Sewing

Don’t Be Afraid to Sew

Mary SchultheisSadly, sewing is a lost art in our society. Picture the pioneer that sat on a rocker in front of their fireplaces all winter hand sewing clothes and quilts in dim light. Honestly, we have it real easy with our sewing machines in comparison. People have an unfounded terror of attempting to do the “impossible” task of constructing a garment. Fears are easily proven wrong as a result of, discovering the steps to sew any item are very precisely laid out in the patterns. If you can read and follow directions, you can sew anything. You will find that the process gets easier and faster due to repetition, and each additional item made from a pattern gets easier still.

Sewing is a cumulative skill worth pursuing. Learning to sew teaches you how to use your precise hand movement skills constructively, the mind to plan which step first, and increase your perseverance strengths to complete a project. Above all, making custom pieces that are not only unique, and well-fitted give a person a special sort of self-satisfaction when complete.

Passing Down the Skills

I like to sew, which I learned from my Mother. Her name was Mary Schultheis and she was so talented in many ways as a pianist, and a seamstress who spent many hours sewing our family clothes and everything else as I was growing up.

An amazing thing she sewed for me were all the fancy “holo kuu’s” or costumes I used to dance hula solos in shows downtown Waikiki. These outfits were very complicated fitted patterns that were designed to imitate the 1800’s missionary dress styles. Probably a real nightmare for my Mom. Long dresses with many small buttons/clasps, lace, and trains dragging on the floor. How difficult it must have been, to put 3-4 of those outfits together every year. It would be similar to making multiple prom dresses on a yearly basis. I really should have thanked her much, much, more for this! Hindsight. The items that I make now, will never even compare to her skill level on the sewing machine. My sewing projects are happily made and given away, sold, or donated to church fundraisers the majority of the time.

Learning

I record the “Sewing With Nancy” programs on the Public Television Station to view when I have time. She lays out really neat ways to go about sewing a large variety of items.

Crochet

Mom, besides being a supreme seamstress, did fine crochet crafts using thin cotton thread and her speedy little hooks. It was amazing to watch her hands click her needles together as she was knitting. It was just as amazing to see her going rapidly in and out of her next tablecloth, she had very fast hands with her hooks and needles. Her projects included things like doilies, tablecloths, Christmas tree skirts, blouses.

Needlework

Our family does needlework including sewing, embroidery, and crocheting together in the evenings. Three generations sitting around the living room or on Grandma’s porch, joking and chatting while we stitched together (or we were snapping green beans). Our household produced beautiful pieces with Scottish tatting, eyelet, embroidery, and crochet pieces.

Scottish Tatting

Sedilla Oxendine 1908My Great-Grandmother did Scottish tatting and embroidery on elegant dish towels, quilts, doilies, pillowcases, and dresses. Her name was Sedilla and everyone called her Dillie. Her mother was half Scottish, she is in the center of the front row . The three sisters were left to right, Beulah, Sedilla, and Bernice.

Embroidery

Opal Kilpatrik 50Sedilla had a daughter named Opal who was my Grandma. She did embroidery in colored flosses making days-of-the-week dishtowels, flowers, herbs, quilts, table cloths, and napkins. My Grandma taught me how to do embroidery stitches on small things like pillowcases and napkins. After I learned how to do all the basic embroidery stitches sufficiently, I graduated from her 101 courses and slipped into the real world of embroidery from there.

First Real Project

When I was in high school, Grandma gave me my first real embroidery project as my Christmas present. It was a full tablecloth kit made by Bucilla who’s name has changed to “plaid on” now. This tablecloth kit was a rose & flower pattern that had the thread, cloth, needles, and hoop in it with instructions similar to a paint-by-number set. Put this color floss here, using this stitch. This first tablecloth was a daisy and rose pattern with vines and leaves taking me an entire year to finish. Seems like maybe, there were a million times where I needed to change the thread colors. I threaded a different color into my needle so many times, that it truly became second nature. Many times I thought that maybe it would be impossible to finish. But each evening I stitched on it some more and finally, it was done.

It would not surprise me, to find out that my family had placed bets on whether I would finish it or not. Probably the most significant result has been the creation of a lifelong habit that I dearly love.

Opal Kilpatrick 89Grandma was also responsible for many of my best recipes. Her name was Opal (Canniff) Kilpatrick. Being half Scottish and half Indian she had beautiful white hair just like her Mom. Here is a picture of her pausing for a photo for me in the Lihue, Kauai HI airport before we walked over to the gate for her to climb up the stairs to catch her flight.

