. I made lots of bibs. Maybe I was nesting, and maybe I was nuts.
June is almost over. These are the last two bibs.
If I keep embroidering, I’ll embroider something else, something ambitious, something big. But for now it’s time to get serious -- about work mostly, but also about the buka, and things she actually needs.
When I made my announcement, certain family members invariably asked me what I would make for the buka. I must have responded with a look of blank bewilderment, because the question was quickly supplemented with a statement like, “Oh, never mind. Today, they buy everything ready.”
Indeed, they do. But I liked the idea of making something for the buka, and of the buka having something made by me. My mom, who had given me a baby sewing machine for Christmas (just as a handy appliance to have around the house in case some trousers needed hemming), quickly came up with an idea. She wrote out the instructions for me on an appropriately labelled piece of paper.
On the back, she included a pattern. She sent a sample ribbon.
I was enthusiastic. The idea was simple. How hard could it be to sew tea towels together? But I never could get a straight seam with that stupid one-speed baby sewing machine… and then I really fouled it up by “adjusting” the thread tension until it wouldn’t stay threaded at all. Frustration is not my stong suit, even without the hormones.
I don’t know whether or not the sewing machine will ever get fixed. So, for more than one reason, I can’t sew. But I can embroider! Maria took me to a shop, to help me with the vocabulary. Turns out that’s all the help I needed. I started with a train for my brother’s baby. I made something else for Steph’s. Then I made the fairies and the flowers and the monkey and the bear. I made lots of bibs. Maybe I was nesting, and maybe I was nuts.
June is almost over. These are the last two bibs.
If I keep embroidering, I’ll embroider something else, something ambitious, something big. But for now it’s time to get serious -- about work mostly, but also about the buka, and things she actually needs.
posted by soap at
10:30 AM
5 Comments:
Embroidery is something I never mastered, AT ALL. I'm pretty impressed. Bibs are very useful things, so it's time well-spent.
About your machine - I bought a cheap serger and it gives me nothing but grief. I had visions of sewing myself simple clothing, but mostly I just want to take an axe to the damned thing. My friend, who's a professional seamstress, couldn't get it to work either. So your problems might be with poorly designed equipment rather than innate inability to pursue the straight and narrow.
Would you mind e-mailing me through my profile?
I do blame the machinery -- and it deserves it. (It's just one of those mini $30 jobs you can order from telemarketing.) But I should also admit that the pics are small for a reason -- most if not all of those bibs have a mistake somewhere. I fixed what I could, but otherwise, I decided to be philosophical about it, like those Persian carpet weavers who always include a "mistake" so as not to offend Allah.
awww sissoula the buka is blessed to be yours :)
I didn't know that about carpet weavers! The native Indian women did the same thing with moccassin beading, and I'm pretty sure the Amish with their quilting. Interesting how that crops up all over the globe.
I think Artemis has the nicest of all! (well, the monkey is funny too)
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