My mother-in-law, bought me my first sewing machine.
It was a sturdy older machine that she picked up from a
garage sale. It was straight forward, and came with a manual.
When the kids were little, I sewed dresses, cowboy vests,
“chaps”, rompers, quilt-ish blankets, soap holders made out
of washcloths… you get the picture.
I learned to sew in junior high. In the 8th grade. Mrs. Johnson,
my home-ec teacher, was an original. She taught us girls how to
saute glazed carrots in cooking class, and sew in a zipper
in sewing class. Each of us got to make an outfit of our choosing.
I picked a “knicker” pattern with a matching reversible vest.
Mrs. Johnson, walked the classroom with a tape measure
draped from her neck. She tsk tsk-d through my measurements.
She took umbrage with my knee measurements. She, loudly, informed the
class that young ladies knees should not measure as large as mine.
After that, I spent a bit of time comparing my knees to other girls in gym class.
Mine were no larger. I was the only knicker maker in the class.
I wore my knickers and matching vest at least once a week till they went out of style.
Mrs. Johnson even decided they were cute on me. She warmed to me after all the
glazed carrots, pie crusts, seam ripping, and button holes. In the end, I was not a
prize seamstress, but she proved to be a patient teacher, even if she did consider
my knees to large. I rarely use a machine these days, instead I sew tiny scraps,
strings, and buttons on by hand. I’m thankful to my mother-in-law for the machine,
and Mrs. Johnson for her time and patience.
