Sometimes It Pays to Practice : Day 917: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: spool

"Hand me the sewing box and thread those needles," or "I need you to thread the sewing machine," I can still hear my mom say. On those occasions, I'd sit patiently and put the thread through the eye of the needle so fast it was unbelievable. And without touching the sides. The trick, I learned, was to clip the tip a an angle so the thread would be smooth and not spread out when it gets close to the eye. If I were really in a rush, I'd just put the thread in my mouth. It worked.

God forbid if we allowed her numerous spools of threads become tangled. It would take hours trying to unravel them. No wasting of thread in our house. But I couldn't figure out why she kept the empty spools after all the thread was used. The sewig machine we owned was similar to the one below.

I'd watch my mom for hours at the sewing machine. She'd place her foot on the peddle back and forth. The bobbins were a wonder to behold as they performed their jobs so effortlessly. It was mesmerizing to watch the spools of thread unravel.

Fabric patterns from McCall were all the rage during my childhood. And the most popular pattern style was the A-line dress. I remember we would go to Woolworths or Kress department stores downtown and search through the numerous drawers for the perfect dress pattern. While there, we would stock up on sewing supplies and fabric that was on sale. My mom had to find fabric sold by the bolt so that she could make each of us girls a dress.

It didn't matter that we had the same fabric. We were just happy to have a new dress. We were always careful to check which day the other sister wore our dress.

I loved cutting out the pattern for her. I was so fascinated by it all that when I entered middle school, I considered myself a professional. Mind you, I didn't actually touch the sewing machine to sew anything. That didn't stop me from signing up for Home Economics so I could prove my knowledge of sewing. By the time I painstakingly finished my first A-line dress with the tuck for the bust around the neck, thus receiving an "F" for a grade, I'd had enough of sewing. Next semester, I switched electives.

When I think back on those times, I remember my mom's tenacity, strength, and ingenuity in making every item stretch as far as it could. This was especially true of the spools of thread and fabric.

You never know when a craft or know-how will come in handy. Currently, ordinary people are sewing their own masks at home. They can't find any locally or online. I wish I'd stuck with my homemaking class in middle school and watched my mom and learned how to sew. I had the spools of thread down to a science. I just should have continuing practicing.