Reflections of needlework Projects 1996
As I sit here at this sewing machine the memories it brings are endless. The 401A Singer is 38 years old – it’s the last machine Singer made with metal parts. How well I remember that hot summer day when it was delivered. It had a ruffler attachment (which I had never even seen before, let alone used) and I could not wait to start that long-planned evening dress for our eldest. I covered the entire skirt of this white formal with two inch ruffles and if I do say so myself, “it was beautiful.”
Five generations have worn clothes sewn at this machine and just like the Timex ad – it just keeps on a tickin’. It has survived two floods in my basement workroom where it stays (open at all times). On discovering the first disaster, I just stood on the steps crying as I watched my quilting frames float by. (John finally did get the water stopped from coming in the basement). Perhaps it could be called an artifact by now, but this machine sewed Beth’s first school dress and untold numbers for her since then. One of the first projects was for my mother. I made several dresses at one time as we lived some distance away and they could all be delivered at once. I had to guess at the size as she was getting frail by that time, but I remember how excited she was to get them and they fit perfectly.
The old clunker has sewn drapes, pillows, a tick for a feather bed, a filter bag for filtering the swimming pool water, pajamas, gowns, robes, quilt tops, tablecloths, flannel shirts, shorts, slacks, a wedding dress, heirloom dresses by the dozen and various other items. I wish I had kept a list of what had been sewn by this trusty machine. It has mended work clothes by the loads for a short fellow who is murder on his work clothes.
Two years ago, we found a twin to the machine at a yard sale for $25 and purchased it for our youngest. If she gets as much mileage from it as I have from this one she’ll be going some.
As I stand up from the machine to press this lovely smocked number I’m working on, I’m tempted to swear – the iron I have cuts off if it is not used often and this time I need it in a hurry and, of course, it has been off for some time which means I have to wait for it to heat. I’ll buy a new iron the first time I’m at Walmart, I mouth to myself. Then I remember I want a Rowena (I think this is the correct spelling and it cost up toward $100). Guess that will have to take a lower position on the “want list.”
As I hear the herdsman come in the backdoor, I remember its lunch time and nothing is prepared. Sometimes in the early morning I tell John it’s his day to cook – he can do a good job, too. But oh what a mess he makes! Such is country living.
My Singer machine got lots of use too. It served me well in Turkey, too, as I could buy some material at the base exchange and my mother sent me a box filled with cards of buttons. Those were in short supply at the base. I still have a Singer which does wonders. Love it. Just don’t use it like I used to when kids and grandkids were young. Miss that and them!!