? for the guys

[canuk-gal]

HI:

My Mother is very accomplished. She would sew our Halloween costumes (aka ball gown stuff), make barbie clothing, regular clothing (mstching plaids, lining), quilt, knit complicated projects. Does it all.

I am a reject. lol. I tried to knit a "square" for a project to earn a badge in Brownies--and it was an abysmal failure. Mom was embarrassed.

I can mend and darn. But the rest of it is over my head.

cheers--Sharon

 

[WinkHPD]

Karl,

My dad, a dentist, thought me to suture a sliced orange back together and then had me practice on raw steaks. He felt that I should always have a first aid kit in the truck and take it with me when ever I went hiking in the wilderness, or on a river trip.

Fortunately, I never needed to use that skill, and since it has been more than twenty years since I have sewn anything, even in practice, I will not claim to know how to sew any more.

Wink

 

[Maria D]

mrs-b is that knit or crochet? It looks exquisite!

My grandmother was a prolific needleworker - she was pretty much always hand-sewing, crocheting, knitting, or embroidering. I have so many amazing things that she made. I had one of her blankets covering my infant daughter in her carriage while we waited for a subway. A woman came over, looked in and started cooing, oh, how beautiful! I thought she was talking about my baby! Then she said, is this handmade? It's so beautiful! I was so offended. Grandma taught me how, but I was never good at any of the hand stuff. I know how to do all the stitches but my consistency is terrible.

Both of my parents sewed for a living. They met at a men's clothing factory where my father was the shop foreman. We always had industrial sewing machines in our basement and my parents made all my clothes. I yearned for store-bought clothes as a kid! I wanted pants with a levis tag on them and had no interest in sewing.

It wasn't until much later that I got the bug. I bought a cheap sewing machine to make some balloon shades and took off from there. Once I upgraded to a quality machine I became obsessed with making tailored clothing. My internet addiction was born of the sewing addiction. I had the PC in my sewing room and spent every free moment (as a SAHM I managed to find these throughout the day and well into the night) either sewing or in online sewing forums.

I still have the machine, a computerized Bernina from when they were still all metal and manufactured in Switzerland, but now I rarely have the time to sew. (That's because the internet addiction took over.)

 

[monarch64]

Wink, you win.

 

[kenny]

... I still have the machine, a computerized Bernina from when they were still all metal and manufactured in Switzerland, ...

FWIW, their top of the line model is still made in Switzerland but will set you back $15,000.



https://www.bernina.com/en-US/Why-BERNINA-US/Sustainability/BERNINA-Factories
SNIP:
BERNINA Thailand produces the BERNINA sewing machines from entry level up to 7 Series, while BERNINA Switzerland still manufactures the top-of-the line machines B 880, Q 24 and Q 20.

 

[WinkHPD]

Wink, you win.

LOL! I did not know it was a contest...

I just told my wife, a hand weaver, Maria D's story and she laughed as hard as I did. When our close friends had children, she would always spend forty or fifty hours weaving incredibly soft baby blankets for them. The actual weaving was not that long, but the set up was incredibly time consuming.

Wink

 

[LaylaR]

My husband is very good about household helping so yes, he can do some sewing. He (like me) took Home Ec. and learned the basics. And when he was younger he hemmed a couple things with his mother's machine.

I learned how to sew from my grandmother as a child, took some formal classes in my twenties to figure out things like serging and french seams and patterns. And my grandparents bought me my sewing machine for me when I was in my twenties. But hubby has never used my machine. I don't use it much either. I should though.

 

[Karl_K]

Karl,

My dad, a dentist, thought me to suture a sliced orange back together and then had me practice on raw steaks. He felt that I should always have a first aid kit in the truck and take it with me when ever I went hiking in the wilderness, or on a river trip.

Fortunately, I never needed to use that skill, and since it has been more than twenty years since I have sewn anything, even in practice, I will not claim to know how to sew any more.

Wink

Many moons ago I took a wilderness first aid class and one of the things taught was how to do stitches.
These days they do not teach it and say use butterfly bandages or superglue if the butterfly bandages dont work but its better not to close it at all, if at all possible leave it until the ER.
To many times foreign matter would stay in the wound in the field under the stitches and cause infections.

