Seamstress

I finished sewing a blouse earlier tonight. Yes, I said sewing, as in, I took a few folds of cloth and transformed them into a wearable garment. (You can pick up your jaws now.) Also, when I say I made the shirt, what I really mean is, I did most of the work, but my mom bailed me out a time or two. Or three...

It was a good experience overall, I learned a lot. Picking out the pattern was fun, just like walking into a store or looking through a magazine can be fun. The shapes and colors and the sweetness of possibility hanging in the air all make looking for patterns enjoyable (pattern - n., the set of shapes to cut out and sewing directions for a particular design).

And then my mom and I had to find cloth with which to make it. That was several trips to the fabric store, back and forth, "what about this," "no, I don't like it," "this would look really good," "that just isn't me," and so on and so forth. My mom can imagine what finished projects will look like really well. So when I hold up a bolt of cloth, she sees a design I have picked out and how it might fit on me. When I see a bolt of cloth, I see... a bolt of cloth. Also it turns out, sometimes the material is pretty, but wouldn't look good as a piece of clothing. Other times, the material looks boring, but makes a fantastic blouse. Mom can see that, I can't.

So the time I finally picked up a bolt that I liked and she said "I like that," was a rare occasion indeed, if not a small miracle. That was the end of the bickering and the beginning of the learning.

Learning to sew is both easier and more difficult than one would imagine. Hems and seams are easy, in concept. Some folding, some pinning, then sew in a straight line. It's the straight lines that get ya though, because the whole process depends on you feeding the material under the needle in a straight line. The guide lines on the machine are only so much help on that occasion. Add to the mix bias tape seams, gathers, curves and elastic, and you have a slew of theoretically simple tasks. Don't even get me started about the sewing machine itself. For something that is meant to simplify the process, it is suprisingly complex.

Yet it is between the mind and the hands that a task abandons simple and enters frustrating territory. On more than one occasion I had to pull and re-sew seams or pin, pin and re-pin the pieces. My mom has been sewing since she was a teenager, so for her, most of this comes rather naturally. So I know I could keep practicing and overcome these difficulties.

But I learned some other things about sewing during this process as well.

First, when I consider all the materials and all the time that goes into making one blouse or dress, I realized that the cost of a homemade shirt is comparable to the cost of a store bought one.

Second, when I buy a shirt, I know exactly what it looks like on me. If it doesn't look good, I don't buy it. When I sew a shirt, I'm taking a risk, betting that it will not only fit, but flatter, and if it doesn't, that it's fixable. Well, if neither of those holds, I've already bought the shirt, and there's no way I can return it. (The shirt I just finished looks nice, but it makes me look, ahem, bigger than I am.)

Third, and most importantly, with the previous two things considered, I have concluded that I prefer shopping to sewing. However, had I not at least tried, I would have spent the rest of my life thinking, "If only I knew how to sew, I would save so much money and I could make such cute outfits."

And so, even though I have no intention of making sewing a major hobby any time soon (and by soon, I mean ever), I'm still glad I had the experience.

P.S. - Is this post too long? too short? just right? I like my posts to be complete, but complete can be shorter if at this length you get bored or don't even read because it looks like it will take too long.