I learned to sew as a girl, participating in a 4-H club in the two square mile village of Harpster, Ohio, population 200.
I spent grades 1-6 in Harpster Elementary School, demolished in 2004
Here is a photo of me in the jumper I made in the 1970s.
My mom was instrumental in helping me complete my sewing projects, and I am thankful for the opportunity to be in 4-H and to learn this skill. I’ve made a few fancy projects, a dress I wore to a ball and some Halloween costumes, but have mostly used my sewing skills for practical things like shortening pants (I’m 5’2″) and fashioning curtains, pillows, or napkins. In the last few years, It has been my joy to assist son Kyle in sewing some really fun puppets that he performs.
The T-shirt quilt that I surprised Kyle with for his high school graduation
These days our sewing machine sits quietly in a corner in an upstairs bedroom probably 360 days a year. It did, at least, until I learned that we would be needing face masks to wear in public places in order to keep the novel coronavirus from spreading in our community. Wait … what?! While it seems so strange, this is our reality in Spring 2020, and we are rolling with it, staying home, washing hands, social distancing, and doing our best to encourage others.
As for me, I’ve turned a corner of our kitchen into a sewing station. Dave assures me that the sewing machine’s rattle does not bother him in the next room where he plans and implements company projects, teaching people to do things in new ways and solving problems that pop up over the phone.
With the goal of making 3 masks, I dug into my box of fabrics to see what would work. That is when the re-purposing began. First it was the pieces that were cut for napkins, then scraps of the blue fabric used in the above pictured quilt, then a pair of curtains from, hmmm, was it a nursery? Now I have a bag of nurse’s scrubs from a friend who received a mask. One of the tops has a snowflake pattern on it.
Keeping things for possible future use can be tricky and can get out of hand, but I’m glad that I found some elastic, shoe laces, and bias tape in the bottom of my sewing box, all of which I’m turning into ear loops and ties. When someone offers to pay me for their mask, I tell them there’s no charge, but I would take unused shoe laces in payment if they have any.
Today I noticed that the big spool of white thread I began with was emptying. It was time to open the cool box of Crayola classic colors thread that Kyle gifted me with some time ago. I have a hunch that I’ll be using more than just the white before all of this is over.
The 4 H’s of 4-H are Head, Hands, Heart, and Health.
While I would not want to have this work of my hands be judged, it is being done from the heart and I pray it will help keep us all healthy.