Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Novice Sister Rose Reed reflects on her summer adventures in sewing.
I found myself in a staring contest with the sewing machine, directly into the needle’s eye as if I could intimidate the machine into doing my will. I had just begun taking sewing lessons with the lovely Sister Carol Juckem just three weeks earlier. Initially I was excited about sewing until I was told that my longtime nemesis, the sewing machine, would be a requirement for the completion of my lessons.
I had taken sewing classes before as a child but not on the machine. My own mother had tried to show me a thing or two on a sewing machine, but it was all to no avail. I was not a machine sewer. I liked sewing things by hand and the loud, fast machine seemed to be a barrier between me and whatever project I was working on.
So when Sister Carol was showing me how to turn on the sewing machine on the third day, I put on a brave face. I was going to show the sewing machine who was the boss.
After making sure I had correctly threaded the needle and the bobbin was in the right place, I could begin. I put my foot on the pedal and let the machine sew. It was a complete disaster. There were whole sections where the hem was incomplete. See, I thought to myself, I wouldn’t have done that if I could just sew it by hand. Sr. Carol was sweet and offered to help me rip up the seams on what was going to be my first apron. I left that class feeling defeated.
Word had traveled around the motherhouse that I was working on my apron. Everyone was excited to hear about how my lessons were coming along. I mentioned my small disaster of the nonexistent hem and the sisters nodded sagely. “So you shall sew, so shall you rip” was the common response of choice.
When I returned to sewing room the following day, I came at it with a new attitude. Instead of trying to dominate the sewing machine, I would reason with it. Sister Carol showed me a few pointers on the machine, the expert sewing machine tamer. I carefully watched her sew with the machine. I copied everything she did in hope that I could mimic a fraction of what she does.
At last, my apron was completed! It’s not perfect, but I did manage to negotiate successfully with the machine. This apron took me so long, but it was so worth it when I got to try it on.
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