Back to Sewing

I used to have a sewing project going all the time. First, I made clothes for myself, then when the kids came along, I made almost all their clothes. I should modify that and say that I made clothes for the girls. My one and only son just couldn't imagine why I couldn't make clothes for him too and he would get pretty upset. I finally pacified him by making him a shirt, and he loved it! He used to go around bragging that his mother made it. The thing is, I really did enjoy sewing and especially loved saving the money it would have cost to outfit the girls properly from buying everything from stores. After the kids grew up and left the nest, I still sewed a bit, altering, mending and occaisionally making something for myself. I made three mumus which I still wear although they are getting pretty thin. I even made one for Sue with longer sleeves. They are particularly nice to wear around the house here in the California desert.

I didn't sew for about the last five years and when I finally got started, my machine just wouldn't work right. The tension seemed to be off. I took the machine to a local repair man and after $100.00 worth of work, it worked just fine and I started sewing again. Not long after, it started the tension problem again, but I didn't take it back because it had been over a year and the service was only gauranteed for that long. I just gave up on it basically.

I did have an antique treddle Singer machine that was pretty much used as a show piece with a flower arrangement on the top. When my daughter, Jayne, came to visit once she brought her then boy friend who was really taken by my Singer Sewing Machine. He was quite an expert on antiques and a great collector of same. His whole house had beautiful ones. One of his rooms he had as a storage room of many many pieces and several Singer Sewing Machines. He told me I ought to get it running and he couldn't get over what great shape it was in. Actually, all it needed was a new belt as the one that was on it was all dried up. After he went home, he sent me a new belt and it was ready to put on except for some stapling that Dick did for me and yes, it really does work. Unfortunately, the operator is a little rusty and I got frustrated just trying to get the rythmn and just gave up on that too.

I mentioned one day to my great friend, Verna, that I was having trouble with my machine and I told her the whole story and so one day she came over to look at it. She spent about twenty minutes in my bedroom looking at my tension problem and came out to tell my that it was fixed. I couldn't believe it, so had to go check it right away. It was working perfectly. Can you imagine how thrilled I was. I almost kissed her, but I did give her a big hug. Do you know what was wrong with it? I was threading it wrong. It had been so long since the last time I used it that when I changed the color of the thread, I threaded it wrong. Well...........now I am back sewing, maybe not up a storm, but I did seam in three shirts that Sue gave me that I wear constantly now because they are so comfortable. Hallelujah! I am back to sewing!!!