Life besides Poser

[pommerlis]

Well, it may come as a shock to you boys & girls but I do have other activities in my life besides Poser or Computer Graphics for that matter. And my old sewing teacher would have a fit for joy if she new what my latest "thing" is.
Ever since we have Noedels - our dog - I've been sewing for her. Sleepingbags at first. Our cute little dachshund would burrow her way through the blankets untill she would be completely covered. My search online for a sleepingbag left me baffled, no way am I going to pay € 80,= ($ 90) for a sleepingbag. A little more searching got me into making her first "Winterwarm" sleeping bag. Made of two thick fleece blankets.
Very simple really.

 

[pommerlis]

It didn't stop there though......
It was cold this winter and Noedels is still a pup. Now she's 7 months but I figured a Dog Coat would be nice. Not one with sleeves and bows and stuff but just a coat that covers her back.
I had never done such a thing, I've never touched a sewing machine since highschool almost.....*cough*......years ago. Mainly because of that sewing teacher who was a.....not-so-nice-person. Anyhew,....I found a very simple pattern for a dogcoat and after a week I finished it.
Here's Noedels showing it of....

Notice the studs, she's no girlie-girl you see. She's a bit to wild and rough to be a girlie-girl dog so a pink frilly thing wouldn't fit her.
In the meantime I have finished her sleepingbag for summer.....I think I will make some more with different animals prints.

Next project is a collar with her name on it. Not just lettering printed on fabric mind you,....nooooo...it must be classy and something no other dog in the neighbourhood has of course.

 

[Lorraine]

I do love your Noedels, Pom, she is very cute, and her coat! So adorable. Little Miss Biker Noedels And Pom, I had a horrid sewing teacher too, she was just AWFUL! Why are domestic science teachers so ghastly?

 

[pommerlis]

I don't know, maybe we are to much of free thinkers that they couldn't handle

I know I was the only one in the whole school - during primary school - who got penalized in religion class.
The priest obviously had no sense for humor nor the desire the answer diffiult question from a child like me I guess so I think I copied some Chapters of the bible numerous times.

 

[frogimus]

Good job, Pom. My daughter wanted to sew something last year and even though we had access to my mother's sewing machine, we couldn't make hide nor hair of how to use it (other than as a potential torture device). So we ended up hot gluing her project which sorta worked.

 

[Lorraine]

Hot glueing sounds a great idea! I've been known to stick things together with boat epoxy which becomes a little...crispy you might say

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Those are just adorable, Pom! And your puppy is SO cute! Makes me miss my old puppies all over again.

Sewing is one thing we were never taught when I was in school. They called it "Home Ec" short for "Home Economics" or somesuch flim-flam. But they basically just concentrated on cooking... there was exactly one sewing project, and it was so far over our heads that the teacher pulled the project halfway through.

My mother (baby boomer generation), never taught us girls to sew, either. By the time we were kids everything was being bought off of a store rack/shelf, and she just didn't think we needed to learn. Rargh.

I've been slowly trying to teach myself how to do it in the last couple of years. I can do small mending jobs (have never had a mending come undone yet!) and I've done things like towels for the kitchen and washrags, things like that, but I can't work with a machine at all. Everything I do is by hand only.

The coat is just SO cute, Pom. Great job. Love it!

 

[frogimus]

When I was young, Levi's were sold by waist size and the length was left raw. Mom would tailor them to length and somehow manage to leave an extra inch or 2 to let out as I grew. Her memory is at the point now that it would frustrate her to try to teach my daughter.

@Seliah (Childe of Fyre) we had Home Ec, but it was only required for students not in Fine Arts or Music. From what I saw, ours concentrated on balancing a checkbook.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Yep, ours was mostly concentrated on cooking. The checkbook balancing got covered in 7th grade math class... and at least in our school at the time, they required Home Ec for everyone - art/music classes or not.

When I was young, Levi's were sold by waist size and the length was left raw. Mom would tailor them to length and somehow manage to leave an extra inch or 2 to let out as I grew. Her

Yes, nowadays it's all sold with both waist and length on the men's jeans, and just a generic "size" on women's. I always end up buying men's jeans anyways - they hold up better, are more durable, and fit me better... despite having one girl, if I buy women's jeans they simply don't fit comfortably around the hips for me, where the men's styles do. It's weird, but that's what it is.

I don't buy dresses off a rack - ever. I can't. I'm a full size smaller on the top half than the bottom, you can not find a single dress on the rack that will fit me properly. I always end up with a blouse/skirt combination when I absolutely have to get into those horrid dressy things. (Can we tell I don't dress up often...LOL) I basically need custom tailored if I'm looking at a dress... which.. is expensive nowadays, so I don't own any dresses as a result.

