My first efforts at sewing was when I was about 7 or 8. I got some little scraps of cloth, cut it into squares and with needle and thread sewed up 3 sides and made a little string handle and called them purses. I went around the tiny town I lived in and talked nice people into buying them for a penny each.
When I was 9 my mother got a piece of gingham cloth, cut a square about 15 inches and showed me how to do cross stitch on it. I know I was nine because that was the number that I did in the cross stitch. Somewhere I still have that. Later as a teenager my mother showed me how to use the treadle sewing machine.
When I was in high school, I took home economics class and "old"Miss Randall taught me the finesse of sewing with a pattern and I made a God awful pair of pajamas. This was back when fabric was available for 39 cents a yard! But I will always be grateful to her for her instructions.
After I married, while still in my teens, I got patterns and made most of my cloths, my children's cloths and even western shirts for my then husband. I can look back at pictures of us and recognize most of the home made cloths. I actually thought at the time that I was saving money but I sort of doubt it.
During most of my adult life I have taken up different craft project. I crocheted quite a few afghans in the early years. Then my older sister got me interested in counted cross stitch so I got pretty good at that and have several rather large pictures that I framed. I did a little quilting back in early years, but just rows of squares sewn randomly, batted with old sheet blankets and yarn tied. These were strictly utilitarian, for the kids beds. Again, recycling fabric I had left over. That was back when polyester was the thing to sew with and lasted forever! We will find it in land fills 100 years from now.
I guess I have always had a streak of a recycler in me. I think that will be another post one day, but it does lead me into my weaving. (I guess that is also why I have a "used" book store.)
I see things and think, "what could I make from that and make it still useful" So when my friend in Iowa agreed to teach me to weave, I finally spent a week with her about 5 or 6 years ago and came home with my little table top loom. Let me tell you for a couple years I grabbed up all the old jeans and fabric I could find and made a mountain of rag balls to weave! Now I have an old floor loom and I am taking a class at the local college to learn more about weaving, and may actually graduate from just making rugs to doing some arty stuff! I know I am leaving some stuff out, like the class I took about 15 years ago in woodworking and learned how to make picture frames and actually made a gaming table. But now that is just bragging so guess I will stop.
I will work up a good rant about recycling soon, I feel it coming on!
Thought for the day: There are no new sins: the old ones just get more publicity>
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