09 August 2010

Sew me a bouquet


The Dressing Room, King St., Charleston, S.C.

Sew me a bouquet of flowers.....

I learned to sew on a foot pedal sewing machine like this. I loved the sound it made, my foot so in tune with the length of the stitch by rocking the pedal back and forth.

We were graded on sewing projects in school. Saturdays were half school days and usually included sewing class. I spent months doing drawn thread work on a fringed and embroidered tablecloth that was never used.

I sat in the back of the class with my friend Rani, tatting lace and knitting.

Our handiwork would be confiscated by irritated nuns and we'd start over again. Double shuttles, variegated cotton thread. It seems a lifetime ago when making handmade lace in geography class was considered "bad".

5 comments:

Chattahoochee Valley Daily said...

Boy, how the times have changed.

Charlestonjoan said...

Isn't that the truth!

Namrata said...

When we were in Classes 4 to 8,we were not allowed to look towards St.Anthony's School or Jacob's Ladder.In fact some of us were perhaps not conscious that our eyes were towards these distracting locations.It's just that our minds wandered during the afternoon classes and looking towards the left windows,instead of the teacher provided momentary relief.The nuns including the teachers wanted total attention from us while in class.In fact it was not just attention only,but overall discipline.Romantic novels,teenage romance comics,magazines on actors and actresses,models,etc.,were also confiscated.Not over the issue of bad or not good,but maybe because these would lead to a trend distracting us from our concentration on studies and extra-curricular assignments.I know that some Seniors regularly deposited these items in a corner store near Don Bosco Square so that those wouldn't be confiscated

Charlestonjoan said...

Good memories! I was always in trouble but it sounds so innocent now.

Susan Moorhead said...

My mom had a machine like this she inherited from her mom...unfortunately during some move, it didn't make the pack it up in the truck cut. Oh the things I wish I still had that flew the coop!