The past time I never knew was a “Lost Art”

“Sara! My bra broke!” is what I heard while I was sitting in my theater class talking to the teacher. I looked up and saw my friend Amber running up to me in a state of panic. I laughed so hard because that’s not something you hear everyday. And her asking me if I could fix it was also not something you hear everyday. Of course I said yes because what kind of person would I be if I refused to sew a poor girls bra? So I’m sitting there sewing when I hear someone say “It’s a lost art.” When I looked away from my project I saw Amber’s dad standing over me. At first I laughed because I thought he was joking but then he said he was serious. That sewing really is a lost art. I thought about it for a minute and realized he was right. You can create a beautiful quilt that is a work of art by sewing just like you can paint a work of art with a paintbrush. When you have a needle and thread, there are almost endless possibilities of what you can create.

I started sewing when I was 15. I don’t remember exactly why I started doing it but I do know that I fell in love with it. By the time my parents bought me a sewing machine, I felt like a real pro. My first big project was a rag quilt which is basically a thicker quilt where the seams are visible rather then hidden. Then the seams are cut to add some fringe and make the quilt look more raggedy, hence the name. When I finished the first half of the quilt, I was so desperate to get it done I took it to school and cut the seams when I had free time during my theater class. The teacher never said anything but I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when he saw the mess of tiny threads on his floor.

A lot of my sewing memories actually took place in that class because once the teacher discovered my ‘hidden talent’, I guess you could call it, I was mending old costumes left and right.

My senior year we performed the musical Mamma Mia and if you’ve seen the movie you know that Donna and the Dynamos wore some pretty wacky, but glamorous, costumes. Nothing in the super old costume closet looked right, even with my sewing skills, so we ordered the outfits instead. To give you a visual, just imagine bright colored spandex with flowing sleeves and pants that resembles bell-bottom jeans. They were definitely wacky and glamorous, but not very durable. One of the costumes developed a hole in it shortly after delivery so I sewed it. Then there was another hole, so I sewed it. By the time opening night rolled around the costume had so many holes and rips in it I was sewing during shows, in between shows, during intermission, during our breaks! For some reason that costume just couldn’t put whatever negative feelings it had for me aside and stop ripping! That was definitely one of my more stressful sewing projects but we got through all the performances without any major wardrobe malfunctions. When the last performance was over, I threw that costume in the trash because we all knew it was not going to last.

There are plenty more stories I could tell you about sewing, and not about sewing but I think I’ve written enough to give you an idea of who I am. I hope you enjoyed this post and if not, too bad because I loved writing it. Thanks for reading!