They Should Call It Cutting and Ironing

My kids are on Spring Break this week and while my son is at crew training camp, I've brought my daughter and her best friend to visit my sister and brother-in-law. My sister loves to quilt and has just about every sewing tool made, so we've been working on a couple of sewing projects. One project will be a gift for neighbors who are expecting their first baby (I'm "decorating" some cloth diapers that they can use as burp cloths); the other is aprons for use by parents who provide food at my son's high school crew events (we spend a lot of time feeding the rowers).

I haven't sewn in years and it's fun to discover how much I remember (and what I've forgotten). Fortunately, the sis is far less rusty than I and together, we've done a pretty decent job between us.

Without a doubt, the thing I've forgotten most is how much time is spent measuring, strategizing, cutting and ironing, especially ironing! Holy cow. Since when did sewing make you work up a sweat? How is it that I can spend eight hours on other tasks and 30 minutes at the machine?

From here on out, I'm gonna call it like it is: Cutting and Ironing. It's not sewing. There's no sitting in this effort. You stand, you think, you iron, you cut, you swear, you iron, you swear some more. And when it's over, you have six diapers and four aprons.

Cutting and Ironing. It took a lot of work, yet in the end was very rewarding. We'll have to do it again soon.

Photo by Anne Norman