Tea Talk: Why do you sew?
This week we would like to find out why you sew.’ Is it your business? For pleasure? Out of necessity? To carry on a tradition your mum or grandmother passed on? What makes this craft special to you?
Each one of us has a story to tell that is to do with a history or a dream. It is sometimes valuable to hear these stories, to be encouraged, to feel community support with whom you can share your joys and sorrows, worries and questions.
Sewing has always been a dream skill for me. When I was a little girl, in 1980s USSR, many women sewed and knitted not just out of pleasure but alot of the times, out of necessity to put something nice on themselves and their families. Nice fabrics were scare and yet the pockets weren’t always full of coins to afford new garms. The traditions of crafts was part of our lives, just like making jams and knowing how to grow your own potatoes. I watched one of my granmothers sew quilts, and remember thinking to myself I will never master the art of threading a machine. I never did learn from my grandmothers as we left Russia when I was 10 and yet another sort of teaching platform was to evolve which continues to guide me- namely the Internet and many men and women who make up the fabric of knowledge freely available to us! Priceless.
Years later, an opportunity arose, my father was long in business of selling linen and he suggested I learned how to sew in order to help with this blog. I had a batch of linens from years back, carefully stored for a festive time like right now. I was really ready to learn, a friend lent me her machine which stood around for a year under a layer of dust and then everything came together and here we are. I am an illustrator by profession and have been drawing and painting for years, and yet sewing has been a missing puzzle all along. It makes me really happy. Now I have a new dream: to focus on creating a textile collection for my own home wear brand, and to continue working within ‘ fashion, furniture, books, events and exhibitions. What’s your story?
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4 Comments
Arina P
Thank you for sharing your story. It really reminded me of my childhood growung up in one of the former USSR republics in the 80s, I often watched my mother making amazing garment or found myself marveling over scraps of colorful cottons. My mother showed me basics but never taught me much hoping that I’ll never need to sew out of the necessity the way she did.
It was years later, when we first had our son that I had the urge to create — starting from simple draperies for the nursery to table linens and more complex window treatments. Finding a great source if linen from the fabric-store.com, I was hooked. There’s such joy in creating with your hands, and saving $$$ over buying expensive ready-made linen goods is a nice added bonus.
Please keep posting yiur tutorials and continue inspiring new projects.
Masha Karpushina
Arina, thank you so much for sharing this. ))) It makes me really so happy that this story rings true to someone else. I would love to see what you make. ))Masha
christine ravish
I am compelled to make things. I sew for the love of the process, beauty of natural fibers and delight in finished projects.
All things made with my hands have value to me, whether as a learning experience, utilitarian object or as artistic self-expression.
If you are hesitant to try, just jump in and make one small thing. If it pleases you, cherish it. If you don’t like it, repurpose it and the learning continues. If you don’t enjoy the process, try another technique. I promise that when you find it, it will bring you joy!
Cindy Baker
I sew because I know what I want to wear and what fits me. Manufactured clothing seldom suits my taste, is poorly constructed, or doesn’t fit properly.