A needle pulling thread

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Lately, it has been a struggle to focus on the intellectual demands of my work. It's as if I'm looking for dishes to wash, laundry to fold, dust to sweep, and my favorite--clothes to mend.  I had sewing class in high school and my mother used to own a manual sewing machine just like this one:

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I remember making my own shorts that turned out uneven: one leg was longer than the other. And there's that constant annoying situation when the thread from underneath the table and the thread from the bobbin on top would get intertwined and you had to pedal and move that wheel on top to untangle the mistake. That also meant sort of ruining your fabric and having to get sewing shears and redo everything. 

That is why I prefer hand sewing like an Amish person. With my very active children, there's always a hole or tear to sew. I also realized that my body size has fluctuated recently and I have been attached to most of my dresses so I would adjust the waist and add snap buttons. I'm proud to say that I still have the dress my mother had a seamstress make for my confirmation. It was supposed to be ankle length, but I was 12 years old then so the hem is currently at the level of my calves. An awkward length, to tell you the truth, so I've been contemplating folding the hem inwards a few inches and sewing it so that it sits right below my knees. It's a very 1950s dress that's why I don't want to let go of it.

A part of the results-driven me is frowning, because I should be doing more academic things. Not sewing, not blogging, not reading about current events,  not Googling recipes, not browsing free romance novels on Amazon, etc etc. I think I just need a day--two days tops--okay let's make that 5 days? To nap. To cleanse the mind. To recharge. To sew my clothes.

On the "achievement unlocked" side of things, I've patted myself on the back numerous times for converting my children's pants into shorts, leggings into cycling shorts, and my skirts to two different sizes down (the 3 reps of gestation-lactation-rearing can be a wardrobe challenge). I also converted one of my sister's halter jersey dresses into a maternity swimming top. *applause*  As a final demonstration of how we can be nifty about things is this:

I shared this to friends, because I thought that maternity bottoms were expensive and/or unfashionable. So I went to a fabric store, bought a thick garter band and buttons then created an "extender." I reinforced the hole I cut with stitches where I would insert the button of my jeans and then insert the other button on the other side. Then I wore typical maternity tops or my husband's shirts or whatever is comfortable. Nifty nifty eh? *high five*