What's the Stitch?

This Week

For my new occupation, I have chosen to start sewing, and hopefully to try quilting. This is a skill that has been in my family for a long time, but it is one I personally do not have a lot of experience in. My grandmothers on both sides are sewists and quilters, as is one of my aunts. I have been able to watch them and receive beautiful projects from them many times in my life. I have some memories and basic skills from learning from their expertise in my childhood. However, I received a sewing machine and some additional supplies from my aunt as a hand-me-down earlier this summer and have been planning to truly learn this skill for myself, and decided this occupational opportunity would be a great place to start! 

Pieces of my current fabric stash, mostly given to me by my aunt with the machine. I tried to use some of these in my project so I did not have to buy more material.

I started by calling my aunt and asking her to give me another quick tutorial on the machine and some sewing “must-knows” over a call. She showed me where the lines were to determine how wide my seams would be, and gave me some helpful tips and tricks. Some Youtube videos and Wikihow articles were also helpful as I continued into actually starting my project.

For my first project, I found a pattern for a patchwork/quilted style tote bag. I gathered my fabrics and supplies and cut the fabrics I had chosen into squares (“blocks”) to create the front and back of the bag, following the instructions I found on my pattern website. This part of the process seemed to go fairly smoothly. I then started to sew all of my blocks into rows, one by one. Cutting each piece and sewing them together into rows was time consuming and repetitive, but I personally found it relaxing once I got the hang of it. It made me feel like I had accomplished a skill, even if it was just sewing 50 short straight lines.

This is what I have to live up to! Or to aspire to? One of my aunt's quilts. (I'm lucky to have her for all my questions!) 

However, during this process, I kept getting interrupted by what seems to be the bobbin thread repeatedly jamming my machine. This caused me to often have to stop, unpick what I was doing, rethread the machine, and start again. This honestly became very frustrating. It happens very often, but despite checking the manual, various youtube videos, and more, I cannot seem to figure out what is going on. I was able to get all of my pieces into rows, and hopefully over the next week I can get them to be two large panels for my bag.

My completed rows!

Space and Place in My Occupation

As I have reflected on the reading and lecture from class this week regarding my new occupation, I have been thinking a lot about the physical space I am in and the new meaning it has been gaining because of the pursuit of this new occupation. Because I am sewing with a machine, I am mostly sewing at my desk, which also happens to be where I do a lot of my schoolwork. My practices within this space have previously been confined to activities that I do not really define as “relaxing”. So, introducing this occupation of sewing, something that I am hoping will become something fun, relaxing, and enjoyable into this space, has been a unique experience. I live in a small apartment with my husband, and most of our space is shared space. Except, I have my own desk, and he has his for work, and for the most part, that is the space that is just individually our own. I have enjoyed working on this project, and creating new meaning at this desk as a space in which I have the ability to try something new, and to work on creating something. 

My desk space.

Reflecting on this place in its new context as a “container of experiences” as defined by Hasselkaus has also been interesting. For me, this is a new apartment, in a new city, in a new state, and I do not have a lot of memories or experiences in this place. I do not even have memories or experiences of sitting at this particular desk and studying as I did not move my old desk here. I found this one in pieces for free at someone’s yard sale and fixed it. I feel as though I am working to build my container of experiences in this place, and part of that will be this new occupation.

However, from a different perspective, I do feel that I have a container of experiences related to sewing, even if I was not the one actively or directly participating in it. These experiences drove me to want to try this occupation, and influenced my perception on the value and experience of the occupation. For me personally, I knew how valuable sewing is to other members of my family. I know how much joy it brings them, and the skillful things they do with it. In my container of experiences, I have lots of memories of receiving handmade gifts, of excitedly telling my aunt what I wanted to be for Halloween and going with her to buy patterns and fabric. I have memories of listening to my grandmothers tell stories while they worked, of hearing the machine rattle, and often waiting bored nearby as they measured, pinned, and adjusted. 

My sister and I in halloween costumes sewn for us by our aunt. (2004/5?)

My personal connection to this occupation is valuable to me, and I look forward to getting to explore the ways that it impacts my space and experiences regarding this exploration in occupation. My personal experience this week with sewing has been positive so far, and I am happy with the things I have completed. I am very excited to continue pursuing this new occupation, and I look forward to the upcoming weeks!