Virtues of hand sewing?

I adore hand-sewing! It's portable for travel, and requires so little stuff that you can literally roll a small item, thread, needles, thimble, and scissors into a small sack and hide it in your purse. At home, it's something I can do during those small bits of time and in front of TV. I can sit in any chair in any room I want, and can take it out to the porch or the patio and listen to the birds and watch the dog and enjoy the garden, while stitching and sipping iced tea. I can chat with friends, and show the neighbors how old-fashioned quilting is done, and teach them. It's relaxing. As for the end product, I always treasure hand-work more than machine work.

Hi Sunny

There are several reasons why I love handwork. It gets me to sit down in my recliner, put on some music, and slowly and relaxingly sew. It calms me down and I can talk to Bert while I sew. It gets me more in tune with my sewing and I really "see" what I am creating. I can contemplate what I am creating and come with with other ideas and embellish if I want to. With hand sewing it seems like I "fondle" the fabric more and connect more with the fabric and what I am sewing. I know that this is all so intrinsic, but it is why I hand sew so much.

Steven Alaska

Anyway, I have, because of -- unconventional construction methods -- found that I have to attach a border by hand. All the way around. Now, I'm doing it and I'm 1/4 of the way around. But I'm starting to be hammered by that voice that lives in my head that says the only work worth doing is the quickly done. I know that's not true, but as I said

-- the little devil lives in my head.

So somebody please extol the virtues of hand work, of taking the slow way, of not giving in to the need to soup up everything and start putting Hemi engines on our sewing machines.

Thanks in advance -- I am badly in need of a few good sermons.

Sunny

Sunny, one of the reasons I began quilting in the first place was that there are no deadlines -- for the most part. Just tell yourself that you are going to enjoy the *doing*, rather than simply rushing for the result. I generally machine piece, but I've been slowly doing some hand pieced quilted diamonds and find them relaxing and enjoyable, just as I find hand quilting relaxing and enjoyable. Unless you have a death sentence hanging over your head ;), you probably have enough time to be able to enjoy the hand piecing.

Sunny, I am a machine lover extroidonaire (can't spell it though) However, I discovered hand piecing and really enjoy that too. My Dear Jane quilt took me over 2 years to piece, virtually all by hand. I love doing Inklingo stuff, and Quilted Diamonds too. It is a very different mindset, but slowing down and relaxing with needle, thread and thimble can be very enjoyable. And, I like to think that it helps keep my hands "nimble" and not stiff.

Have fun, Pati, > Me again. Right Pat -- not a day for sewing. but that's what's going

I do enjoy the Zen of hand sewing, sometimes. It's a fine form of meditation for first-thing-in-the-morning, waiting for the coffee to kick in. Even better when the weather warms up enough to take my coffee and hand work outdoors, rest my eyes watching the dragonflies, listen to the frogs in the pond. Half an hour of that is enough to get a good piece done and make me feel good about the whole day. Roberta in D

"Sunny" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@x19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

You could utilize a tool that I teach my piano students. That voice that lives in your head is common to all of us - and ALWAYS is negative. It's like the ticker that scrolls across the bottom of the tvscreen when you're watching the news. Most the time you're just casually monitoring it, missing a lot. But when some breaking news comes across in bold letters, or some report about something that you're specially interested in, then you actually focus on it. It's the voice that prevents people from publicly doing anything without lots of stress and nerves, like playing the piano in front of people. here's the tool-----speak the positive out loud, and it prevents you from hearing the negative inside your head - you may be accused of going crazy, because you're talking to yourself, but it works and is worth it.

Musicmaker

Hi Sunny,

I've pieced three quilts by hand and am working on a 4th. Why? Accuracy. I can be a lot more accurate with hand piecing. Also, I find it nice to relax in front of the TV and piece.

While it's rewarding to finish something quickly, my best work has been hand-pieced.

My sewng machine is in the basement, my husband is not. Best reason I can think of for hand-sewing, but the accuracy is another; I just am not as accurate with a machine as I am with my hands. Of course, no pins to bend, needles to break, and no back ache are great. I can sit where I please, put it down and do a crossword puzzle and pick it right back up again. Could never do quarter square triangles accurately until I did it by hand. Hand-sewing is very freeing.

Not a whole lot in life worth hurrying over. As you get older it comes to us what is truly important in life . . . and hurryin' ain't one of 'em!

This is good to read Phyllis. I have in my relatively near future - Quilted Diamonds. I plan to do those by hand (as most people seem to like that way of doing them). It will be a new experience for me so I hope I find it as satisfying in many ways as you, and others, do.

I am so beginning to agree with your last sentence >g< . In message , Phyllis Nilsson writes

I know some people who would give this as a reason for machine sewing. *big grin*

Kathy, that's the same reaction I got when I read that. If hubbie isn't in the basement - ?

Musicmaker

Although it probably sounds sappy, we like each other. I work on quilts, he works on latch hook, and we both are watching (well, he listens more than watches) television. Not a lot of conversation (he has had a trache for 18 years and doesn't talk a lot because he won't use a cap), but, after 23 years of marriage, there is that companionable silence that is comfortable. But, I don't mind being sappy.

Kathy, that's the same reaction I got when I read that. If hubbie isn't in the basement - ?

Musicmaker

I have to confess I like being in the same room as my DH, too. 22 years, and he's still my best friend. I even have a "visitor's" chair set up in my sewing room for him. But if he plops down in it, he usually gets put to work. He knows how to cut, how to sew, and how to iron, so unless he's brought the laptop in to surf on, he gets fabric put in his hands. *big grin*