Learning how to sew, taught me how to go with my own Flow

My mom was a great seamstress and made most of our clothes, including doll clothes. As I grew up, I became more & more eager to sew with the sewing machine, instead of by hand, but Mom did NOT want to teach me. She said I had to wait until they taught me in Home Economics (7th grade...?). Then she would trust me with the dangerous sewing machine needle and powerful foot pedal.

OK, grumbling but not stymied, I made an entire patchwork jumpsuit by hand. I determined the pattern by placing the pieces on the ground, cutting it out just by eyeballing it. I wore that jumpsuit until it was in shreds. But by the time I got my hands on a sewing machine, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! And I did, and from ages 8-38+, I proceeded to make my own wardrobe of clothes, designed costumes for shows, special effects & dance performances.

My hands were just beginning to show how hungry they were to create ...pottery, music, drumming....(more stories later)

Choosing fabric & patterns to make my own clothing gave me a chance to really be unique, no one had my dress, no one shared the same pants outfit. Mom encouraged me to be different, and to choose my specific styles & color combinations, and alter the dress pattern to suit my own stature & purpose.

Learning how to do it myself, and making what I produced ONE OF A KIND, became a metaphor for other projects in my life. I only hope that young people everywhere get the kind of attention and praise that I did... by persisting, and trying new things, opening my mind to ways that would be unusual, or from a new perspective - this was how I learned to sew my own clothes, and ultimately, to go with my own flow.

Thanks Jean, for guiding me to do it for myself, my own way, in many ways, every day.

Source: quirkyquilteraus.blogspot.com via Marci on Pinterest