I grew up learning to sew on my mother's machine. When I was preparing to get married in 1980, she bought a used sewing machine that had been in a school's Home Ec class and sewed my wedding dress on it. Then she gifted the machine to me. I used it for many years sewing curtains and such. A few years ago, I cleaned it up and donated it to my daughter's library for crafting workshops.
I bet it had all steel components, too. Those old sewing machines could withstand nuclear war. I'm glad her machine was put to good use, Cindy. Your mom made your wedding dress! How amazing. Your mom's legacy lives on.
I gave up my sewing machine years ago. I used to do small repairs and make matching outfits for my children for the 4th of July or St. Patrick’s day. Shorts for my son and a simple dress for my daughter were a delight to complete. Then they grew up and became busier with sports and piano lessons, so the machine sat unused in my basement until it became so outdated, with parts unavailable, that it found its way to the landfill. I get what you are saying, but fortunately I am tall enough to never have to hem anything!
I had sewing lessons and a machine when I was in junior high. I used it again in my 40s and it spent most its time in a shop and never worked like I remembered it when young. A friend gave me one of his dead wife's machines and it sporadically worked and didn't have the heart to take it in and have the same heavy expense for fixing another machine always needing fixing. I did sew one thing with it but realized I'm not an artisan, but someone who can do many things like a beginner. I can hand sew hems but it does take a bit of time and effort! People that have the creative and technical entwined need be celebrated!
LOL, I, too, can do many things as a beginner, too. One thing I found out when I finally got rid of the sewing machine I had for 20 years is that you need to take the machine in for maintenance servicing. I did not know this. I just thought it was supposed to work forever...
Thrilled to read this post! Keep looking for fashion sewers like me for whom sewing a chic outfit is a life skill. It never looks “homemade “, but “custom” made, and elicits compliments from total strangers. And yeah, fabric is not cheap.
I'd love to have your skill! I'm starting over, but was never that good to begin with. I heard a couple of tricks is to wash the fabric beforehand, and to iron the seams during the sewing process. Do you have any pointers?
Both are excellent tips; I’ll add to the one about pressing — its always helpful to set up a sewing surface and an iron close to your sewing machine, to avoid running to another room to press a little seam :). It can be a temporary set up which you again lay out when you’re sewing again.
A second pointer: have you tried French seams? They completely enclose the raw edges of a seam inside the garment. I’ll shamelessly include a link to my 13 year old sewing blog article where I explain French seams.
I’d love to share whatever knowledge I have with other enthusiasts — I just hope sewing (especially clothing construction) does not die out. I jointed Substack mainly to follow other people, and haven’t written anything on it yet. Maybe it’s time……
Ilona Goanos: As your Mom would say, „Jein“ („Ja und Nein! — „Yes and No!“)
YES: Traditional skills are beautiful, and professional people sew. For example, from WWII in Belgian Charleroi, under the oppressive occupation of the Third Reich, my Mom, a full time RN took pride in sewing during her scores of years in professional life.
Many soldiers sew repairs to their uniforms.
So, sewing is a really worthy project.
Now to the worthy clothier.
The customer experiences price shock.
But nothing comes cheap to the clothier, either.
Honestly, $50.00 may be just a fair wage to her.
One might be inclined to lend the clothier business from time to time, for, from your description, she seems to be an honest, good person and highly skilled in her craft.
Yes, I agree Jane needs to be paid for her time and her overhead. I guess I was just surprised when the bill came to more than the dress. Thank you for seeing the value in sewing, Armando.
This brought back some memories of my early sewing days as well. I like your take on getting back to appreciating and valuing what our hands can create. Sewing is a great skill to hand down for practical and creative purposes.
I love to crochet! I used to sew but sadly it got too expensive & gave my machine to my granddaughter (pajama pants y'know). I crochet prayer/comfort shawls to send to a small farm woman who has a worldwide network of places to send them and she gives them to anyone who needs them in her area or around the US. I also, as a retiree, work P/T for a friend who has an etsy store selling handcrafted chatelains, purses, strawberry shaped pin cushions, etc. She sewed thousands of masks during covid! I'm her 'trained monkey' doing packaging, restocking & some pre-assembly. I love it--it's one long coffee-klatch! If you want to check her out, her etsy store name is Razzberries Studio. Yes, Handarbeit is something to honor and do if you can.
