Eco audit: sew far, sew good

I feel I am entering dangerous waters here.  I am about to attempt to write about something that I have not so much experience of. Sewing.

I know I’m allowed to write about writing, reading, food, and so on, because they are such familiar aspects of life to me. I have my opinions all worked out – or I’m updating them as I go.

But sewing? There are so many others out there on the web, for whom sewing is A Way Of Life.  And I’m not in that camp.

So why mention it? Because I was thinking about what I might have reasonably considered environmental in my teens – and somehow, sewing, or rather mending, hove into view.

Remember all that school bag carrying I mentioned? Those bags took quite some pounding. And I tended to be a bit particular about what I wanted in a bag, so when I got one, I didn’t want to give it up just because the seams were creaking a bit.

The solution was mending: sewing, and resewing, the seam at the bottom of my bag.  In fact, I’m sure it happened on more than one bag.  After a while, I learned to use double thickness thread, and sewed backstitch to make the seams extra durable.

What else can I manage. Sewing on nametapes? Check. Taking up hems on kids’ trousers. Check.  Resewing seams on clothes, where the thread has worn? I think so.  But not that much more.

I have reasons for wishing I could do a bit more sewing. My mum knows how to use a sewing machine – and I do not. (Well, only a bit). I remember trying to have a go as a child – and then being scared by how fast it went when you pressed the peddle too hard.

I equally have a friend who sees a project – and does it. Sew your own sofa cover? OK. Done it before? No. Didn’t put her off – and results good. Do I feel like I can do the same? Less so.

I take fright at all the potential of making a mistake – cutting the material in the wrong place, getting the sewing wrong. (I stitched the two legs of a pair of school trousers together recently, when taking up the hems, so I know my potential for error.)

Maybe I need to find some projects which allow me to repeat what I already know how to do. Put sewing machine fear on one side, and stick to hand sewing.  Enjoy the feel of material in your hand. See something take shape, slowly but surely.

What I do have in common with other sewers? An enjoyment of fabric. Of patterns, of the feel of a particular cloth.

I had a small phase of doing patchwork, back in my second time in Poland, when I ended up inheriting a collection of scraps from the teacher who had worked in the language school before me.

Not that long ago, I gave up on my bag of scraps when it coincided with a sewing project at school, and the request for bits of fabric.  I know that it’s gone to good use, but I’m caught now between thinking ‘finally it’s getting used!’ and ‘I gave it away just before I wanted to use it again’.

But I still have another bag, one with larger bolts of beautiful fabric.  That one stayed.  I don’t know that it will become mini quilts, as I’d originally planned.  But my intention is to start using it, rather than saving it for a day when I really know what I’m doing.

We don’t always line up all our skills, and then start. Sometimes, the opportunity is there for the taking. We may make mistakes (will, in fact). But if we can hang on to the feeling of what it may be like to make something – a new something, made only by us – then maybe we can agree to start.

So far, so good.