Just Because I Can Sew Doesn’t Mean I Will

Sometimes I think knowing how to sew is a bit of a curse. People think just because I can sew that I am willing to sew anything for them. A prom dress? Sure, you can pay for the $50 worth of cheap satin, and I’ll spend 100 hours to make your little Princess’s dreams come true! Costumes for the school play where someone else bought not enough fabric? I’ll make that handkerchief sized remnant into a skirt! Or my personal favorite... “It’s just a zipper!”.

Being “able to” and being “willing to” are really two different things. My own mending pile downstairs consists of two pairs of injured long johns for my outdoorsy husband, a laundry bag that I got the bright idea that I should wash… it kind of fell apart in the washer… and a skirt from this summer that I thought I’d shorten. Given its November now, this one can move down in the queue.

None of these projects have any priority right now. It’s barely five weeks until Christmas, I have gifts to finish, and I’ll inevitably start a new quilt just because its “cozy” season. I literally have no time for your zipper. And it was wrong of you to ask. You are a doctor, and I wouldn’t ask you to just give me a quick appendectomy… it’s small, after all and not even a necessary organ! Please take your project to a tailor. I saw a sign by the local donut shop the other day that boasted they will do a zipper for $8 and hem your pants for 6! They want your business, I do not.

So, if you will excuse me, I must sweep all these mending projects off my sewing machine table so I can get started on that new quilt. Right after I finish the would-be Christmas gifts leftover from last year!

Blog post by Jen Lopez. 

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