Gabriel's Tailor

Yes, I survived the costume sewing marathon on Saturday.

Barely.

For those that wondered, some of the ladies I was sewing with do occasionally read my blog, although none of them read Friday's post before we met to sew on Saturday. When I mentioned it to them, they were highly amused that I had minored in home economics in college.

Yes, that was their take away value.

Since I hadn't touched my sewing machine in over three years, I decided Friday night that I should get it out and make sure it was in working order. Meaning I should wipe the coating of dust off of it. So I dug it out of the back depths of the closet and opened the case. My first thought?

Why is it pink?

I had a sewing expert advise me when I chose the machine, and if I recall correctly, we got a great deal on a close out. I just hadn't remembered that the front was hot pink. Even more strange, the thread in the machine was hot pink as well. I have absolutely no idea what on earth I could have been sewing that would have required hot pink thread.

At any rate, I decided to do a quick test run so I plugged the machine in, and ran a scrap of material through. It stitched for a couple of moments and then the thread tangled, the needle jammed and the material stuck. It took me several minutes to get it all apart.

Yep. That was the sewing I remembered. Guess I was ready.

I walked in with my machine and a small Rubbermaid container of thread, bobbins, and  miscellaneous sewing stuff. I looked around at various large and custom-made sewing kits, and shoved my little rubbermaid container in a corner.

After cutting out pattern pieces and then actually cutting out some costumes, my moment of truth came. I was told to set up my sewing machine in the corner. While someone helped me plug it in, I frantically tried to remember how to load a bobbin and how to thread the machine. It wasn't coming back to me easily, and after accumulating quite a useless pile of thread, I finally had to ask for help.

Once my machine was up and running, I was assigned the task of sewing a costume for the angel Gabriel. No pressure here. Don't be too impressed--I was just sewing the basic tunic part of the costume. Still, it seemed a little larger in the front than in the back. Had I known I was the one who would have to sew it, I would have paid a little more attention when I was cutting it out.

Fortunately for me, Gabriel's mother is one of the more accomplished seamstresses. She took the costume home for some fittings and--possibly--a little alteration? Fine with me. I certainly don't want the poor angel's costume to come apart at the seams while he's on stage. Who wants that on their conscience for the rest of their life?

So, I showed up and did my duty. And--as I should have known--no one really expected a whole lot out of me in the creativity department anyway. But we did do a lot of laughing. Apparently I really was there for the comedy relief.

Well we all have our calling in life. I'm so glad I spent my weekend fulfilling mine.