To Sew me is to love me

I do not know much about sewing. Actually it is not my fault since my own mother never bothered even teaching me to sew on a button or hem a pair of pants. The truth be told, even after my Dad got her a sewing machine in the 1970’s, she never took much to becoming a seamstress herself much less teach anyone. Fortunately my wife can stick a seam together these days if I can ever corner her long enough to thread the machine

I will have to admit, for somebody who NEVER liked sewing my Mother gave it her best though. I remember her buying a then ‘oh so fashionable’, simple long skirt, as well as a wide tie pattern. She would make those same two articles of clothing over and over again in hopes of sparking a love of thread. My Dad had all kinds of weird ties with monkeys and other odd Disco patterns and colors but nary a shirt with all its buttons with which to wear them.

I was in the marching band at school and with our new uniforms it was required that we had to tailor our slacks. By then, even I understood that this was an untenable requirement for my family. I certainly did not know my thumb from a thimble, and my Mother had all but put the sewing machine on mothballs. Happily however, I was amazed the next morning to find my pants perfectly hemmed to the proper length. Turns out she had used iron-on hem tape and it had worked just fine. What my family lacks in traditional homemaking skills, we make up for with technology.

Now since those early days, we’ve blessed my Mother with a hand sewing machine, a button puncher, a glue gun - anything you can think of to try and help her stick cloth together. It is of no use, I am sure all of those sewing artifacts will be part of my considerable inheritance someday. Yes those fancy gizmos all remain boxed and unused year after year - or at least I am pretty sure they are not being used? Why else would my Dad still have so few buttons on his shirts – the 70’s Disco era has long since passed!