Vince and I have this standing
joke between us about the narrow room down in our lower level near the furnace
room. He calls it my “sewing” room and I call it the “craft” room.
Actually, it’s neither. Right now
it’s a storage-slash-junk-slash-kitty litter room.
To make it either of those other rooms,
however, would require primer and paint and the installation of new flooring –
none of which I’m adept at doing.
So for now it remains a storage-slash-junk-slash-kitty
litter room.
I made the mistake once of
briefly mentioning in passing to my husband that I used to sew. Emphasis on the
“used to.” But he took it as fact. Evidently, he must think sewing is like
riding a bike. Once you learn how, you
never forget.
I beg to differ.
Especially after today. Because
I've come to the sad realization that that room will never EVER be truly a “sewing” room.
For two years I’ve worn this
heavy winter coat – mostly on those frigid winter mornings I have to climb out of my warm bed to walk the dog before the sun is up. On those mornings, in
particular, this coat keeps me amazingly toasty. It feels like suede on the
outside with a furry, plush lining on the inside. And it has a high furry
collar that keeps my neck and chin so toasty that no scarf is required.
However, the buttons – every
single one of them – have pulled loose and are, literally, hanging by a thread.
I have been promising myself to
find the needle and thread and get to work on those buttons to firmly reattach
them to the coat, but I am incredibly proficient at finding other things to
keep me occupied.
Vince and I are spending the day
in Cleveland tomorrow with his daughter and grandchildren. And there is snow in
Cleveland. And it’s going to be really cold in Cleveland. So I thought I might
wear my amazingly warm winter coat.
Thus, I decided that today was
the day to fix those loose buttons.
I found the needle and thread.
And I pulled the coat off the hanger and took it to the living room to work on
it.
So far so good.
I then managed to thread the
needle without incident. But that was about the extent of my sewing prowess.
Because I spent the next hour
jabbing my finger with the needle, getting the thread all tangled up and
generally making a mess of the project.
I’ve never had a coat that had
the large button on the outside and a smaller button on the inside. I wasn’t
sure how or where to tie it off. And I couldn’t successfully push the needle down
through the large button and hit the hole on the small button underneath. Not without a lot of cussing and repeated
attempts, anyway.
This is where a lot of the needle
jabbing occurred. And, yeah, yeah – I know I could have searched for a –
whatchamacallit? A thimble (yeah, that’s it) to protect my digits, but I’m not
even positive I’ve ever successfully used a thimble.
Hey, what can I say? I took a sewing
class in either 8th or 9th grade. That was practically a
lifetime ago!
Eventually, however, I managed to
finish that first button. A 10-minute break was then required before starting
on the next one. Mostly because I wanted to check to make sure no blood was
dripping from all those needle jabs.
Plus, once the cussing stopped, Maggie
trotted into the living room, took one look at that comfy coat and jumped up on
the couch, did her doggie circling thing and then laid down right on top of my
sewing project.
I could’ve taken that as a sign
that I should quit, but I shooed her off my lap. And, okay, so it was only
after another 10-minute break. But eventually I got to work on the second
button.
I’d love to report that all
buttons are now firmly affixed to the front of my coat, but I did quit before
the last button was finished. Why? Well, because…um…I had to take the dog for a
walk. And then I had to collect the trash since it’s garbage day tomorrow. And
I had a load of laundry that wasn’t going to fold itself and magically disperse
into the proper drawers or hangers.
So once I finished all my chores,
I took a look at the needle and the thread and the coat…
…and I decided that I could just
wear another coat tomorrow.
It’s probably not going to be all
that cold.
And maybe by the time I get back to
fixing that last button, all the needle jabs will have healed.
Either that – or I find the name
of a good seamstress. Probably they know how to use a thimble.
