What is it about the first of the year that makes me want to tidy up something? I think it has to do with wanting a fresh start. I even love the term “tidying up.” It sounds clean, sensible, British.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m tidying up.”
“Jolly good, then. Carry on.”
Spark Joy
During the pandemic shut-down, I became serious about tidying up. I watched the Marie Kondo series on Netflix and bought her book. I was hooked. For a while (because there was nothing else to do) I was taking her method seriously. I folded my undies and T-shirts into origami shapes and placed them neatly into drawers and went through my house asking myself if an item “sparked joy” or not.
Avalanche
Life goes on and my fascination with tidying up waned until the other day when a search for a stapler caused an avalanche of fabric in my office/studio closet. As a sewist, writer, and a creator of things, I end up with bits and pieces of fabric, sewing notions, buttons, patterns, rough draft manuscripts, notebooks, assorted pens and markers, books, journals… this and thats. Though fortunate to have a dedicated room for my creative life, the space is compact. Lately my tidying up style has deteriorated to stashing stuff in the closet, so I can run the vacuum across the floor now and then. Hence the avalanche. It was time to make a change.
On the first holiday season after retiring from teaching, I got “crafting fever.” I wanted to sew somenting festive. I was browsing through Pinterest when I came across a video with directions for making a simple pillow case, complete with contrasting trim, by using the burrito method. Yes, the burrito method. NO, not this kind of burrito:
It was the perfect project to help me revive my sewing skills that had been dormant for most of my teaching years. Off to the fabric store I went with the exact measurements in hand eager to get started. I found the perfect holiday themed flannel on sale and bought several different prints. The first pillowcase, a candy-cane print with a snowflake border, stitched together in a flash. I ran to show my husband the finished product, eager to impress him with my talent.
Every year, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, people take time to kick off the holiday season by giving back to their community. Whether it is donating money to a charitable cause or volunteering, Giving Tuesday is a day set to benefit the community. For me, the opportunity to give back came a bit early this year.
On November 6, 2021, hundreds of people gathered at church in my community to sew dresses for the Dress A Girl Around the World organization. Founder Rachel Eggum Cinader describes the organization this way: “Dedicated volunteers throughout the United States and around the world gather to sew and distribute dresses to girls in need around the world because we believe every girl deserves at least one dress…” https://dressagirlaroundthe world.com
The Life and Times of my Vintage Sears-Kenmore Sewing Machine
This post is going to show my age, but it’s time to tell the story of an old friend.
It was 1975. I’d just graduated from college when my in-laws gifted me the latest in sewing machines. A Sears Kenmore, Model 1320, ZIG ZAG Machine. I was ecstatic! It’s been with me through all the stages of my adult life.
Young Teacher
I brought my new Kenmore into my first classroom in 1975 to make curtains for the classroom windows and the windows of the “housekeeping corner” my grandpa helped me to build. A few years later, when teachers were no longer required to wear skirts or dresses, I made 1970s style tunics and tops to go with my slacks. (dress codes prohibited jeans)
1977…I’m a second year teacher, ready to face the world! My hand-sewn clothing helped to stretch my tiny salary.
When schools shut down for weeks after the blizzard of 1976, I occupied my time by piecing together a quilt. Interestingly enough, we were not required to make up the days we’d missed. To my knowledge, no one was permanently damaged from missing a few weeks of school. (The quilt is still unfinished. I’m waiting for another blizzard. Now that I live in Arizona, that’s not likely to happen.)
The unfinished quilt
First Home
With more creativity than money, our first home brought lots of opportunities for sewing. I was glad my mom had taught me how to make curtains. Nothing fancy, just café-style, hem the sides and bottom edge, create a casing at the top for the rod to go through. I even attempted to make slipcovers and pillows for our hand-me-down furniture.
New Mom
During my stay-at-home-Mom years, I enjoyed making a few dresses for Kelli and curtains and a window shade for Matt’s room when he came along. My specialty was Halloween costumes. I discovered I could make almost anything using a “onesie” sleeper or a sweat suit. From lions, to raccoons, to a western vest for Pioneer Days, the Kenmore never let me down.
School Days
I returned to teaching when Kelli started kindergarten and Matt was two. Being a mom and teacher left little time for sewing. Though I’d made a little sewing area in the corner of our basement. It was dark and damp and the Kenmore sat idle for long periods of time. It made a spectacular appearance years later. When Kelli was in college, I sewed the dress she wore as she pledged to a sorority.
Retirement
When I retired, I became interested in sewing again. I now had space in our new home in Arizona to make a proper sewing “studio.” Far from its basement days, the Kenmore now sits on a stylish Ikea drop-leaf table, and when in use, moves to a small desk that overlooks our desert garden and the Catalina Mountains. I became obsessed with Christmas pillowcases that first year of retirement, then moved on to aprons, and ventured out into making clothing for myself.
I was obsessed with sewing Christmas pillowcases for awhile…
The Kenmore was happy to be back in regular use, but I could tell it was struggling to keep up. The bobbin winder quit working, and the machine became sluggish. One day, while working on a thick piece of fabric, I heard a clunk. My machine was in trouble. We had worked together for 45 years. I couldn’t give up on it now, yet it was old. In today’s world of computerized super-star machines, would they even have parts for my 1975 Kenmore?
Rehab
I phoned a local sewing and vacuum cleaner shop and found out they could repair it. During its six-week stay at the sewing machine spa, they cleaned and oiled the Kenmore, fixed the bobbin winder, and replaced the belts.
I’m happy to have my old machine back. Over the years, we’ve learned each other’s quirks, and know each other’s limits. Kenmore and I will never do more than the basic straight stitch, zig-zag, or the occasional button hole, but that’s enough. Besides, we’ve been through a lifetime together.
I’m thinking about giving the old, yellowed plastic cover a makeover. What do you think?
Threads of Thought
Should I…..
Make a fabric cover to fit over the plastic one.
Paint the plastic cover.
Clean the original cover and rusty hinges as best as I can and keep it as is.
One of the first things I did when I retired from teaching three years ago (after sleeping for about a month) was to convert a spare room in my home from a teacher’s office to a writing/sewing studio. https://seamslikeastory.com/creating-a-space-to-sew-and-write/ After thirty-seven years of teaching, I needed a different way to occupy my time and engage my mind. I rekindled passions I had put on the back burner and began to sew and write again.
I find the work to be satisfying and inherently different from teaching. After spending a morning working on a poem, story, or sewing project, I have something tangible to show for my efforts. In my teaching profession, though the goals were noble and the rewards great, it often took weeks, months, or even years to see progress.
If I make a mistake sewing a garment or am not happy with the way a story is going, I can rip out seams and rewrite paragraphs. Struggling students were much harder to figure out. Many times solutions weren’t obvious, and it took many tries to succeed. There were times I wasn’t able to unravel their tangled threads or smooth out their life stories.
The Mindfulness corner in my room was a place where students could go to collect their thoughts, reflect, calm themselves.
Reap what you sew
So why did I stick with teaching for all those years? Because sometimes, sometimes, a spark ignites, a plan works, a struggling student smiles and succeeds, I made a difference; I reaped what I’d sewn.
These moments, brief as they may be, are the rocket fuel that drives those of us who were, and are fortunate enough to be educators. That passion drives me still. I’m finding new ways to channel it.
Threads of Thought
Transitioning to retirement has been a three-year journey for me.
