The picture is of my finished rice sock. The pincushion was given to me by a little sixth grader when I taught in Tulsa. On the bottom, the date is 1965. Can that be true? Really?
Yesterday, I tried to do some sewing on my more than fifty-year old sewing machine. I hadn’t used it for a long while because it had been under the weather. But, hooray! I took it to a repair shop and the technician raved about the beauty of my antique machine and he fixed it! But, what happened? Maybe the ride home from the shop jarred it or something. The stitches were not right. The thread got all tangled. Please, Lord, I prayed, help me with this machine.
At last, I got the tension regulated and it was making nice stitches. Then, lo and behold, the needle came unthreaded. Well, another challenge! I’ve never seen such a tiny hole on a machine needle.
At last, I thought to look in my mother’s sewing basket which is, probably sixty-six years old. Yes! There was a needle threader. Now, I was going great. I sewed up a simple little denim tube in which I placed an old, long sock filled with rice. This would be one of those microwaveable things that feel nice and warm to sore muscles.
Next, I hand-sewed the opening together so it could easily be un-done when it was time to wash the outer bag. But, no thimble! Where was it? Once again, back to Mom’s basket. I found hers, got the denim sack together and declared it finished. Does it look like a professional job? Hardly! But, it’s together. That in itself is victory!
My adventure with the sewing machine reminded me of how life sometimes goes. It gets in a coil. Things become snarled. We have no idea how to fix them, so we pray. God is a God who specializes in smoothing out tangles.
I have a machine I bought from a friend, and am ready to sew again. But I’m having trouble threading it and running a bobbin. Tim’s oldest brother figured it out and drew me a diagram, but I learn better by doing, and haven’t tried yet. But my pants material and pattern are on the dining room table ready to be pinned and cut. So I’m either crazy to try or confident I can figure out how to thread it.
You can do it, Teresa! You have probably inherited Helen’s sewing skills. I still have the cutest little green suit she made. Of course, I don’t fit into it any more, but we won’t get into that!