No no no no NO NO NO! I cannot! I can sew. I own my own sewing musheen. Actually two sewing musheens.

I learned to sew from The Commander. I was twelve (whining about wanting to be a teenager…) when I made my first dress. Light blue/white gingham with a zipper up the back. When I was a high school freshman, a couple years later, I still fit into that dress (but it was a little tighter) and my icky algebra teacher took it upon himself to tell me (in private) it was not an appropriate dress because… his words failed him… but probably breasts… I mean women have them (and mine were very small then). F*cker (and friend of my parents to boot).

I made many more articles of clothing. Some worked out better than others. I have made quilts. I have done knitting and crocheting and macrame and beading beading beading beading. I love fiber arts!

There are people who make decent livings doing fiber arts. I am not one of them. I wasn’t really suited to be a gainfully employed musician either. Computer stuff? Okay.

Today I stumbled on an instagram account “can you sew this for me”. This account is not totally negative but it collects stories from fiber artists who are constantly asked if they can sew this or that for someone. Like without being paid for their work. Sewing (and other fiber arts) requires extremely intricate skills. It’s not all that different than engineering. Really.

I HAVE sewed things for people without asking to be paid. Sparkly fabric bags for birthday party favors or girl scout troops. Bead-woven “amulet” bags I made for the PIRATE children I volunteered to read with (and to) at the beach urchins’ elementary school. A chicken bolo for a fellow girl scout leader.

I chose to do those things for people I cared about.

Years before that, I was asked by a work person to sew some sort of canvas bag for some water bottles. I (tentatively) said okay. I tried but it wasn’t something I could do. In fact, I didn’t even have a needle that could penetrate the cloth. Many years later, the GG and this person apparently laughed about this failed prodject. I got it but I still didn’t find it all that funny. I still felt bad that I didn’t *finish* the prodject.

But who was I mad at? Meeeee! I should never have agreed to do that prodject. I wasn’t interested in it. I didn’t have the proper tools. He didn’t mention paying me, although I would’ve had no clue what to charge if he had.

It’s been a while since anyone has asked me to sew anything. My own clothing is Chico’s et al these days. If someone did ask me to sew them something, I would squelch my young 20-something self and say, “Nope!”

P.S. if you get a message from “facebook” about your password today, DELETE DELETE DELETE. Do Not click anything in the message. Unsolicited advice from your friendly on-line banking buddy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2023 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.