A Stitch in Time

I've had a hand towel laying on my sewing machine table for a week. The hem had unraveled. It would have been easy to just buy another. Throw this "damaged" one in the rag pile. Alas, I decided I liked this frayed little towel and dug through my vintage thread collection to find the white thread, wind it on a bobbin and jump into the challenge pool of threading the needle. Yee-gads! I actually threaded it without using the cheater needle threader!  (applause, applause...)

My trusty 1950's Featherweight Singer sang its way through Her precision stitches like a master opera star! Mission accomplished, I arose from my chair and gave Her a standing ovation!

This humble machine was the only reason I had clothing growing up! Baby dresses, PJ's, grade school dresses carefully cut, pinned and stitched together from cotton chicken feed sacks by Mom. Then there came store bought fabric for Junior High and High School wardrobes, prom and Easter dresses, Pep Club and Majorette uniforms, learning how to master a buttonhole, box pleats, jacket linings, facings and zippers!

This little Singer made yards and yards of expertly pleated drapes, guided by Mom's steady hands. Bridesmaid dresses, a full length hooded black cape for a classmate and a skirt, or was it a culotte, for another girlfriend. EVERY Christmas flannel pajamas.

In the 60's Mom replaced our dining room set with a full sized pool table and a sheet of plywood fit over it perfectly for a cutting/sewing table. Genius!

Sewing was a crucial part of everyday life, from making clothes to re-upholstering furniture, mending jeans, and yes, re-hemming towels. 

NOTHING was discarded! Buttons, zippers, elastic, lace was all reused over and over and over. Knees wore out, they became shorts. Elbows wore through and short sleeves or sleeveless was born.

I look at this little Singer workhorse and smile. 

Life Lessons come from many directions. Some are so subtle, that even over 70 years later, you have to look beyond the obvious to recognize that the tools that teach the most valuable lessons, are the least visible. 

Life is just One Stitch at a Time.