Oh, Brother!

Day 150: Running in third place behind mowing the lawn and washing the car, sewing takes its place among the tasks I hate to do. Never mind that I've made dozens of quilts, elaborate period costumes, men's wear, women's dresses, blouses, two Star Trek uniforms and assorted other projects! I hate sewing. I really do.

When my forty-year old sewing machine died last fall, I won't say I was exactly jubilant, but I did figure it gave me the excuse I needed to say, "That's it. I never have to sew again." Shortly thereafter, I discovered I needed to replace the elastic in a favorite pair of trousers. I bought new trousers instead. Then I needed to take six inches off the bottoms of my uniform pants. I paid to have it done. All of a sudden, buying a new sewing machine started to look like a better option.

Well, I've been putting up with long tails on my uniform shirts for over a month now. They're long enough that I could belt the shirts and pass them off as summer mini-skirt dresses. It's a five-minute process to tuck them down pantlegs when I've responded to a call of nature, and occasionally, I've inadvertently dipped them in the bowl. Yeah, a sewing machine was definitely in order.

To that end, today I bought a low-end Brother at Walmart. The shirts are hemmed. Hopefully, I won't have to sew anything else for a year or more.