Well that sounds fun! I went on Etsy and put in Razzberries Studio and only raspberry fruit colanders came up. I tried! Anyway, I love hearing about your crochet work. That is a skill I would love to learn, but the teacher must sit next to me to talk me off the ledge when things go wrong. Keep up your good work, Barbara!
This is a beautiful post. I’ve never heard about “visible mending” so thank you for that. And the concept of sewing as creativity really has me thinking. You inspire me regularly, Ilona. Thank you for your writing.
I love the idea of visible mending because it feels counter-cultural. I love how creative your newsletter is, and I can't wait to see what art you will pursue next.
My experience of sewing was earning a Girl Scout badge for a pair of pants I wouldn’t have been caught dead in. My Mom could sew and we had the old knee operated cabinet machine in the corner of the dining room. I think I might have had a wee bit of shame about the halters, skirts, and sundresses she whipped out for me from there. (Ok the skirts were truly hideous)
I often wished throughout my legal career that I had something to show for a day of work. I worked as an ERISA attorney and a lot of it was notices no one would read, or similar. I often wished I could “just make a shirt today” - something tangible…
Anyway, despite all that, one of the biggest laughs I ever had was my husband showing up with a pristine sewing machine for me that he found at the Swap at our local dump. Maybe I had said that thing about shirt making to him, or maybe he had hopes about saving on window treatments… I sent it back to the Swap.
I grew up learning to sew on my mother's machine. When I was preparing to get married in 1980, she bought a used sewing machine that had been in a school's Home Ec class and sewed my wedding dress on it. Then she gifted the machine to me. I used it for many years sewing curtains and such. A few years ago, I cleaned it up and donated it to my daughter's library for crafting workshops.
I bet it had all steel components, too. Those old sewing machines could withstand nuclear war. I'm glad her machine was put to good use, Cindy. Your mom made your wedding dress! How amazing. Your mom's legacy lives on.
I love this! My godmother made my wedding dress as her gift to me! She was quite an accomplished seamstress!
Loved this the first time and now again!
I gave up my sewing machine years ago. I used to do small repairs and make matching outfits for my children for the 4th of July or St. Patrick’s day. Shorts for my son and a simple dress for my daughter were a delight to complete. Then they grew up and became busier with sports and piano lessons, so the machine sat unused in my basement until it became so outdated, with parts unavailable, that it found its way to the landfill. I get what you are saying, but fortunately I am tall enough to never have to hem anything!
I have a LOT to say.....so much I could say.....being a sewing and mending teacher and all that
Ok would love to hear! Sent you a DM
I had sewing lessons and a machine when I was in junior high. I used it again in my 40s and it spent most its time in a shop and never worked like I remembered it when young. A friend gave me one of his dead wife's machines and it sporadically worked and didn't have the heart to take it in and have the same heavy expense for fixing another machine always needing fixing. I did sew one thing with it but realized I'm not an artisan, but someone who can do many things like a beginner. I can hand sew hems but it does take a bit of time and effort! People that have the creative and technical entwined need be celebrated!
LOL, I, too, can do many things as a beginner, too. One thing I found out when I finally got rid of the sewing machine I had for 20 years is that you need to take the machine in for maintenance servicing. I did not know this. I just thought it was supposed to work forever...
I read that you said that but my machine was always in the shop to get fixed... and I'd get it out and it was never fixed.
I think everything is supposed to work forever.
We have to work forever!!!!!
Thrilled to read this post! Keep looking for fashion sewers like me for whom sewing a chic outfit is a life skill. It never looks “homemade “, but “custom” made, and elicits compliments from total strangers. And yeah, fabric is not cheap.
I'd love to have your skill! I'm starting over, but was never that good to begin with. I heard a couple of tricks is to wash the fabric beforehand, and to iron the seams during the sewing process. Do you have any pointers?
