Continuing Along The Craft Road

Yesterday I mentioned knitting afghans and mufflers in college, but I skipped over the most fruitful time of my sewing career. That was my last couple of years of high school (good old Campbell High in Smyrna, GA.) when Villager and Ladybug dresses were all the rage. Remember those? Well, basically, it was an A-line dress made of a flowered kettle cloth fabric, sleeveless with 2 darts on the front and a round neck, no collar. There were 2 little cookie pockets on the front with a very long zipper up the back. I could go over to Wayne's 5 & 10 and get the cloth for less than $2.00/yard and knock those things out all day long!!! That was my heyday. Then, in the Fall of 1967 when I started to college, pant suits were coming in. You had to put lapels on the jacket, and don't forget the sleeves (I hate sleeves), and the slacks had to be fitted and have a waist band and placket for the zipper. Oh, how the mighty had tumbled!!! No more sewing for me.

However, I did pick up ceramics and china painting along with cross stitch and needlepoint while in college. My Mother and I would go down to Montezuma, GA. where my aunts and uncles lived and, while we were there, we would go to a local ceramics shop and spend days making tea pots and Christmas dishes and little bowls and spoon rests and I even made a cute little ceramic jewelry box. The lady who ran the ceramics shop would not let you fail at anything. Everything came out looking like a professional had done it. Well, as professional as ceramics from a little shop in a podunk town in middle Georgia ever looked back in the late 60's. I later picked up ceramics again when my son was a baby. My church offered a free nursery for mothers taking classes on Wednesday mornings. So, I took ceramics classes for years. Probably would have been a lot cheaper just to hire a babysitter every Wednesday morning, but I had fun!!! The china painting came in one Summer during college. My Mother and I signed up for a class in a lady's home and went once a week for about 8 weeks. A few of the pieces we made in that class are still sitting in my china cabinet. China painting took more talent than I was able to provide, so I didn't continue. The needlepoint came in when I was a senior in college. I was dating "Ben the Wonderful", later to become DH, and for Christmas, I decided to do a needlepoint version of the crest of his fraternity. Never mind the fact that I had never done needlepoint before!!! I got my dear friend Claire to draw the fraternity crest on canvas, then I did the crest in petit point and the background in needlepoint. That was a masterpiece and still hangs in my upstairs hall. It was also the last piece of needlepoint I ever did. I took up counted cross stitch which I did for many years. Cross stitch is MUCH easier to me. Are you beginning to notice a tendency to pick up and drop crafts? So far in this narrative, we haven't discussed the collecting of tools and supplies to go with the crafts. But, I was beginning to develop my life theme: "Always having the right tools for the job is a wonderful thing." And, along with it the corollary: "You can NEVER have too many of the right tools!!!!"

In The Beginning

Most rubber stampers - and, in fact, crafters of all kinds - can relate to the concept of accruing tools and supplies and being slow to use them. I have taken this concept to a height so unattainable by most ordinary people that I just had to write about it.

First, I'll talk about craft-jumping and being a Jack-of-All-Crafts. . . . . . . Master-of-None. I suppose it all started back in 1955. I was 6 years old and my beloved maid, Annie, taught me how to sew doll clothes. She was being kind to me and sharing a craft, but also getting me out of her hair for a while so she could clean and cook for the family. Otherwise, I would have kept her all to myself and she would never have gotten anything done. My first sewing attempts were for my Toodles doll, my Ginny doll and later for my Jill doll. Raglan sleeves, no elastic - just gathers at the waist, no collars. I was not a future coutoure designer, however it did put needle, thread and fabric in my hands and I enjoyed the feeling.

By the time I was 10, I made my own Easter dress. It was sleeveless, round necked, gathered skirt attached to a bodice with darts and a zipper in back. The material was 100% cotton and a blue bandana print. Somewhat conspicuous among all the pastel organdy flouncy dresses at church that day, but it was MINE. . . . . my work, my creation, my bragging rights!!!
At age 12, I bought a book and taught myself how to knit. I remember going to Rich's (a major Atlanta department store) and asking questions of the lady in the fabric department where the yarn was sold. My Mother didn't knit and I didn't know anyone who did, so I was getting all my knowledge from a book and from the nice lady at Rich's. For the first couple of years that I knit, I had one (1). . . . . . yes, count it ONE skein of pink yarn. I rolled it into a nice ball and I started to knit. I would knit rows and rows, many feet of stockinette stitch and, when I'd had enough, I would unravel it and start over with the garter stitch. Then, after unraveling that one, I'd start over with something else. By the time I made my first item of knitwear, I really had a lot of practice under my belt. I made a major mistake when choosing my first project - it was a sweater!!! I'm no good at sleeves (remember the sleeveless Easter dress?) and fitting things just isn't my forte. So, all of the pieces of the sweater got knit - increases, decreases, etc. But the sweater never got put together. By the time I got to college, I had learned the beauty of afghans and mufflers. Everything's flat - just miles and miles of lovely knitting!! I made a ton of them. Today, I still knit occasionally, but mostly I collect yarn and patterns and tell myself that I'm really going to make something. And, you know what? I still believe myself!