I got my portable sewing machine out to sew some winter
drapes for our living room windows that face north. Since both my husband and I have picked up
the habit of not using top sheets from our grandsons, they are perfect for the
job…and I get much more material at a much cheaper price, whether they are
twin, double, or queen sized sheet sets!
When I began making curtains for our windows, my husband informed me he
did not like the outside looks of a house with different colored curtains at
the windows. To appease his “artistic”
eye, I started lining my curtains with—what else—white sheets. I’m a “recycler,” so I have also taken apart
the corners of “contour” bottom sheets and used them. As I got my sewing equipment ready, including
plaid flannel sheets and white cotton sheets, I got to reminiscing about when I
started sewing and the changes in both the machines I’ve used (along with those
I haven’t) and the skills I’ve learned along the way.
I remember sitting on our porch summers with my good friend
Neila, whose family was also our next-door neighbors, each of us working on a
new skirt. We were probably somewhere
between eight and ten years old and had watched our mothers sewing for
years. In those days, you could get a
yard of good cotton material for as little as twenty-nine cents a yard, and
patterns were often between ten and twenty-five cents. We would go shopping at either Montgomery
Wards or Troutman’s, or one of the five-and-dimes, and buy two-and-a-half or
three yards of twenty-four inch wide material fresh off the bolt. Since we usually made simple “gathered”
skirts, the width of the yard goods became the length of the skirt, which cut
down on the hemming.
It depended on which store we went to how they cut it from
the bolt. The clerk at Troutman’s would
feed the folded edge of the material into a machine and then pull it through till
the gauge on the machine said the length we wanted. Then she would press a little lever on the
side of the machine and the material would be cut at that spot. After slipping the material from the machine
she would either tear or cut it widthwise.
The clerks in some of the other stores would physically measure the material
by simply laying it across yard-sticks glued to the counters. We usually liked it done that way because the
clerks would put the material across the measure with a thumb holding the
material on either side. We always felt
we got “more for our money” because they did it this way. If we did, it was probably just one
thumb-width! Then they would nick the
material with their scissors and tear off our piece. Torn material tended to have a straighter
edge than the cut pieces. After buying a
spool of matching thread, we were armed and ready to sew.
When we got home, we would cut five-to-six inches off one
end—that became the belt. Using our own
mother’s machine at our own house, we would open the material and pin the two
ends of the length of material together and sew up all but about six inches of
the width. In those days, mothers were a
little more particular about who used their machines, which was fine. My mother had an electric Singer that was
housed in a cabinet. To use it, we would
of course open the cabinet and raise the head of the machine and rest it on the
holder. To run the machine, we would
press our knee against a lever that was chair level. Neila’s mother had a treadle machine that she
kept open all the time. It ran by
pressing her foot up and down on the treadle.
When the machine sewing was done, we would grab scissors,
thread, pins, our material and get together on the swing on my porch. We would chat while we hand gathered the
length of material with the needle and thread.
After we had it all gathered and pinned to our belt, we would again go
to our own mother’s machine and sew it up, including finishing off the
belt. Once again we would meet and sew
on hooks and eyes or snaps for the closing.
Sometimes we sewed a button from the “button box” on the outside over the
hook or snap head, just for looks.
Eventually we each learned how to hand-sew a buttonhole and finished the
belts with buttons and buttonholes.
The last year of Junior High, we ninth grade girls would
walk the half-mile to the Home Ec building at the High School. In both ninth and tenth grades Home Ec was a regularly
scheduled class. Half the year was
sewing and half the year was cooking. Its
floor plan was recorded in my Lessons
from the Sheepfold book. That is when
and where Neila learned to use an electric sewing machine. It is also where we learned to pre-wash and
square our material before laying out patterns and to iron seams as we went
along.
I learned how to use a treadle machine after I had been
married about a year. We moved to a farm
house that stored its old furniture in two of the bedrooms on the second
floor. Our landlady gave me permission
to use the treadle machine they had in storage.
It took a while, but I finally taught myself how to thread and set the bobbin,
adjust the tension, and sew more than two inches before breaking the thread. I think one of my proudest days was when I
finally was able to sew a complete seam with perfect stitch and tension.
When our second child came along, my husband bought me my
own machine. It is a Sears portable with
disks I could use to decorate the children’s garments and make machine button holes! I was in seventh heaven. Over the years I made diapers, shirts,
dresses, jeans, and even suits. In fact,
I made the suits our younger son wore to his piano recitals. And I’ve made an assortment of things for our
home.
Through time I absorbed many tips. I learned how to match plaids at seams and
arm-holes by using the little printed vees on the pattern, and how to adjust
patterns so they would fit much better. On
the early days of television, they used to have sewing lessons, our local agriculture
groups held sewing classes, and Lois, another friend who is an avid sewer,
taught me new techniques. I have taught all three of our children to sew, including the two boys, and I have even
taught sewing in 4-H.
I understand that now many of the high schools have
eliminated sewing and cooking classes from their regular schedule of classes,
although some of them still offer these as either clubs or electives.
Our children are grown now, and sewing is still
changing. There are new machines that
will surge, embroider, and/or quilt. But
my trusty old Sears is still my one-and-only favorite.
Sewing, itself, is getting to be a thing of the past. It is usually the older female population
that still clings to this craft. Sometimes
you do see some of the younger generations browsing the material
selections. But it is like my daughter
said: the price of patterns and material
has gotten so expensive, it is cheaper to just go to the store and buy
ready-made. I fully understand her
reasoning, but I hope I never lose interest in this craft. I just have to find time to use up all the
yard goods and scraps I have stored over the years!
Do you sew?
What are your favorite projects?
What project you have done are you the most proud of?