Sewing at Home
I have always loved to sew. When I was quite little, my mother taught me how to thread a needle and knot the thread so I could stitch patterns on tea towels. She gave me fabric scraps to create clothing for my dolls. I had a lovely sewing basket that carried my stash of sewing supplies that I proudly carried with me for overnights at my Grandmother's house. Eventually Mom taught me how to use our sewing machine, which was my Grandmother's old treadle machine. I think it was given to Mom in exchange for her agreeing to do all the mending for her mother-in-law. My initial projects were little more than stitching lines on towels or perhaps attaching ties to an apron ... nothing very difficult. The biggest bit of information passed on to me in those early days was to make sure I didn't stitch through my fingers. I was fortunate that in approximately grade 8 we had home economics classes. I recall picking out the pattern for a skirt with suspender-like straps. It was