Both are excellent tips; I’ll add to the one about pressing — its always helpful to set up a sewing surface and an iron close to your sewing machine, to avoid running to another room to press a little seam :). It can be a temporary set up which you again lay out when you’re sewing again.
A second pointer: have you tried French seams? They completely enclose the raw edges of a seam inside the garment. I’ll shamelessly include a link to my 13 year old sewing blog article where I explain French seams.
https://seweverythingblog.com/2013/04/09/sew-a-french-seam/
I’d love to share whatever knowledge I have with other enthusiasts — I just hope sewing (especially clothing construction) does not die out. I jointed Substack mainly to follow other people, and haven’t written anything on it yet. Maybe it’s time……
Yes, you will meet a bunch of others who have the same interests and share other creative work. Thanks for the french seam tutorial, Samina!
Ilona Goanos: As your Mom would say, „Jein“ („Ja und Nein! — „Yes and No!“)
YES: Traditional skills are beautiful, and professional people sew. For example, from WWII in Belgian Charleroi, under the oppressive occupation of the Third Reich, my Mom, a full time RN took pride in sewing during her scores of years in professional life.
Many soldiers sew repairs to their uniforms.
So, sewing is a really worthy project.
Now to the worthy clothier.
The customer experiences price shock.
But nothing comes cheap to the clothier, either.
Honestly, $50.00 may be just a fair wage to her.
One might be inclined to lend the clothier business from time to time, for, from your description, she seems to be an honest, good person and highly skilled in her craft.
Yes, I agree Jane needs to be paid for her time and her overhead. I guess I was just surprised when the bill came to more than the dress. Thank you for seeing the value in sewing, Armando.
This brought back some memories of my early sewing days as well. I like your take on getting back to appreciating and valuing what our hands can create. Sewing is a great skill to hand down for practical and creative purposes.
I view sewing as art now, and I never did before. Our hands and hearts are connected :)
I love to crochet! I used to sew but sadly it got too expensive & gave my machine to my granddaughter (pajama pants y'know). I crochet prayer/comfort shawls to send to a small farm woman who has a worldwide network of places to send them and she gives them to anyone who needs them in her area or around the US. I also, as a retiree, work P/T for a friend who has an etsy store selling handcrafted chatelains, purses, strawberry shaped pin cushions, etc. She sewed thousands of masks during covid! I'm her 'trained monkey' doing packaging, restocking & some pre-assembly. I love it--it's one long coffee-klatch! If you want to check her out, her etsy store name is Razzberries Studio. Yes, Handarbeit is something to honor and do if you can.
Well that sounds fun! I went on Etsy and put in Razzberries Studio and only raspberry fruit colanders came up. I tried! Anyway, I love hearing about your crochet work. That is a skill I would love to learn, but the teacher must sit next to me to talk me off the ledge when things go wrong. Keep up your good work, Barbara!
She is on a short vacation break (almost never does that!) but here's the link https://www.etsy.com/shop/RazzberriesStudio?ref=nla_listing_details
Cool stuff! Thanks. 😊
This is a beautiful post. I’ve never heard about “visible mending” so thank you for that. And the concept of sewing as creativity really has me thinking. You inspire me regularly, Ilona. Thank you for your writing.
I love the idea of visible mending because it feels counter-cultural. I love how creative your newsletter is, and I can't wait to see what art you will pursue next.
My experience of sewing was earning a Girl Scout badge for a pair of pants I wouldn’t have been caught dead in. My Mom could sew and we had the old knee operated cabinet machine in the corner of the dining room. I think I might have had a wee bit of shame about the halters, skirts, and sundresses she whipped out for me from there. (Ok the skirts were truly hideous)
I often wished throughout my legal career that I had something to show for a day of work. I worked as an ERISA attorney and a lot of it was notices no one would read, or similar. I often wished I could “just make a shirt today” - something tangible…
Anyway, despite all that, one of the biggest laughs I ever had was my husband showing up with a pristine sewing machine for me that he found at the Swap at our local dump. Maybe I had said that thing about shirt making to him, or maybe he had hopes about saving on window treatments… I sent it back to the Swap.