How My Life Would Be Better With a New Serger

Not just any serger, this one that the lovely people over at Sew, Mama, Sew! are giving away. That's right; they are GIVING AWAY a machine that is worth $1,100. Bless their hearts.

As a little girl I would watch my mother sew. She made clothes and curtains. She would repair and mend store bought items that had been "loved" a little too much. She made a bedspread for the bed that I share with my sister. I can still see the fabric in my mind; little red roses on a light pink background. Sewing was comfortable for her; it was home.

Time marched on. All of her babies grew up, got married, and started having babies of their own. She had a great little craft room in her basement that she would escape to now and then, but the need for sewing every day had left with us kids.

My mother passed away suddenly in August of 2004. She died the day that I was going to tell her that I was pregnant. I was getting ready to have my first baby, but I wasn't anyone's baby anymore.

In the months to come my brother, sisters and I had the daunting task of dividing up all of Mom's things. We promised one another that we would not fight over her "stuff" because we knew that it would have broken her heart. I got the Kirby; at the time it was all that I really wanted. One of my sisters took her sewing machine and serger, and later gave the serger to me. We sold Mom's house in the summer of 2005 and time marched on once again.

One of my favorite photos:

Simon, Fall of 2006

In the summer of 2007 my husband took a job in a very rural area. I gave up cutting hair when we moved. I didn't just miss working, I missed the creative outlet that being a hair stylist had given me. So I began to craft. It started with knitting. And then I learned to embroider. For my 33rd birthday my mother-in-law gave me my very first sewing machine; I was instantly hooked. I love taking yards of flat fabric and molding, crafting, and sewing them into something of use. Sewing is like therapy to me. It feels like home; it feels like Mom.

I am on a mission to recreate my home. I will be making curtains, pillows, and all of the other things that make a house a home. The most ambitious task that I will be tackling will be a slipcover for my L-shaped sectional. Winning a new serger would not only make all of these projects much, much easier, it would make the end result more durable. This is a must since I have two little munchkins who will be "loving" all of the finished projects in the years to come.

How would my life be better with a new serger? I believe that a new serger would encourage me to keep challenging myself with more difficult projects. It would allow me to spread my wings by taking on sewing jobs for some extra spending money. But the biggest benefit of all will most certainly be the time spent instilling a love of sewing in my kids, just like my mom did for me all those years ago.

Sophie, watching Mama sew.