Short Takes

Sewing

My mother did all of her sewing on a treadle sewing machine or sewed by hand. I learned to sew on the treadle machine as well. It was actually pretty easy to use. You could keep whatever pace you were comfortable with. I was never very good at any kind of sewing so I do not remember all the stitches one could use. There were attachments, however, that allowed one to sew in zippers, make button holes, etc. It was handy to have the little drawers on either side of the sitting space/treadle. They held about anything you needed while sewing.

Everything that was made of any kind of cloth was mended and patched until it literally fell apart. Thus I learned to use a light bulb when darning a sock. I was not as patient to reweave threads as perfectly as some could do, but that was the process of darning. If you simply sewed the hole together, the sock would rub a blister on your foot, so reweaving made a smoother surface. Some folks were so good at it that they could darn/reweave holes in all kinds of fabrics so that you could not even tell there had been a hole.

Most clothes saw more than one owner. I was lucky to wear hand-me-downs from my sister. I often looked forward to the time I could wear an outfit I admired on her. Often the home made clothes were hemmed with three or four inch hems. Then as you grew, the hem was "let down." That usually left a worn crease where the edge of the old hem had been so that edge was covered with braid, rickrack, lace, ribbon, or other appropriate decoration. Boys' long pants were often cut off and hemmed into shorts when they were worn or out grown. When my father's suit pants grew shiny in the seat, Mom made a skirt for my sister, which then came to me and then was made into shorts for my brother. Lastly the worn scraps were given to a dear friend who made hooked rugs with them.

Handkerchieves were also hand made. The hems were "rolled." Women liked to tat an edging, and embroider a motif in a corner. Sometimes they would "draw" threads out and then stitch a pattern in the space. That was called "open work."

I am thinking that there are many lost arts in the sewing realm. I, for one, no longer darn socks. When they spring a hole they are used for rags. In fact, I don't even sew anymore if I can help it.