Sewing was all I was interested in, and I wanted to be a dressmaker. My mother was a dress maker and was sewing endlessly making loads of different dresses, coats and suits. In one of the rooms, she had one of these Singer machines and in her workroom, she had a more modern one. Yet, she always went into the other room to sew whatever she was making.
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Seeing this photograph of the old Singer machine takes me back into my childho.
She got up early. She did her housework and then she sat at her table to continue with what she had. The weeks before the summer season started were hectic for her. Her female clientele needed her dresses, blouses and skirts to be ready to go on their long, summer vacation. Then, work ceased and so did her revenue. But this is one of the problems when one is self-employed.
It was always at the start of every season, when the old Singer was sewing away non-stop as my mother pressed the pedal down below.
I adored her big trunk full of varied pieces of material and the big metal box that contained coloured threads, pins, and needles.
My mother sewed endlessly day and night to get her living income. However, on one day, pull and wear clothing started to arrive.
“Who may want a dress made to measure when they can get it straightaway in the shops?” my mother used to exclaim.
It is true. It is a lot easier and cheaper to go to the shops to pull, wrap and wear. Yet, I have always thought that nothing can beat to having one´s clothes made to measure.
One may find a piece of material that will certainly make a good dress or coat. Then, a good dress maker would advise us on what suits us best. She knows our body. She will measure us and she will want to try it on until whatever garment she is making suits us well. Then, it will ready to go under the Singer machine needle.
My mother made her own clothes and she made mine too. I think I was born with it and I can’t ever remember not being able to sew. My mother made clothes for other people.
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My first interest in sewing began in my childhood while watching my mother making clothes. When I was 11, I always observed my mother sewing and I started to have interest with it. My mom taught me to sew when I was a child. I watched my mother sew on her manual foot pumping pedal machine from the time that I can remember. Her machine was awesome! On the weekends and in the summers my mother would sew and I would sit watching and helping to put things together. The first thing that I ever sewed was a handkerchief for me. I think I was about 7 years old. I took one of a ready made handkerchief and then created my own using it. My mother helped me a little bit but I did it pretty much on my own.
It started by sewing on buttons and then doing the hem work (by hand…ugh). I learned to sew on her old machine, which went somewhat slow, but was great for a teenager learning to do it. I taught myself the basics, by observation, and experimentation. I made clothes for my own. I would come home after school to sew and design, then do my homework! I dreamed of a time when creativity would dominate my work.
For most of my life, sewing has been an individual creative endeavor—often a necessary one. I learned to sew curtains. As I grew older and taller, sewing became a necessity because of school uniform. There’s a creativity in sewing that feeds my soul. When I actually do sit down to the sewing machine, my whole being heaves a sigh of relief and my creative juices start flowing.
Sewing has been a very personal experience for me. And so it’s been so fascinating to look around and see what is happening in the world of sewing. There is a resurgence of interest in sewing, not only as a creative expression, but also a sort of global connection.
We sew as necessity. We sew as expression. We sew for ourselves and we sew for each other. We don’t just stitch with thread, we stitch with love.
