Diary of a Network Geek

The trials and tribulations of a Certified Novell Engineer who's been stranded in Houston, Texas.

10/17/2006

“A Stitch In Time…

Filed under: Art,Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes,Fun,Garden of Unearthly Delights,Personal,Red Herrings,The Network Geek at Home — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Rooster which is in the early evening or 7:33 pm for you boring, normal people.
The moon is Waning Crescent

Saves Nine.” Though, nine what, I have no idea.

I’ve been thinking about buying a sewing machine.
Okay, go ahead. Just get it all out of your system. When you’re done laughing, you can come back and read my reasoning on this.

Done? Great.
The other day, I was cleaning… No, no, it’s okay. You just go ahead and laugh it all right out of your system. I pretty well expected it.
Anyway, as I was cleaning, I found a great, big bundle of really nice, soft grey fabric that had been intended to make me a robe. Well, that was what I intended to be done with it. I was asked what I wanted for Christmas one year, when money was tight, but several hundred dollars of “birthday money” had been spent on a high-end sewing machine. Thinking of the sewing machine, and the owner’s penchant for wasting money on projects that never were completed, I asked for a home-made bath robe. We picked out the pattern and the fabric and, almost five years later, I still have the untouched fabric, but no sewing machine or pattern. And, that got me thinking.

There are a lot of things I could do around the house and yard that would be really cool, if I had a decent sewing machine. I don’t need some high-end, computerized, multi-stitch number with a built-in serger or anything like that. Just something good enough to sew, say medium-weight canvas. With that, not only could I make that robe, but I could recover the sofa cushions. Or make a cover for the entire couch. I could make canvas covers for the porch to replace the now quite aged and brittle translucent, corrugated, fiberglass roofing on it now. I could make privacy shades for the porch. I could make either a canvas roof or privacy shades or both for the semi-mythical teahouse/pavilion I have dreamed of putting up in place of the nasty, old shed in my backyard. Really, the possibilities are endless. And, yes, I would follow through on that. And, I figure, in the long run, it would save me money.

So, how hard is it to teach yourself to sew?

4 Comments

  1. A stitch in time saves nine more stitches.
    It’s a variant of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
    But I know you knew that.

    Comment by tinyhands — 10/18/2006 @ 9:51 pm

  2. Well, I appreciate the compliment, but I didn’t actually know that the “nine” referred to nine more stitches. Though, somehow, I did know the phrase was equivalent to “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Go figure. Sometimes, I wonder how knowlege manages to seep through my thick skull.

    Comment by the Network Geek — 10/19/2006 @ 9:01 am

  3. Well, now, I have been sewing for about 20 years and the more projects you dream up, the more unfinished stuff piles up, but its commendable to try. So you want a sewing machine to take care of all those home dec projects? my advice is to get a euro-pro brand machine with the metal gears, the one that will punch through 6 layers of demin. Or if you know you’re going to do mostly canvas, look into an industrial machine or semi- industrial machine. but no, you will not save any monsy sewing. Really.

    Comment by Evelyn Bennett — 12/13/2006 @ 6:31 am

  4. Well, maybe not “save money” so much as make custom stuff for unique applications that I couldn’t get anywhere else for any amount of money.

    Of course, I’m also terrified that I’ll spend the money on a really good machine then never actually sew anything at all!

    Comment by the Network Geek — 12/13/2006 @ 8:29 am

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