She had come to visit me and my kids before moving away to the mainland to live with her sister in Oklahoma. I snapped this photograph with one of those old Kodak 110 film cameras, little did I know, this would be the last time I’d see her in person before she passed away. I still miss her and keep this picture in my wallet. Whenever I spread my rose and daisy tablecloth on the dining room table for a special occasion, I hear Grandma’s voice.

Quilting a New Carseat

Quilting a new car seat cover should be simple. I am thinking it will go a lot easier and faster when I start to sew it on the machine. Right? The first seam goes off without a hitch. Easy & fast! I mistakenly comment to myself that this isn’t going to be that bad after all.

But, as I work my way to the interior, it becomes apparent that that is not going to be easy after all! Take a quick look at this normal sewing machine space allowance. It looks quite adequate, doesn’t it?

Getting the material to the right place in the center and then navigating it to sew a straight seam becomes an impossible challenge right away. It is a real test of logistics and physics when trying to fit all the outer edges under that little space to the right of the needle. It is crazy! Involving rolling the sides up tightly then using both hands, in multiple positions, as I sew. I am now a professional contortionist who can pull, tug, center, and line up material all at once.

I get it! I understand, why the price for “long-arm” sewing machines is so high. I used to wonder why anyone would pay such a ridiculous price (thousands of dollars) just for a sewing machine. How silly. Now I see why, cause they CAN with any people who end up sewing upholstery. It is so tempting to just say screw it, and buy a machine that will make it easier. Imagine quilting without the hassle of Climbing Mount Everest.

Oh, don’t forget the necessity to own stock in needle manufacturing and Bandaids. The number of EXTRA NEEDLES required as I break them on multiple inconvenient occasions is amazing. I have become a professional needle changer on my machine, thanks to this car seat project. Maybe I should time myself to impress you.

I don’t plan to give up, as my middle name is stubborn. I manage to actually succeed in getting the pad connected to the sitting surfaces of the upholstery.

Ever seen, “The Croods”?… Da, Da, Da!!!

Basting a Car Seat

Basting a car seat together with the pad. The plan is to attach this pad to the upholstery with quilting seams. I get to work, cutting the pad into the basic shapes in my sewing room.

By the way, cutting a furniture pad with scissors makes a guaranteed blister on your hand, thereby increasing the joy with which you approach the rest of the project. NOT!

I cut the pad to fit the surface that you sit on going to the edge of the seat on the bottom. Then as it goes up the back of the seat, I follow the surfaces going up and over (under the headrests) carefully marking where the knobby things are and the corners.

Next, I get to work hand basting the upholstery on top of the padding so I can later roll it to allow sewing the quilt lines on the sewing machine. This is where I discover that needles do not like to penetrate a thick pad and upholstery material. I even have to grab one of my Grandma’s thimbles to save my fingertips after a while.

Measuring Begins

Measuring begins as I get into the back seat and start to measure with my trusty measuring tape. There are sure a lot of curves and thing-a-ma-jigs involved with a Subaru back seat. Hmmmmm.

Two seats divided in the middle with various seat belts on the seat parts with bendable and moveable requirements. Curves everywhere and don’t forget those little knobby things that you have to push down to pull the seat forward or the head rests.

How on earth do you hold it down on the seat? Velcro, elastic, string? Oh my goodness. As I pulled fabric over the seat I realized it was probably too light to absorb that drink that my youngest grandson will probably spill on his first outing.

So, everything screeches to an abrupt halt as I immediately go on a search for absorbent padding to use underneath.

Tropical Upholstery Fabric

I found the most beautiful tropical upholstery fabric on sale at the store. A Waikiki Tropical floral. When I saw the material, it reminded me so much of home (Kahaluu) that I loved it. I am going to make a car seat cover for the back seat of my “new to me” Subaru Outback.

It has a dark interior and is in good shape. Before I put paintings and dogs and kids in it I thought I’d sew up a cover to protect it. I have never sewn upholstery, except for the red caterpillar seat. That was a novel story chock full of learning too. Sewing vinyl or leather with a regular sewing machine is tough but doable! I thought this upholstery material was so much lighter and it would be easy. After all, what is so hard about measuring and sewing a seat cover, or three? Ha ha.