Sew What?

I am a woman of many talents. I can chew gum and walk simultaneously, as long as someone holds my hand.  I can hum the tune to most any 1970's sitcom. I can laugh just like Woody Woodpecker. I can put in my earrings without a mirror.

But, sadly, I cannot sew.

My saintly mother, the coquettish one peeking out from behind the tree, did her best to teach me.  She even left me her coveted finger protection thingy. But to no avail, her lessons did not stick. I have adapted though and over the years, tape and staples have become my best friends.

Recently though I scored a beautiful green wool coat at the resale shop Frugality in Fairbury, Il where everything is 99cents. Or sure, sometimes the size tag has the name of the last owner scribbled on it in permanent marker, but sew what? I always fancied being called Nadeane.

What I did not like was the 1980's style gold presidential (?) buttons. So I bought some silver ones on line with a Celtic design of course. The price was five times what the coat cost but sometimes a girl just has to splurge on herself.

Cutting the old buttons off was no problem but how to attach the new ones? Tape didn't hold and the glue wasn't strong enough either. Staples had no place to attach themselves. Looks like I was going to have to put on my big Yaya panties and actually SEW them on. Yikes.

A needle was located (stuck into a candle buried in my junk drawer) but proved impossible to thread. How does anyone actually see that narrow opening at the end of a needle? Searching though my sewing supplies I ran across this doohickey.

Google-ing the photo and watching a 30 minutes You Tube demo and I was on my way. Needle threaded.

But how to knot the end? A sudden flashback of my mothers strangled finger tip and once again, I was ready to advance.

Several bloody sticks later (the red helped mark the spot for the return of the needle) and I was done. Counting the You-Tube video time, it only took 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Just 5 more buttons to go!