The right leg on a pair of my work pants, brown corduroys, came unhemmed in the wash.Usually when something like this happens I just toss the article out, but I liked these pants. I went to CVS and bought a needle and thread. I've never sewed anything before in my life. First I had to figure out how to use the threader. That was simple enough.
Next, how does one secure thread to needle? A little knot was enough to hold it. The main problem was how then to secure thread to pant. I didn't worry about this at first, to my detriment. I worked the needle in and out, pinching a bit of fabric betwixt my fingers. This was creating significant loops of thread between punch-throughs. Enough to nearly stick one's pinky through, if one were so inclined.
I learned to draw the needle and thread entirely through the fabric, and then to avoid unsightly loops on the outside. I did half the pant, rib to rib, put another knot in it to hopefully hold it. It wasn't until I did the other side that I figured out how to tie off the thread. Anyway, suffice to say that one side is far better than the other.
It's funny how we learn, and how practice results in improvement. I've always been bewildered by the notion of practice, how simply repeating something over and over can make you perform better. How does the brain work like this? Is it carving new routes through itself, like a path in the woods that gets worn down from repeated trampling? In the case of my sewing, I simply learned tricks as I went along. It's the things where there's no tricks involved that baffle me. Riding a bike, for instance. Do it enough and eventually you'll just get it.
Well, I'm wearing my pants. And I think my craftier readers will be proud.
1 comment:
Sometimes I get pissed, like when playing guitar, and think even with practice I will never get it....maybe some things can't be learned if you don't have that little something in you. On the other hand your brain can teach you alot of stuff you don't know by trial and error.
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