Whatever happened to...?

In Seattle you haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running. ~ Jeff Bezos.

The haberdashers. You remember the haberdashers. Every department store had one, once upon a time. There you could buy by the yard [it was sold by the yard back then] lengths of pretty & interesting material for summer dresses, skirts, blouses, winter coats, warm flannelet for jammies, crisp linen for that chic work skirt, satin for girl's party frocks, silk ~ well, just because. One needs no excuses for silk. Whatever happened to the haberdashers?


You see we need one. This term Ditz is sewing. Not that I'm any seamstress. That designation belongs to my mother, who is quite extraordinary, but I can sew a straight seam. If pushed I can turn a crotch. Extra patience is needed for collars & button holes but I can manage if I must. I don't have my mother's eye for detail or an obsession with perfection ~ possibly a good thing when teaching a child to sew.


In the entire shire there is just one place I can buy material ~ plus those other essentials of a well turned out seamstress: spare needles; thread; elastic; patterns; pretty ribbons, lace, bias binding; I do not make my own bias binding! At least there is one place. Unfortunately that seriously limited our choice of materials. It was pink ~ or ...pink. We aren't pink girls.


I said, I did say, didn't I? I'm not really a seamstress so I squashed Ditz's visions of *that nifty little number with the full skirt & a train for gala concerts*! No way, Hosea! "Girl", I said, "you need to learn the basics before we tackle anything that big" ~ & if I have my way I'm packing child, pattern & gloriously shiny material off to my mother to do battle with! But I digress.


Ditz's idea of *something simple* was boxers & flannel bottoms. Hmmm. I can actually do shorts so I agreed, having limited Ditz's choice of patterns to either Butterick or Simplicity ~ two firms I know make their instructions super easy & clear & who's patterns don't cost an arm & a leg. As stated, our choice of material was pink...or pink. We will start with the flannelet. Nice long seams to practice on & material that won't slide all over the place. If that is reasonably successful I will let her loose on the shiny fabric she wants for her boxers.


Dear & beloved readers, pray for us, now & in the hour of our need. I think extra doses of patience will be needed this term. On the plus side, Ditz has actually chosen to do this...