Hand sewing was always a bit painful for me, but I semi patiently sewed buttons on clothes and did the little bit of hand stitching that needed to be done on the inside of shirt cuffs and apron belts.
But embroidery ... it was its own special kind of torture.
In some Amish communities proper young ladies were expected to have some kind of embroidery to do when visiting. Most of my cousins on my Dad's (large) side of the family lived in such communities. Therefore Mom thought I too should have something to work on whenever we spent time at each other's homes.
T'was an awful idea.
The floss would knot and snarl. I could not maintain the proper tension on my stitches no mater which ones I tried. Mom introduced me to all kinds of different special stitches, but I enjoyed none of them.
My cousins sat there creating beautiful embroidered things. Meanwhile I learned that peroxide removes blood from fabric, and I get a break from embroidering while the fabric dries after being treated with peroxide.
My cousins homes now have lovely embroidered quilts and pillows in them. Not surprisingly, our home has nothing embroidered in it.
Saturday, April 5, 2025
E ~ Embroidery
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I did some freehand embroidery on denim jeans & jackets in my early 20s (back in the late 60s). I wish I had kept it up. I did a little cross-stitch in my 40s but now my vision is too poor to even do much mending.
ReplyDeleteDonna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
I'm sorry your vision won't allow for embroidery. Being able to freehand embroidery is impressive!
DeleteI feel with you. My sewing skills were much the same - even to always having to stop so as not to bleed on the fabric. Reminding me of Laura describing how she hated sewing so much that she was super fast sewing buttonholes to get it over and done with.
ReplyDeleteDeleted and reposted - too many typos.
I had forgotten how Laura disliked sewing. You made me want to reread those books.
DeleteMy sewing skills are less than to be desired and embroidery was never something that I wanted to do at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't sew much these days, but still enjoy it for the most part. Embroidery though ... I'll leave that to others more talented than me.
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