Just Sew

Domesticity is not my strong suit.  And I have no one to blame but myself.

I recently spent a half an hour trying to mend a 2-inch ripped seam on a pair of pants, and although I think the seam will now hold, it’s not a pretty sight.  And it took a seam ripper, two different colors of thread, and countless needle re-threadings to accomplish that not-so-pretty sight.

Sigh.  

I should have paid better attention to my mom growing up.  She offered again and again to teach me to needlepoint, machine sew, hand sew, cross-stitch, quilt, craft, do ANYTHING involving a needle and thread.  But I either declined, or only gave it a half-hearted effort that trailed off as soon as I could convince myself that there was a pressing need to tend to my homework.  I must have figured that my mom would always be there to hem my pants and attach my buttons.  And she is always willing – as long as the task can wait the 2-3 months until her next visit out to Connecticut (and yes, I have pondered mailing pants to her, but I haven’t gotten that desperate yet). 

I hope I can be patient with my girls when they show a similar disregard for their domestic future.  Come to think of it, I wonder what skills I can fail to pass on to my girls.  The fine art of “cleaning” by shoving all papers into a corner?  My ability to “fold” a fitted sheet so that it looks like a crumpled ball of tissue paper?  I know – my gift of baking cakes so that they’re good and burnt on the outside and runny on the inside (I still don’t know how I manage that).  Oh well.  At least I hope they learn some humility.