To Honor Utility Sewing

My sister Debbie does incredible MACHINE EMBROIDERY. Many of you reading this blog are into heirloom sewing, tailoring garments, or making incredible quilts. Sometimes it's hard to know where the sewing stops and the art begins.

But I'd like to take a minute to honor utility sewing. This is what every one of us do but we seldom think about it and we certainly never get any credit for it.

What is utility sewing?

Well, it's hemming up a pair of pants so they fit you or your child, your grandchild, your sister, brother or neighbor. It's sewing for your own family and your friends --those projects like cutting off and hemming a pair of long curtains or taking in five pair of pants because your sister lost 30 pounds. It's patching the knees on a boy's pants...over and over again. You know what I'm talking about -- you've all done it. And you NEVER get any credit for it...

For example --The other day, John put two very nice pair of khaki pants in the Goodwill bag (yes, I very occasionally GIVE STUFF BACK TO THEM). When I saw the pants (Eddie Bauer and Land's End, for crying out loud) -- I said, "what's wrong with these pants?"

He replied, "the pockets aren't deep enough -- when I get in and out of the golf cart, my balls keep falling out". (this is an exact quote and I think it would be wrong to change his words...)

After I stopped laughing, I said, "Do you know who I am, John? I sew -- and I can make those pockets deeper."

He seemed surprised.

REALLY?? He's SURPRISED??!! HAS HE BEEN PAYING ANY ATTENTION AT ALL FOR THE LAST 39 YEARS???

Since we got married, I've hemmed maybe 500 pairs of pants -- for family, friends, neighbors. I've sewed curtains or drapes wherever we lived, and in the early days, I sewed all my own clothes. Over the years I've sewed extensions onto sheets, made personalized pillowcases, napkins, tableclothes, halloween costumes and slipcovers for furniture. Our son Elliott wore his favorite pair of blue jeans from the age of 15 until 23 because I repeatedly repaired them, including adding new pockets, and a new faced hem when the original one was just strings. I patched them so often, it was hard to know if there was any original denim left in those jeans.

YES, JOHN, I CAN FIX YOUR POCKETS.

Here's a picture of the original pockets...


In this picture, I cut off the bottom of the original pocket.

Voila!! I sewed a deeper pocket onto the original one.
It was no more than 10 actual minutes of sewing -- and John acted like this was the most amazing thing I ever did for him. Aye yay yay...