MBSew Glad You Stopped By
September 13th 2006 21:09
Hi. My name is Carolyn Manning and I apologize for the awful pun in this title. The only thing holding me back from writing this blog is the length of my experience with the various crafts and their several mediums. Don’t think for a minute that I’m a novice seamstress and crafter. Nor did I read a book last month and claim now to be expert in the field. Nope, it’s not that I have little experience under my belt, it’s that I don’t like to admit that I’m old enough to have as many thread years behind me as I do.
Enough of my vanity. Let’s move on to the things that brought us to this page in the first place. I’ll start telling you a little bit of my soft-craft history and you can see if you like what I have to offer.
At 13 or 14, my first knitting project was a disaster. Mrs. Crane, our neighbor, helped me with the basic knits and purls and I went to town on a sweater I wanted to make for my father. Mrs. Crane, however, neglected to mention the importance of gauge and the sweater would have fit Dad if he looked like a stovepipe with monkey arms. Lesson #1: everything in the instructions is written for a purpose.
When I was much younger, my Mom taught me basic crochet stitches and, for a while, I delighted in making round potholders. Well, at least I made one or two before the roundy-round thing got boring. Later, though, I found filet crochet. Actually, I don’t really like doilies, but I get a helluva kick out of making them. I know what I’m going to do with them, though. Somewhere here on my project list is a note to frame them; I’d like to try to sell them as wall hangings.
Babu, one of my grandmothers, taught me the basics of sewing. She started me off with a needle and thread and a couple of scraps of fabric. The first thing I made was a picture of a fish in a bowl on a table; it was a two-dimension piece of fabric art. I’m pleased to say that, when I finally was interested enough in and graduated to sewing on a machine, my first attempt was a success -- zipper, too!
My embroidery skills, once used mainly to mend holes caused by exploding pot seeds, have matured nicely over the years. I never learned to be comfortable using a hoop and generally work from designs in my head. In fact, the only time I used any kind of pattern was during the Wounded Knee episode when I copied an Oglala Sioux totem and embroidered it to fill in the hole in the knee of a pair of jeans.
Without even mentioning plant hangers, we should talk a bit about macrame. It ain’t your mama’s square knot no more! Several years ago, I bought about a case of jute (please don’t ask why) and I’ve been working with it to make some really interesting macrame sculptures.
So, now it’s time to start threading my threads and work on my next post while I finish altering a size 20 skirt to fit my size 6 frame.
Enough of my vanity. Let’s move on to the things that brought us to this page in the first place. I’ll start telling you a little bit of my soft-craft history and you can see if you like what I have to offer.
When I was much younger, my Mom taught me basic crochet stitches and, for a while, I delighted in making round potholders. Well, at least I made one or two before the roundy-round thing got boring. Later, though, I found filet crochet. Actually, I don’t really like doilies, but I get a helluva kick out of making them. I know what I’m going to do with them, though. Somewhere here on my project list is a note to frame them; I’d like to try to sell them as wall hangings.
Babu, one of my grandmothers, taught me the basics of sewing. She started me off with a needle and thread and a couple of scraps of fabric. The first thing I made was a picture of a fish in a bowl on a table; it was a two-dimension piece of fabric art. I’m pleased to say that, when I finally was interested enough in and graduated to sewing on a machine, my first attempt was a success -- zipper, too!
Without even mentioning plant hangers, we should talk a bit about macrame. It ain’t your mama’s square knot no more! Several years ago, I bought about a case of jute (please don’t ask why) and I’ve been working with it to make some really interesting macrame sculptures.
So, now it’s time to start threading my threads and work on my next post while I finish altering a size 20 skirt to fit my size 6 frame.
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