Let me start at the beginning. My Grandma Stearns, who made every dress I ever wore until I was in the sixth grade, taught me how to sew a straight seam on her treadle Singer sewing machine when I was about eight years used. It was fun to pump that treadle up and down.
In the 1950's, every Seventh Grade boy was required to lift Shop Class with a semester each of wood and metal shop skills. Every Seventh Grade girl was required to take Home Economics with a semester each of sewing and cooking skills. These were required classes for the next three years. No boys were allowed to take Home Economics, and no girls were allowed to take Shop. Sure, it was stereotypic, but there was a lot of useful learning going on.
When I was in the Seventh Grade, I took Sewing with Mrs. Horton and Cooking with Mrs. Crawford. Mrs. Horton taught me how to use a pattern, chose material, operate a fast-moving electric sewing machine, and sew my own clothing. Mrs. Crawford taught me lawful measuring, how to location a table, menu planning and how to make a whole meal ready to eat on time. They both emphasized reading and following directions. After three years of classes with them, I was ready to manufacture anything.
Putting My Skills to Work: Getting Married
When I became engaged to be married to my husband of forty years, my grandmother was almost as excited as I was. After all, on my 25th birthday, she told me, "Sharon, you might as well go ahead and use all that stuff I made for your Hope Chest. It looks like you're never going to get married." I told her I hadn't given up just yet. And two years later, I was planning my wedding.
I started looking around for a wedding dress. Even forty years ago, they were expensive, and my future husband and I were planning to move to the West Coast immediately after the wedding. Money was going to be very tight. So, I decided I could possibly earn my own wedding dress, using my mother's sewing machine. I found a lovely dress pattern, a Vogue pattern, that looked fairly easy to make and ventured into new areas of sewing. Expensive materials, multiple layers, and French seams. It wasn't easy, but I did it. I had never sewn such a difficult dress before, but I simply followed the directions, and it turned out beautifully. I was so proud of myself; I sewed another Vogue pattern for my "going away" outfit—a lined coat and matching dress. My successes greatly bolstered my sewing confidence level as well as saving me lots of money. My mother gave me a sewing machine as a wedding present.
Putting My Skills to Work: Young Children
Three years later, I became a mother. I received lots of maternity clothes and lots of baby clothes from friends, so my sewing machine stayed tuck away in the closet until my son turned one year old. However, when your husband is trying to finish up his college degree while working full-time, and you are the mother of a one year old and pregnant with your second child, money is continually tight. Birthday presents and Christmas presents had to be homemade or non-existent. Out came the sewing machine. I learned how to make stuffed animals out of scrap materials. I sewed overalls for my son and, later, dresses for my daughter. She didn't care that she wore boy's clothes the whole first year of her life, but I loved making those special dresses. When our "extra blessing" daughter surprised us nine years later, she wore those dresses too.
Putting My Skills to Work: Home Ownership
Ten years married, two children, a college degree for my husband, a new teaching credential for me, two good jobs, we managed to purchase a house. Arresting from a two-bedroom apartment to a three-bedroom house required more furniture, more curtains, more everything. Our mortgage payment was much greater than our rent had been, and now we were responsible for taxes, insurance, and repairs as well. Money was, once again, tight.
Thrift store furniture, fabric remnants, and a sewing machine are the three best friends of money-challenged homeowners. Add some sandpaper and paint to the list, and you can furnish a home. My sewing machine got some good workouts. Curtains, shower curtains, pillows, slipcovers, tablecloths, napkins, window shades, etc. helped us furnish our house.
Putting My Skills to Work: Teenage Children
My oldest daughter learned basic sewing skills at our dining room table when she made a pioneer woman's dress and sunbonnet for her Fifth Grade Social Studies project. She acquired a basic skill and got a blue ribbon!
She became middle school age suitable in the middle of the substantial Esprit clothing fad period of the 80's. All her friends were covered in Esprit clothing. However, even with a factory outlet store close by, these popular clothes were map out of our school clothing budget. So, what did we do? First, we visited the outlet store. She tried on all kinds of outfits, decided which ones she liked the best. I took notes. Second, we went to the fabric store, found patterns that closely matched the styles she liked, found similar fabrics, and went home and sewed her new school year wardrobe. The only thing missing was that little "Esprit" tag on the clothing.
A friend of mine even worked out how to solve the peer pressure and "Esprit" notice problem. She went to the Thrift store, bought a couple used "Esprit" items, took two stunning discount tops she had purchased for her daughters, and sewed the "Esprit" tags on them. Her daughter's friends were jealous because they loved the tops, but hadn't seen them at the "Esprit" store. Ingenious idea!
There's not great sewing to be done for teenage boys other than boxer shorts and pajama pants, but daughters require more clothing, more specialty clothing, and more expensive clothing. I'm talking prom dresses! My sewing machine was put to good exercise for prom dresses for both our daughters, saving us hundreds of dollars and insuring their dresses were exactly what they wanted and no one else was going to show up in the same dress. Awesome!
Putting My Skills to Work: Grownup Children
Two wedding dresses, four attendant dresses, wedding pillows, table runners, banners, cowboy shirts, dress shirts, bathrobes, maternity clothes, nursery crib sheets, blankets, baby clothing, curtains, napkins, tablecloths, throw pillows, etc. It's a good thing I'm retired because the opportunities for putting my sewing skills to work seem to be expanding as my children inaugurate their hold families. My oldest daughter unexcited sews for herself but still welcomes my efforts. My youngest daughter's husband sews, and she is finally interested in learning too. I never opinion I would be discussing sewing with a son-in-law, but it's definitely not stereotypic! And, best of all, my exiguous granddaughter is going to be wearing some of those "special dresses" I made so long ago. That alone shows how sewing skills create life better!
