Sewing

     I learned to sew this weekend! I invited my mother to visit, and she taught me how to use the sewing machine I found while garage-saleing with my father earlier this summer. My mother used to sew a great deal: she made her prom dress, her wedding dress, and curtains and clothes when we were kids. She hasn't done as much lately (it is cheaper to buy clothes now than to make them), but luckily she still remembers it all.

     I wanted to learn to sew because vintage clothing is expensive.  You can buy actual stuff from the '40s and '50s, which is pricey and fragile, or you can buy reproductions made with more modern fabric (which is easier to care for). Or, you can make it yourself. So, we made an apron from a pattern from the '40s. For those of you that sew, the pattern called for nearly every seam to be edged with binding, and they apparently didn't have (or couldn't afford) store-bought binding back then, so we followed the pattern and made dozens of yards of binding ourselves.

I've learned to woodwork and to sew this summer, and my verdict is - sewing is much easier. It's a bit less terrifying, because you can usually recover from mistakes in fabric more easily than what you've done in wood. Also, you can mix drinking and a sewing machine (the pictured apron was accompanied by lots of wine), but drinking and power tools doesn't sound like a good idea.