 

[tyty333]

No guys in the family sew but my dad knows how to crochet. His grandmother taught him when he was young. He can read crocheting instructions
and used to help my Mom out when she got stuck. However, I have never seen him crochet so I'm not sure how good he is in practice.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Sadly, in our local schools, home ec has been gone for years. I guess it wouldn't be PC. Such a shame because home ec and personal financial planning should be THE two required high school classes for every human, in my opinion! Those are basic life skills and sadly, not every child has parents who teach them (or are responsible themselves)! It certainly benefits both men and women to know how to cook, do basic household repairs, and be responsible with their money.

My grandmother and aunt used to sew and make us dresses when we were children. I have fond memories of that! However, as clothing began to be more available and less expensive in stores, my generation tended to not sew much. The exception would be someone like my sister-in-law who became an accomplished seamstress and made gorgeous smocked (and other styles) of heirloom dresses for little girls. Both she and my mother made sweet smocked dresses for my girls when they were little. I could hem a dress or pants if I wanted to, but I greatly prefer paying someone $30 to do it for me (which is rare because length is right for me off the rack). My father-in-law did repair sewing in their home and I guess that's how the SIL became interested in sewing. His mother died when he was only two year old and left a husband and three boys. They had a lady who came in and cooked the big meal of the day, but the husband and boys learned to do everything else. He learned out of necessity while my dad couldn't boil water. But I lucked out because my husband was raised in a house where his father did about anything (but they were pretty traditional overall as his mother never worked outside the home after she had children so did most of the household stuff), so cooking or cleaning up the kitchen is something he has always helped with. He also learned to repair cars and do basic maintenance from his dad, and part of that was because that generation did things for themselves out of necessity. I'm not too optimistic about many of the kids coming up today as far as being self-reliant and accomplished in practical life skills.

 

[jordyonbass]

Nope, I'd probably end up sewing myself to what I am sewing if I tried

 

[Karl_K]

Nope, I'd probably end up sewing myself to what I am sewing if I tried

Been there done that!!!!
Luckily it was my shirt and not my skin!!!!

 

[TooPatient]

Nope, I'd probably end up sewing myself to what I am sewing if I tried

Did that while using a tiny needle to poke coffee grounds out of the porto filter in my espresso machine. No more thin needles!

 

[TooPatient]

Karl,

My dad, a dentist, thought me to suture a sliced orange back together and then had me practice on raw steaks. He felt that I should always have a first aid kit in the truck and take it with me when ever I went hiking in the wilderness, or on a river trip.

Fortunately, I never needed to use that skill, and since it has been more than twenty years since I have sewn anything, even in practice, I will not claim to know how to sew any more.

Wink

DH has seriously tried to suggest that stitches don't need a doctor. He learned in one of his first aid training things and can do just fine without help...

Definitely a great skill to have if doing backpacking where help isn't close by!

 

[Karl_K]

DH has seriously tried to suggest that stitches don't need a doctor. He learned in one of his first aid training things and can do just fine without help...

Definitely a great skill to have if doing backpacking where help isn't close by!

Doing stitches is not that hard, preventing/controlling infection is what is hard.
That is why its not a good idea to do them outside a doctors office/ER unless there is no options and then superglue is usually a better idea.

 

[TooPatient]

Doing stitches is not that hard, preventing/controlling infection is what is hard.
That is why its not a good idea to do them outside a doctors office/ER unless there is no options and then superglue is usually a better idea.

Yep! That is why we carry those and not needles when hiking. Infection is not an easy thing to avoid when covered in dirt and bug repellent! (I also promised to go into shock if he even came near me with a needle. Yuck!)

 

[Pinkyisblue]

My husband cant sew, mend, or knit, but to be fair neither can I if its more complicated than fixing a button or a small hole.

They stopped teaching any kind of valuable home ec by the time I was in school, and my mother never had time to teach me what she knew (；一_一)

 

[monarch64]

Superglue is the freakin BEST for superficial wounds. And sometimes not so superficial but don’t get any ideas, kids.