The Unexpected Interview

Probably one of the most beneficial things I did all summer was to learn how to use a sewing machine from my great-grandmother.  It became more of an interview of her own crafting skills as the lesson went on.  I had found a pattern to create a needle holder from scratch and I really wanted to make it because I had a ton of excess fabric from various projects.  I set about cutting all the pieces out and headed down to my great-grandmother’s to have her teach me how to use the sewing machine.

As she was teaching me all the knobs and pedals and threading, I got to ask her a lot about the things she makes.  My great-grandmother has always been the one we took our clothes to if they needed a quick patch up, so she knows her way around the sewing machine.  We started talking about how the machine worked, and how to run it.  It was probably the most informal, relaxed, and unintentional interview I had ever been a part of.  I asked her about quilting and how difficult it was, considering that her and my mother usually work together on it.  She merely shrugged and said that she liked to do it.

It was great to ask her questions about sewing and crafting.  We got to talking about the tea towels that she embroiders and sells in Eureka Springs.  She has done that ever since I can remember.  I asked her what patterns she prefers to do she said that she loves to do patterns that have little girls doing chores with the days of the week on them.  I was always fascinated by how she would embroider the tea towels and then crochet a beautiful border around the bottom edges.  I think the best part of getting to have her teach me and asking her questions was how happy she was.  She kept smiling and laughing at my little mistakes and would take the time to correct me, usually with some sort of story about how my mom had done the same thing and accidentally sewed her finger or some antic that she had encountered while sewing.  It was amazing to watch the ease with which she worked the machine, especially since she is eighty-three years old.  

After we talked about sewing for a while, I got to ask her some questions about my Aunt Sarah, who used to knit all the time.  She told me that it was one of her favorite things to do.  She was rarely seen without something in her hands to knit, and most of her gifts were usually handmade.  I loved finding this out because it made sense to me that someone else in my family other than myself would have loved knitting as much as I do.  I guess this unintentional personal interview with my grandmother helped me to see what an impact that crafting had on her life.

My great-grandmother is to my right.  I have learned so much about crafting from her.