Note from the Editor:
This article was kindly written for the SDC by member @Doctor Alan.


Background:
After I retired, it seemed there was no end to things that needed to be done. I finished off my thesis and got the Doctorate, but that left a bit of a ‘hole’. I kept up my writing and started working towards two goals: to be a published fiction writer and to finish my autobiography (and get it published). I’d built a wooden clock from a kit and had taken a fair while doing all sorts of modifications to get it going properly with electronic ‘Windsor’ chimes. It still needed more work because I didn’t want to keep running consistently, but I felt as though I needed a new challenge.



The Sewing Challenge:
Some years ago, I bought a Janome sewing machine and managed to make a few things on it. The company for whom I was working – Warburton Franki – had an end-of-the-year ball, and wives were buying all sorts of fancy dresses. I’ve always been a bit of a tight-wad and didn’t like the price tag some of these dresses attracted. Besides, they looked so incredibly old-fashioned. I took myself off to Grace Brothers and had a good look through all their pattern books, finally choosing a really nice-looking Chinese dress with long sleeves, looped buttons up to the neck, across to one side and down. It looked really great in the pictures, unlike the ‘maternity style’ dresses that looked as though they came from the last century! Luckily, I had a pretty good idea of what my wife was after, and she shared my opinion of the quite old-fashioned dresses available for parties and such. I chose a dark green floral silky material that just seemed to ‘go’ with the design. I was able to make it without too much trouble, and the pattern was very easy to follow – my wife got a lot of enquiries about it when she wore it to the ball.



Buoyed by the success of my first effort I made our daughter a winter skirt for school and waistcoat and trousers for our son, among other things. I came unstuck though, when I tried to make a Sports Jacket for myself. It proved to be really difficult – a ‘bridge too far’ – and required a lot of different ‘tailoring’ stitches. I had a good go, but had to accept that it was just too difficult for me to finish.

Fast forward about 40 years, and as a retiree, I thought it would be ‘rather nice’ to make a blouse for my wife. It seems to be apparent that most women believe they never have enough ‘tops’, and as long as buying a new ‘top’ keeps ‘er indoors happy, well…

Now, sewing (along with cleaning toilets and wiping the kids’ bums) is NOT – in my world anyway – one of the jobs especially reserved for the fairer sex. As a retiree, I have no excuse for not mucking in with any job at all. Besides, I really hate to admit that I can’t do something – it’s up to us blokes to ‘give it a go’. And, like any other job, sewing follows certain procedures that we can all follow. We simply apply the same logical approach to sewing as for any other of the ‘blokey jobs’ we find ourselves assigned to.



Sewing Machine:
As with any tool, it’s got to be right for the job and be affordable. I think a sewing machine is one of the most amazing devices. Depending upon where you look, it was invented by an Englishman, Thomas Saint, in 1790 or an American, Elias Howe, in 1845. It could also have been a Frenchman, Barthélemy Thimonnier, in 1793. The first patent was granted to Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal, a German-born engineer working in England, in 1755, although Elias Howe was recognised as being the inventor and his patent was granted in 1846. Isaac Singer improved on Howe’s design though, which resulted in a commercially viable machine.

Beginner’s machine:
There’s no point spending a lot of money on a gadget that might end up gathering dust. The best place to buy a beginner’s machine is probably in an op-shop, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. You can buy a pretty decent machine for around $50.

I like the idea of the machine having a needle threader, and it should have fancy stitches, an over-edge foot and other ‘feet’ that allow you to put a hidden hem on trousers or skirts (for instance). Modern machines don’t use the ‘pattern discs’ that older machines use – it’s all done by electronics. A button-holer is a fairly common feature of modern machines. Don’t be afraid to ask your ‘other half’ for advice – even if she hasn’t used a machine in years, the chances are that she was taught machine sewing way back.

Practice:
If you’ve never used a sewing machine before, you’ll probably need to practice straight stitching and so on using some scrap material. You’ll realise quite quickly that it really isn’t an easy skill to learn, and if you haven’t already, you should begin to have greater respect for those who seem to know how to sew. You can do almost anything if you try – and you don’t have to have delicate little fingers either, just a generous amount of patience and perseverance – the same qualities you may use to apply to any job, like putting new rings on your car’s pistons; making a wooden cabinet and so on.



So you’re ready to ‘give it a go’ – now what:
You can start off small – a pouch for an iPad or phone, covers for the chair arms, protective covers for the headrests of a recliner lounge, a cover for your printer – these are just a few things that you might like to make, that only require straight stitching. If they go wrong, all isn’t lost. There’s a tool called a ‘KwikunPik’ that allows you to repair mistakes quite easily.

Terminology:
As with any new skill, you’re probably going to have to learn a lot of sewing terms. I used to make Meccano models when I was about 11 years old, and I quickly learned about ‘stepped bent strips’; ‘Trunions’; ‘Angle Girders’ and many other weird names and what they referred to. Sewing is very similar and has many of these peculiar terms – luckily, you can easily find their meaning simply by searching on the web for ‘terms used in sewing’. When you come across ‘basting’, you’ll find that it has nothing to do with cookery, for instance. These marvellous resources also have plenty of YouTube videos that show you exactly what to do and how to do it.

Patterns:
When you’re feeling a bit more confident, you may want to make something from a pattern. Depending upon your level of confidence, you may decide to choose a very simple pattern, In shops like Spotlight, there are plenty of people happy to help with advice for the novice – they’re usually quite surprised to see a man actually contemplating sewing! The pattern will tell you exactly how much material to buy, whether you need ‘interfacing’ (another sewing term that simply means a piece of material to give a bit of ‘body’ to that part of the pattern) and so on.

Conclusion:
If you do decide to embark on this project, don’t give up at the first hurdle. Look at it this way: If a teenager can do it after a few lessons at school – you can certainly succeed. You don’t have to wear your underpants on the outside to be a superhero!



About the author: Having spent three years living in Australia in his youth, Alan returned to Australia in 1969 with his wife and young child. Holding a Bachelor of Engineering degree and a Doctor of Science Education degree, Alan has experience in flight simulations, Einsteinian physics, and inventing an ‘eye blink’ device that allows cerebral palsy patients to communicate. He even took a turn at acting, starring in a TV advert and landing supporting and lead roles in his local dramatic society plays. His short stories have been published in WA’s The Gingin Buzz for ten years, and his novel The Magic Hourglass is a work in progress. He and his wife have a lovely life in Brisbane and regularly visit their two children in Sydney’s West. You can read Alan’s full-length bio here.

Note from the Editor:
Can you sew? Or are you interested in learning?

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