Straight Seams

My freshman year of high school was kind of exciting for me. After a long eight years, we could call ourselves high school students. And as an added bonus, we girls got to take Home Ec and learn to sew. The cooking part of Home Ec was okay, but I had been cooking for years. That's not to say I didn't learn new things in the cooking section of the class – but I wanted to learn to sew.

In the Midwest farming community where I grew up, it seemed like every female sewed. Some sewed better than others and made almost everything, while others kept the family mending done and could make a few basic items.

I'd played around for a few years with the suitcase full of fabric scraps that nestled under the bed in the spare bedroom. Mom had an old treadle sewing machine, and I'd watched her and knew some of the basics of how the critter ran. I tried to creatively put together fabrics and make dresses for my dolls.....but without knowing the details of how to make sleeves, pockets, and so forth, my creativity was lacking.

We started out freshman year Home Ec with sewing. We learned the very basics of the nifty electric machines in the school room, then our first project was making an apron. Since I usually lean toward some shade of green as my favorite color, I got a light green gingham. The aprons were pretty basic and a good starting project – hem three sides of the skirt piece, hem and sew on two front pockets, then gather the skirt and add the waistband/ties. Simple. Unless, of course, you'd never sewn before and couldn't make a straight line if your life depended on it.

I'd like to state right now that I was an absolute expert at ripping out seams by the end of that class year! We progressed, some of us more slowly than others. It didn't seem fair that we had two sophomores in the class who were in their second year of sewing. That was the first year there was Home Ec offered to the sophomore girls, and dumping them back in with the novice class was the only place in the schedule. Add to that a new student who had joined us in eighth grade who had previously attended a school with 7^th grade Home Ec.......and her mother sewed for people all the time. The girl was a whiz! I really didn't feel like I needed any help looking bad in that class!!

I think after our aprons, we moved on to a house coat – our introduction to making buttonholes on the sewing machine. Sadly, our old machine at home didn't do that, so I was limited on anything I made outside of class. We went on to a skirt and blouse and then just general sewing. I still was BFF's with my seam ripper, but I was getting better. All in all, I was quite relieved when that class was over. But I didn't lose my love of sewing.

Our local JCPenney store had a great fabric department, and I could spend hours looking through the pattern books and picking out fabric. Throughout high school, we had a “dresses/skirts only” dress code, and I made most of my school clothes. Even when I was in college, I would find an occasional pattern I liked and pull out the sewing machine when I was home.

It's been years since I've sewed anything, and some days I miss it. I liked the creative process. It was an ability that came in really handy when the kids were small. I could take the tiniest fabric scrap and make pants or a top out of it for them. By the time #3 came along, I even made a few sleepers off a versatile pattern I found.......a versatile pattern, to a mom with very little cash flow, means patterns for several different items in one envelope!!

My sewing ability even helped on several costume occasions for the kids – a renaissance outfit, a Christmas elf, a pilgrim, a dinosaur.....even a couple of fancier costumes for a high school musical. I think the last thing I've made is curtains.......maybe it's about time to dust off the sewing machine and see what I can do!