Struggles at a sewing machine....

Struggles at a sewing machine.....

I received my first sewing machine at the tender age of 8 years old.....it was a little children's Singer hand crank.  It Attached to the table with a clamp, you cranked a little wheel of the side and off it went.   My friend got an electric similar to mine, ...Mine  was heavier and worked better...I still have it packed away in a box....

I made baby doll clothes, Barbie clothes, whatever I wanted, learned to read my first pattern instructions and a love for creating with cloth...

My next big leap Into sewing was my grandmother's treadle machine. She had it in her bedroom, next to a window....that soft rhythm of your foot on the treadle, back and forth, back and forth as the machine is still a soothing sound memory...she had made many a quilt on that machine as well as other items...I made school clothes while I visited her and sat under her instruction.....

Finally, I learned how to use my mother's electric Singer machine...it sat in a cabinet with a lid over the top..I had to open the lid and lift out the machine where it was hidden down on its side, fold the shelving into place and voila, there sat a black shiny machine...my mother made so many of my clothes and hers as well.  Each school year, we went to the fabric store, picked out patterns and material for most of my clothes...my first formal was even fashioned at that machine...as well as others that followed...

My high school graduation present was a sewing machine.....there was much discussion about this as my parents were afraid I wouldn't study because I would be too tempted to sew instead...not so....I did study and find some spare time to sew...that graduation  present lasted for ten years with much use in my early marriage and first child...the next machine was and is a Viking. I remember purchasing it with a 25 year guarantee, thinking that is a long time...it flew by swiftly with years added ...and it is still working with all its metal parts...

there were times when I sewed 2-3 hours a day, creating children's dresses,  cowboy shirts, underwear, matching doll clothes, little girl clothes and mommy dresses, my husbands shirts, quilts, machine embroidery, Christmas presents of fabric, a wedding dress..and teaching my daughters to sew their first pair of shorts, a simple quilt, and duffle bag.....my oldest son learned at that machine as well...each home had a special spot for that machine, near a window, at ready for its work out...for 36 plus years....it still holds a special spot  before a window.....

Granted, sewing held a practical use....but it was and is a place to think, ponder, pray, Struggle through ideas and problems, all the while feeling that piece of material take on new form...just like life with its changes from a one thing to another...a thing of practical use or beauty.....creating....a place of comfort.....God met with me there....my quiet "garden"..... Laying out plans, giving ideas, sorting through life's questions, dilemmas, needs...calmness in storms....

Thank YOU for the art of sewing....it winds it way through my life as a thread of care, comfort, creativity.....listening, struggles unloaded, soothing out the wrinkles....making something out of a simple piece of cloth...as You were and are making me, Your creation out a simple piece of dirt into a molded vessel...


Exodus 31:1-6New International Version (NIV)

Bezalel and Oholiab
31 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you

( I can't say I have the skills these men were obviously gifted with, but He has created in each us, talents that we can use)