Sewing Heritages, and a A Dress a Day
I love this blog. Feminism. Fabric. Color. Tools. A sense of perspective and a sense of humor. Beauty, everyday, in the most quotidian of ways. And a how to buy a sewing machine link.
I miss having a sewing machine.
The last one that I owned was a rebuilt model from my father's plant, put back together after a fire. It served many years, and after calling for repair just too many times, was retired. I was a major seamstress in high school: the girl sitting at home, making quilts on Saturday nights. Friends would come over and try to kidnap me, and usually I went, because when you are 16 years old and doing too much machine quilting, something is out of balance. I have good memories of going shopping for fabric with my aunt. She is a master embroiderer, not a quilter or seamstress. But she has a great eye for color, and would lead me to combinations and patterns I might not have found on my own. Then, as now, I tend to work in the colors I like best. Getting me out of my rut: a quilt that combined corals, greens, browns, and beiges. I never wear any of those shades.
Another aunt, who was a painter, taught me to make quilts without a pattern. You start by seaming squares and rectangles of fabric together. You then arbitrarily cut the fabric into two pieces and seam it together once more. The result is a crazy-quilt fabric that is beautiful.
We then used the fabric to make a very simple side-wrap skirt. Maybe Butterick, maybe Simplicity, with a bonded lining a bit too heavy for the fabric.
My aunt had made herself a floor-length skirt to wear with a button-down man's oxford shirt, but mine was above the knee. Ah, the 70s. This aunt taught me not to worry about what the inside looked like:
The other aunt, the embroiderer, taught me that the back of the piece should be as finely done as the front. Hence my finishing issues?
The main use for a sewing machine, these days, would be to hem my weaving. Not that I've been doing any weaving, but if I ever finish the napkins on my loom (I was taught to weave by the painter -aunt), I'll want to zig-zag the edges before hemming. And if I had a machine, I could make wild seams into the Cabled Bolero, cut it up, and make something that works. Perhaps delegating someone in the house to make a trip to Target this weekend?
But first, I'm reading the advice on A Dress A Day about buying a machine.
I miss having a sewing machine.
The last one that I owned was a rebuilt model from my father's plant, put back together after a fire. It served many years, and after calling for repair just too many times, was retired. I was a major seamstress in high school: the girl sitting at home, making quilts on Saturday nights. Friends would come over and try to kidnap me, and usually I went, because when you are 16 years old and doing too much machine quilting, something is out of balance. I have good memories of going shopping for fabric with my aunt. She is a master embroiderer, not a quilter or seamstress. But she has a great eye for color, and would lead me to combinations and patterns I might not have found on my own. Then, as now, I tend to work in the colors I like best. Getting me out of my rut: a quilt that combined corals, greens, browns, and beiges. I never wear any of those shades.Another aunt, who was a painter, taught me to make quilts without a pattern. You start by seaming squares and rectangles of fabric together. You then arbitrarily cut the fabric into two pieces and seam it together once more. The result is a crazy-quilt fabric that is beautiful.
We then used the fabric to make a very simple side-wrap skirt. Maybe Butterick, maybe Simplicity, with a bonded lining a bit too heavy for the fabric.
My aunt had made herself a floor-length skirt to wear with a button-down man's oxford shirt, but mine was above the knee. Ah, the 70s. This aunt taught me not to worry about what the inside looked like:
The other aunt, the embroiderer, taught me that the back of the piece should be as finely done as the front. Hence my finishing issues?The main use for a sewing machine, these days, would be to hem my weaving. Not that I've been doing any weaving, but if I ever finish the napkins on my loom (I was taught to weave by the painter -aunt), I'll want to zig-zag the edges before hemming. And if I had a machine, I could make wild seams into the Cabled Bolero, cut it up, and make something that works. Perhaps delegating someone in the house to make a trip to Target this weekend?
But first, I'm reading the advice on A Dress A Day about buying a machine.
Comments
In high school, I took three sewing classes back to back my senior year even though I could've graduated early. No quilts but the pursuit of the perfect lapel. Even 25+ years later I run into class mates who say, "Oh yeah, you made that awesome prom dress."
And always, the sewing should look as good inside as out and the knitting too.
what do you think of getting something inexpensive, say from Target or Sears?