clip art copyright Susan C. Druding 1997-2001 at straw.com

I have wanted to learn to sew on a sewing machine for years, but I never devoted the time to learning. My mother sews quite well and used to make jumpers for me when I was a child. In recent years, she would offer to give me “lessons”, but I was always too busy to give it a try. To be honest, I was intimidated by the whole process. Just threading the machine looked like an ordeal to me. Also, I didn’t own a machine myself and thought it ridiculous to learn if I always had to go to her house to sew something. Okay, excuses, excuses.

Well, now that I have felt the conviction of the Lord to dress modestly and femininely (1Tim 2:9), I am trying to stock up on skirts, dresses and feminine tops for myself and my daughters. We spent lots of money over the summer revamping our wardrobes, but a variety of modest, feminine clothing can be difficult or very expensive to find, especially for the girls. I figured that the best way to get the type of apparel I want is to make it myself -- Proverbs 31 style!J

With birthday money, I bought a sewing machine. We are overseas, so our choices are limited, but I was able to get a Brother machine with 59 stitch functions. Apparently, this is a very basic model, but as I start out, it should suit my purposes just fine.

Well, this past Saturday night, I decided to experiment and actually take the machine out of the box after almost a month! I read through the owners manual, trying to figure out what a presser foot and feed teeth/dogs are. I even had to write on the machine so I’d remember which dial dealt with stitch width and which dealt with stitch length. For the uninitiated, threading the bobbin and then threading the machine can also be an adventure.

With all that accomplished, I was ready to take the machine for its maiden voyage. I had some scraps of fabric to practice on. Well, with my manual propped up next to me, my hands on the fabric and my foot on the foot thing -- very technical term here -- , I ventured off into sewing greatness. Okay, not quite, but I was able to make a straight stitch that was actually straight!!! By the end of this session, I had made a “pocket”, sort of reminiscent of a slip-in eyeglass case.

Then last night, I felt like I was on a roll and I decided to perform some “alterations”. Okay, before you burst out laughing at the thought of a novice performing alterations, I will tell you that one of my garments had already been “altered” using safety pins for 7 years! I was sure my stitching would be no worse than safety pins. After some false starts of forgetting to put down the presser foot and making horrendously crooked stitches, I was able to take in the sides of a jumper in a way that was not embarrassing!J Now, I am looking forward to learning more and doing more with my sewing machine!!

I am so grateful to the Lord for helping me overcome my sewing machine intimidation. J In Christ, Talya