Snip and stitch. snip and stitch

I had just finished school and was all geared up for college. Or so I thought.
One look at my wardrobe and I realised that the only look I could pull off was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Sure I had clothes. But there's a difference between having clothes and actually wearing them.

Mum had always bought me my clothes, and they were mostly frocks. You know, the kind you wear to Church every Sunday. Pretty, flouncy dresses with laces and ribbons that you wear with stockings and shoes with bows and buckles. Okay I exaggerated a bit but they were not the ideal kind to wear to college.

I was just a student. It wasn't like I could run out on a shopping spree. And I had no clue about shopping.

Anyway, sort of veering off topic but this incident is pretty pivotal to the story I'm trying to string together here. So one day, while shuffling through my clothes, I decided to chop off a pair of trousers that were just too long for me and it was such a hassle always having to wear them with heels ( I looked ridiculous at my age, in trousers and heels. Sheesh.). A trip to my seamstress aunt just a few hundred metres away was all I needed.

My aunt used to sew as a hobby. She wasn't a seamstress by profession at all. As I entered her house, I noticed she was pretty occupied, so I was wondering whether or not I should ask her to sew my pants for me, but she knew instantly why I was there. And she did something for which I will always be grateful to her. She measured the length, snipped off the required amount and then handed me a needle and a thread and told me to do the rest. I was a little taken aback, and felt guilty for barging in when she was busy. She was stern, and yet sweet, instructing me how to exactly go about it. By the time I was halfway through, I realised I actually enjoyed it.

This got me so excited. I could sew! I mean, yes, they taught us how to sew in school during one of those S.U.P.W. classes but I had always thought that making hemlines was for curtains. For the next few days sewing and cutting became my ultimate purpose. All long trousers that needed work- snipped! ( yes I had a lot of them long trousers). snip, stitch. snip, stitch. That seemed about it.

Then I progressed to refitting clothes. All old clothes I could find, I started restitching; customising them so they would fit me. I was grabbing everything that caught my fancy - Mum's old skirts, Grandma's blouses, my father's pajamas(!). Most of them were badly done - uneven stitches, funny fit, but I was on a roll. Papa felt bad that I was reusing old clothes that had been kept aside to be eventually used as rag cloths and even offered to take me shopping.

The transition to sewing machines came swiftly and I couldn't have been happier. Couldn't say the same about Mum though. I kept jamming the machine and she was not at all amused, taking it apart to repair it every time I did something wrong. I didn't even spare shoes. Goodness, I still remember that ghastly design I made on a pair of boots. That wasn't the only thing that was ghastly. A dress made by combining a top and a skirt, a skirt made into a dress, a long sweater made into a bolero shrug. Some pretty awful stuff, but it was a starting point. And I used to wear them with such pride. How embarrassing when I think of it now!

That was almost a decade ago. Do I still enjoy stitching? Oh yes! Friends bring over clothes for mending as if I were the local tailor living down the street. Once I get tired of a dress, it's most likely that I'll snip it up, do something to it; what exactly i don't know. But something or the other comes out of it. Usually it's nice, but sometimes its just downright ugly and after a momentary bout of frustration, I laugh it off and use it as a dusting cloth or make it into a shoe bag or something. Yes, something or the other. The operating word being 'Something' here.

I am not a trained seamstress. I'm not a designer.

But yes, snipping is fun. So is stitching. Snip and stitch. snip and stitch.