Friday, February 10, 2012

The Reluctant Seamstress

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the underarm seam on Cubby's winter coat had ripped out.  I don't know how it happened (though I suspect it had something to do with his father's habit of lifting him by the back of his coat, much like a mother tiger lifts her cub by the scruff of the neck), but I wasn't real quick about remedying the situation.  Because it meant mending.  And my God, do I hate anything to do with a needle.

This particular domestic skill has passed me by.  I can mend a seam, sew on a button, and hem some pants, but only when absolutely necessary.  Unfortunately, with a small boy and a larger boy in the form of a husband, there's a lot of ripping and lost buttons.  So unless I want to buy a new shirt every time a button comes off, I must do the loathsome needlework.

I'm quite good at putting it off for awhile however, as evidenced by the coat. It was just the outer shell that ripped; the inner liner was still intact.  It's not as if he was exposed to the elements or anything.  Just looking a little trashy.  With such rationalizations do I avoid the needle.

But then this week, I noticed one of Cubby's shirts had a loose button destined to fall off and get lost if not sewed on more tightly immediately, and then I ripped the seam of one of my own brand-new maternity shirts when I was trying to remove a tag*.

I took those two things as a sign that I should get off my ass and sew up my son's coat already.

Big sigh, out came the needle, thread, and scissors, and I commenced the tying of those tedious little knots and the making of the tedious little stitches. Which always end up being quite noticeable and large, because I haven't the patience for making little stitches and my mending is really ugly as a result.

The whole thing took me maybe fifteen minutes, and now I have that virtuous feeling that comes with having completed a long-delayed task.  Until my wretched seams give way in a week and I have to do it all over again.

So where are you on the sewing spectrum, duckies?  Are you the crafty type who makes your own clothes, or would you rather throw a garment away than sew on a button?


* Do not even get me started on scratchy tags in clothing.  I could write a whole, incredibly irritated post about how come they have to be sewn into a lining so they're impossible to remove without making a hole and why can't everyone just use those printed-on label things like L.L. Bean has instead of tags?  Except that would be boring to read, and anyway I pretty much just summed it up in that one run-on sentence.

11 comments:

  1. I have made , for my brother's wedding, three frilly little girls dresses with the crenlin underneath. Aprons for everyone for Christmas one year. Two purses for my niece. But, I still put off the mending of things till I just have to do it. Beth

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  2. I can sew on a button, but that is about it. And yes I put it off perpetually if possible!

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  3. I would have to say that is a shared gene. Hate it and cannot sew properly (even seams) without hemostats. Yes I have a pair in my sewing shoebox.

    -moi

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  4. Even sewing on a button is torture for me cause I know...I just know...it will come lose within days. I have NO talent.

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  5. Throw out a garment? Are you kidding? I have socks that are older than my eldest daughter. I have T-shirts that have been with me longer than my wife.

    Not saying I'm a great mender, just that I have a very high bar for "time to throw it out".

    Come to think of it, I believe it's about time to buy some new drawers. Where do they sell those nowadays?

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  6. I have a sewing machine that I tried to learn to use, but it just sort of filled me with rage and frustration because I wasn't good at it IMMEDIATELY. I am usually not that impatient of a person, but the sewing machine brought out something awful in me.

    Anyhoo, I'm pretty good at sewing buttons and fixing seams and whatnot (by hand), but I did accidentally send Sadie to school in a new pair of pants with the store tags still on (they were hiding inside her pants leg). She told me they scratched her all day until her teacher finally noticed and cut them out. MOTHER OF THE YEAR.

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  7. I have several impressions on this one: (a) I would have sewn the jacket for you if I'd remembered that it was torn; (b) nobody sews like Aunt M; (c) one of the happiest days of my life was the day I wrote a modest check for two pairs of pants hemmed, one taken in at the waist; (d) I can do it, but it just isn't fun. Not like making a cake or a batch of cookies is rather fun, despite being quite a lot more work than the average mending task.
    On tags: A used to go BERSERK when he had a scratchy tag in his clothes.

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  8. I'm with MIL--one of the best humans in existence is the tailor who has a shop near where I live.

    In my world, mending and sewing are not fun. Not even pleasant. Or tolerable.

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  9. I sew all the time and enjoy doing it, but mending is one of those things that never gets done around here until there is no other option. There is a stack of no less than 6 pairs of my kids' pants and one of my husband's sitting in a pile next to my ironing board just waiting for me to get off my ass and just do it already. Honestly, I'm hoping when my mom comes to visit she sees them and takes pity on me...

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  10. I wish I could sew, but the gene passed me by, too. My mother is handy with a needle, and so is my daughter. Go figure.

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  11. Oh man the TAGS. Seriously, there is no point. Stupid idea, sewing tags into seams like that. No no no.

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