My Sewing Machine
Given to me by my mother some 20 years ago, it has helped me save money throughout my motherhood years.
Believe me, sewing makes a woman feminine, creative and useful. Many of this generation and era do not think there is a need to sew. Buy off the peg at malls...clothes are a plenty and the choice is infinite. But like home-cooked meals, home-sewn clothes, curtains and the like are an outward expression of an inward personality. Sewing is therapeutic and expressive. Besides cooking, sewing is my favourite indulgence when I was younger and not bogged down by administrative duties.
My sewing machine is old, fit for the museum. But she has brought me to great heights of achievement as I learnt the basic skills to survive making things comfortable for the home.
I started out by sewing curtains...it's just machining in straight lines...but try it. Plain straight lines too require some skills.
Simple curtaining in my kitchen but when sent to the tailor may cost a little. Just to share with you some economies of life...I remember buying the material from Muar and the curtains in the whole kitchen cost no more than RM15.00...no sewing fees of course. Some money saved.
A section of the hall holds the material brought from Ikea...and it cost no more than RM25.00 ; so how's that ? Think it's worth learning how to sew ? Tell it to my girls? Gone. They are from a different generation. Being frugal is also a skill. They have to believe in being frugal.
During those days when the children were kids, it would cost a bomb to buy them frocks and having to dress up 3 girls was no joke. So I asked myself the pertinent question. What's so difficult about sewing? Why can't I do it? If any seamstress can do it, so can I. So, for the love of my children I started to sew clothes for them. I love cotton and I would dress them up for church. Believe it or not, about a couple of months ago, someone in church actually recalled mine dressing the girls up in frocks and also often time using the same material . She remembered me as the mother with the 3 neatly dressed up daughters. Thank you.
Notice the material...all the same...all cost me no more than RM 20.00...saved some money again...but a lot of diligence and love. I guess my girls will tell me...aya ma...we will just buy la.
Ya, just buy la. By the way, the curtain in the background was proudly sewn on the old faithful ... saved money again.
I also diligently sewed their pyjamas because I only believed in cotton and not those nylon stuff sold in malls. Besides, my sister in Penang can testify that I make real comfortable pyjamas for her until this day. I only sleep with self-sewn cotton pyjamas. Imagine die-hards like me not able to sew...and not getting what I believe in. My girls don't like what I like...they don't use pyjamas anymore...just t-shirts and shorts. But when they were young they were dressed up in proper pyjamas before they go to bed.
You see how happy they were before they went to bed? All dressed in pyjamas.
Later on , I ventured into buying another machine...this time with some embroidery features.
I began to cart it back to Muar during long breaks and sewed crazily and I was able to produce beautiful frocks alike the ones shown below.
I took pride in them.
See the little girl with the pretty patch work frock? It was first worn by Esther and then passed down to Sara. I really loved it and it was done using the brother machine .
Away for a trip to Kuching once, Sara and Esther seen above dressed in my own sewing too. I really took pride in my work. In fact, there were very many more ... all given away and some even went to Orlando ...to my niece.
Besides achievement, sewing really helps one to save...the girls will not agree totally...too old fashioned.
After many years of rest, I gave up serious sewing and concentrated on school work. But really, it is useful when you have to sew a badge, patch up a hole, shorten or lenghten a skirt, or even altering your clothes when you put on weight...hahaha...
Last week, I tried altering again on the old machine but I found that it is no more working as it used to. It's giving way... I could feel it in my bones. But I would not able to live without one. My old brother machine too has lost some spark and parts ... they say when left unused, machines die a natural death...the brain also dies when you stop using it.
So I made a decision to get another old-fashioned machine again. You ask me why not an electrical one? Why...because I am old fashioned and through my experience whatever people may say of the new look and accessories of the electrical one, I prefer the old look as it gives me better control when I sew. So, the old faithful had to give way to another one of the same family.
The old faithful...giving way to the new one.
My new Singer sewing machine with the old-fashioned look. This has been in the European market for the last century and it still functions well. Talk about technology and practicalilty...they are in the machine. I hope to indulge in more sewing adventures when I retire.
Maybe I will sew pyjamas again for the next generation?
Cotton ones, so my grandchildren will be more comfortable...hehehe
No comments:
Post a Comment