It's a Blue Ribbon day!

Date: Summer 1979
Place: hometown Iowa
Characters: me

I just noticed that all the memories I bring up are ones where I got in trouble... Is that just because those are the ones my kids are most interested in, so I repeat them more and remember those first?

As you know, I've been sewing a lot lately, developing my own unique "snood" (came up with a cute one last night! But more on that another time). So it reminded me of when I would cram for my 4H projects before the county fair in western Iowa.

I remember staying up late one night, working on a denim skirt that was to be judged the next day at the fair. There was all the top stitching and then a few seams left. The top stitching went all the way around the pocket tops, hem and something on the waistband. Just a single stitch but it would make it perfect if I could do it right.

As soon as the thread was in the machine, I ran a piece of fabric thru to pull all the thread together. At that moment, my mom's old machine bit the dust. The belt broke. This machine was metal and had the belt on the outside where you could easily put a new one on if you had one.... I didn't. It was 10pm and the skirt HAD to get finished. In my fiddling with it, I discovered that if you rolled the side wheel by hand, the machine would still make stitches! I handrolled the machine for ALL the rest of the seams and top stitching on that skirt and got it done before midnight. AND at a much lower noise level.

The top stitching was done so slowing and deliberately that it was the best top stitching I'd ever done. Of course they commented on that at the fair judging and I got a Blue ribbon! If the machine was working, I would have zipped right thru and the remaining seams and top stitching would have been crooked and stupid looking.

Good thing I didn't have to model the skirt for them. The front around the zipper bowed out somewhat and I looked pregnant when I wore it... Not a good look when you're 13.