Lesson I’ve Learned Sewing

I don’t like to sew.  I knit.  And I knit things that don’t require much sewing.  Because I don’t like to sew.  But, occasionally, I will get outside my box a little and sew something like Halloween costumes or stuff for the house.

14 (almost 15) years ago, just before Rosie Girl was born, we bought a glide rocker.  In those 14 years, the cushions have taken quite a beating – by children, cats, and adults.  I was hiding the rocker in my office, but it has been moved out into the living room because of the Olympics and will likely stay there, so I decided the cushions must be recovered.  I still had some fabric left over from when my mother-in-law re-covered my living room pillows, so I pulled that out and used it to recover the cushions.

The project was a surprising success.  It took less than four hours and my neck is only screaming at me moderately.  I didn’t miter the corners on the bottom cushion, so it could be a little neater, but, as I said before, I don’t actually like to sew.

I learned a few important lessons today from my sewing:

1. You don’t always need a pattern.  Sometimes being fearless and having sharp scissors is your best bet.

2. When you’re sewing along and it sounds like the needle is going to break, the needle is probably going to break.

3. Even if you only have another inch left to sew, if you don’t want to do it by hand, you have to replace the broken needle.

4. Nobody will notice that you used white bobbin thread and light blue sewing thread (I hope).

5. When you run out of the white bobbin thread, you have to wind a bobbin because I’m pretty sure that it’s hard to get away with using red bobbin thread when the seam is going to show on the outside!

6. God is making me repent of all the times I thought superior thoughts toward the girls who took Home Ec. in school while I was going to go to college and med school and didn’t need such silly classes.  Indeed, I was wrong.  My mother taught me lots of cooking, but not much sewing.  To remedy that in this generation, I’m making sure both my kids (boy and girl!) can cook a meal and do basic sewing.

7. Humility is a good thing.

8. The cat is still going to sleep on that rocking chair even though it has a lovely new cushion and I have to decide right now that it’s OK or else the cats sleep in the basement.  Eh, I guess it’s OK.

9. I love the rotary cutter and mat that my mother-in-law leaves here for when she sews.  Makes cutting straight lines really fast!!  And, I didn’t cut my finger off!!

10.  I’ll bet that if my mother-in-law had done this project, the stripes in the top and bottom cushions would line up.

 

So, there it is – my sewing adventure for this half of the year.  I’ll say good-bye to the sewing machine until Fall when I’ll haul it out again for Halloween costumes.  I heard a rumor that Wild Man wants to be Lucius Malfoy – looks like we’ll be making capes again!!