It should be noted that I am a self-taught crafter. I didn’t come from a sewing home. Sewing, knitting, and the existence of God were just things we didn’t talk about at the table. If you wanted to know about such things, you learned them in on the street, thank you.
It should also be noted that had I had the patience for learning about sewing and knitting at a young age I had AMAZING resources to do so. Both of my grandmothers were quite crafty. Grandma Christina sewed many of the toys and dresses of my youth and Grandma Leah (although having some issues in regards to colors and yarn quality) was a technically strong knitter…but I didn’t have the patience when I was young enough to learn from them.
My mother has taken up knitting as my craft bubble has expanded here in Japan but it didn’t come easily. In her own words:
“Watching me knit is more fun than TV. I think I am in the category once called Educable Mentally Retarded when it comes to skills needing hand-eye coordination. The synapses have no interest in connecting and go off doing other things.”
Her early adventures in learning to use to the sewing machines (yes, multiples) I left at the house involved trips to the machine shop where the staff marveled at the number of sewing errors that could be made by one person. In addition to delicate hand-eye coordination, my mother, smart as she is, isn’t highly skilled at visual problem solving either. Luckily, I have these skills. My background is in art and making stuff, and working with my hands.
Don’t think I was always a good sewer. I wasn't. I was a lazy “that will do” sewer with no clue about the special needs of various fabrics or how to construct or when to change a needle. I had visions my hands couldn’t carry out. I made a few simple things (elf hats…my god did I make an inane number of elf hats one year) and a few rough costumes for Halloween and Anime conventions.
I didn’t own a sewing machine for my first 3 years in Japan. I didn’t see the need. I wouldn’t have known where to buy one.
( Sewing blather )
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