Oct
21
Written by:
Sherri
10/21/2008 8:09 PM
The incessant requests from my boys to teach them how to sew finally ended last week! We sat down at the kitchen table with a plastic bag full of socks begging to be mended, plenty of thread and needles for everyone. One-by-one they mastered the art of threading a needle, tying a knot at the end of the thread and watching their handiwork before their eyes. It actually went very well, much to my surprise! Jonathan and Joshua caught on quickly and were pleased with their work. James joined them a day or so later in the mending of t-shirts which inevitably have these little holes....which if not mended become huge holes in their shirts! They made my mending piles look shameful...the speed and delight they showed in working on something. It also kept them busy for hours!!
If I had only known way back in high school that I would one day be showing my sons how to mend their own clothes, I might have learned a bit more. Not that I tried...I did. Somehow, my attempts at sewing never matched up to my mother's, who was an excellent seamstress. I became very disappointed with my ability and only learned a few basic skills...but they have been enough to keep the buttons on, mend holes in pockets and socks, cut off jeans into shorts, sew up stuffed animal seams, and the occasional rip in the seat of the pants.
Now, I don't expect them to keep the excitement in clothes mending, but I can easily see how these skills will be very useful in future farm days in leather making, stitching up a wounded animal or mending a tarp. If I had known teaching them to sew would be so easy, or would provide hours of enjoyable work, I would have done this a long time ago!