My poor husband needs custom tailoring on his shirts and jeans, too... actually he is the main reason I started trying to teach myself to sew. Because of the need on his shirts. He's a union carpenter, and he has a typical carpenter's build. His shoulders are really, REALLY wide, and his thighs are as well. Jeans that fit his waist and height tend to be too narrow in his thighs. And shirts that fit his shoulders, well.. you could put three of him inside of the rest of the garment. >.< LOL

 

[Miss B]

I remember Home Ec in school as a cooking class, but we also had a sewing class our last year, and one semester I made a jumper, and the final semester we sewed our graduation dresses. Thank goodness for my mother the seamstress.

Only reason I stuck with knitting and crocheting (and eventually needlepoint) rather than sewing, was the portability of the needlecrafts, as opposed to having to sit in front of the sewing machine for hours. My mother enjoyed it, I didn't.

 

[AetherDream]

Home Ec was a great class. I don't know why so many schools have done away with it. I learned some very valuable life skills in there. With how busy parents are these days, I think it is helpful for kids to have someone show them some basic plumbing or kitchen safety and things like that.

 

[Lorraine]

When I was a kid, back in the dark ages, home ec was for the girls and woodwork was for the boys. Guess which I wanted to do?! I became a feminist before the word was even invented! Not allowed to do woodwork, not allowed to play rugby, not allowed to go out on the farm on the weekend cos I had to help with the housework but my brother didn't even have TO MAKE HIS OWN BED!!

Nowadays, it's not called home ec but both girls and boys do everything together: cooking, sewing, woodwork.

 

[frogimus]

We had moved to a southern state with more "traditional" values. When my stepdaughter was enrolling at the high school, the counselor tried to steer her away from calculus and toward a family budgeting class because "hon, you should prepare for the real world and your place in your future family".

 

[Alisa]

So cute, Pom!

I am one of them baby boomers and remember both cooking & sewing classes way way back when.

I can use a sewing machine and actually own one I've had for longer than most of you have been alive...

Hubby keeps wondering why we have it as it hasn't even peeked out of its case for years

 

[Miss B]

When I was a kid, back in the dark ages, home ec was for the girls and woodwork was for the boys. Guess which I wanted to do?!

Meeeee tooooo!!! Of course the school wouldn't hear of it. Talk about sexist! ~sheesh~

 

[AetherDream]

When I was a kid, back in the dark ages, home ec was for the girls and woodwork was for the boys. Guess which I wanted to do?! I became a feminist before the word was even invented! Not allowed to do woodwork, not allowed to play rugby, not allowed to go out on the farm on the weekend cos I had to help with the housework but my brother didn't even have TO MAKE HIS OWN BED!!

Nowadays, it's not called home ec but both girls and boys do everything together: cooking, sewing, woodwork.

I definitely do not favor things that cause gender stereotyping either. The home ec class I was in was actually co-ed and we did stuff like learn how to create a household budget, balance checkbooks and plan how to pay bills and it was mandatory for both genders. We learned kitchen safety and safe food preparations, how to change a flat tire, check engine oil, operate a drill and a sewing machine. We also learned how to unclog sink drains by taking apart the drain and ubend, how to read labels on food items and plan proper nutrition and how to select and safely use household cleaners.

It was one of the most useful classes I had in high school. But then I was also allowed to do woodshop, so maybe it was a little more progressive where I went to school. I don't think it should be like girls all in the kitchen and sewing, but something more life and household skills for young adults both male and female. Sadly most schools where I am have completely done away with these type of classes in favor of teaching the more academic subjects, which is greate for college prep, but not all students want to go or can even afford to go to college.

 

[Miss B]

That's the type of class I would've liked Aether, but my Home Ec/Sewing classes were the last year of Jr. High, so equivalent to the 8th grade, not High School. We didn't have those types of classes when I got to High School, 9th through 12th grades.

 

[Lorraine]

The home ec class I was in was actually co-ed and we did stuff like learn how to create a household budget, balance checkbooks and plan how to pay bills and it was mandatory for both genders. We learned kitchen safety and safe food preparations, how to change a flat tire, check engine oil, operate a drill and a sewing machine. We also learned how to unclog sink drains by taking apart the drain and ubend, how to read labels on food items and plan proper nutrition and how to select and safely use household cleaners.

That should be a mandatory class in all schools the world over! Brilliant!

 

[frogimus]

Funny thing is, my son wants to be a chef. That's been his goal since he was about 6. He helps me with the cooking, washes the dishes when he sees they need done. Life skills aren't gender related.

 

[Miss B]

Agreed. There's a couple who live on the other side of our building who have a young son, maybe 10 or 11, who is quite the cook. He's been making one of the dishes for our building's annual Holiday Party the past 3 years, and let me tell you, this boy can cook.

I've always thought most of the best chefs out there are men, so it's not surprising when a man is a good cook, or for that matter, a seamstress or clothing designer. They just have to want to do it, and have the "vision" to succeed.