Sewing as it Relates to Life

Guest blog by Lisa (as dictated to Sarah from the sewing machine).

Shout out to Pam! Tonight we made grocery cart covers - which are really just blankets with holes.  Sarah was having a difficult time finding a happy heart as she has had a difficult week with her test, which is fully understandable.  Sarah made a mistake.  And it's okay.  Sometimes we all have difficulty accepting our mistakes.  While we can claim responsibility for them, sometimes it is difficult to see life change in the midst of hardship, but it is the hard things that refine us.

An example of this is Sarah - who had a difficult night with the bobbin.  Sarah, who is admittedly a perfectionist, became frustrated with her stitches and had to undo them, causing her great distress and loss of bobbin thread. [insert commentary from Sarah: I hate seam rippers...with a passion]. Not wanting to see my friend in pain, I came alongside her to devise a plan for reconstruction sans the hated seam ripper.

This resembles life in many ways.  1. When pain happens we want to fix it ourselves. 2. While fixing it can seem like a temporary solution, it is often unnecessary to fix it "in isolation" as Brother Wagner would say.  Clearly the need for community was demonstrated.  Together Sarah and I discovered that we could just cut off the offensive seam, beginning anew. 3.  Q: How many things in our lives should we see as mistakes and use community to repair?

Sarah elected me to do the sewing as she was mad at my machine [which had a problem, it was not her fault].  When discussing having a happy heart and fixing our mistakes without yelling at the seam ripper, Sarah commented on how bad this year has been, to which I dutifully commiserated with.  Because, bloggers, if you don't know, Sarah's had a crappy year.

Side note: my sewing machine has a range of speeds from turtle to rabbit.  Because apparently numbers or the words slow to fast are not appropriate for the average user's intelligence.  Whilst making a bobbin where the "bunny" speed was used I resumed sewing with the presser unknowingly set on the "bunny" speed, which is alarmingly speedy.  Without lightening-like sewing abilities, the "bunny" speed is impossible for the average sewer.

Sarah, my sewing friend, who I invited over one because I enjoy being around her and two, she excels at reading directions, is in self-denial about her sewing skills.  Because of her issues with the seam ripper and previously mentioned comments regarding mistakes, community, and repairing things in our lives, I have asked Sarah to attempt a project fully sewn on the "bunny" speed, which she is afraid to do because of the lack of control.  Then the conversation turned to how much our lives being out of control, perhaps seemingly unfixable, could all be part of a pattern.

And with that, I will make another bobbin await Sarah's "bunny" project.

Stayed tuned for another post from Lisa dealing with not needing to use scrap fabric on the "bunny project" but instead just going for it, as it relates to my life.