Originally posted 10/17/2020
As I’m thinking about my grandmother today, I’m thinking of the skills she taught me as I was growing up. She taught me to sew—by hand, on an electric machine, and on her treadle machine. I spent many days sitting on the floor of her sewing room and listening to her stories as she taught me to sew buttonholes (always by hand—she never trusted the buttonhole attachment on her machine), needlepoint on pillowcases, aprons & tablecloths, and watching her hand sew her latest quilt. She made a leaf quilt, making patterns for the leaves using leaves from the trees on their property and matching fabric colors to the colors of the leaves in the fall. I loved watching her work on it. It was a beautiful quilt, and she was so proud of the work she put into it. We made dolls and doll clothes, teddy bears, and clothes both for me and for the young children who lived on their gravel road. As I got older, I helped with the steps more and more, learning to measure, pin & cut patterns, along with becoming more skilled on the machine.
The treadle machine was in the kitchen/dining room of their house during the summer that she taught me to join my sewing skills with some family history. The machine had been at her family’s farm when she was growing up and she had gotten it to keep it in the family as an adult. She told me stories of making clothes for herself and her siblings using that machine as she was teaching me how to use the treadle to keep an even pace. The treadle required more coordination than I had for most things—it proved a huge labor of love and patience on her part to work with me until I got it right. While we continued to do most of our projects on the electric machine, I practiced on the treadle every time I visited. I loved sharing that time and that part of our family history with her.
Grandmom’s favorite phrase as I was learning to sew, which she repeated often was “whatsoever a girl seweth, that she will also rip.” It was her spin on combining Scripture with sewing humor. It made me roll my eyes back then, but I smile as I cherish the memory now. She was so patient with me as she taught me that mistakes could be fixed and that it was important to take the time to do it well.
One of Grandmom’s biggest frustrations with aging was that arthritis slowly took away her ability to quilt, sew, needlepoint, knit & crochet. I regret not taking the time to let her teach me to knit and not giving enough time to truly learn when she was teaching me to crochet. There were always other things to do, and then she wasn’t able to teach anymore. Even though my thoughts of her are bittersweet, I am so thankful for the things she taught me and the memories of the time we spent together.
Thanks for reading! 😊 EW