Sewing Isn't Just for Grandmas and Mommies!! (a young crafter rant)

[rvestal]

Don't everyone forget... straight guys sew too... the discrimiation doesn't end at younger folks.

[FLooZySue]

I love this thread! I think, for the most part, us crafters can all relate to the somehow. apparently we all belong to a shared sorority (fraternity) for all who colored outside of the lines.... age non-discriminate!

I'm now approaching *gasp* 30 (once you are here, you realize 30 isn't old at all) but I look younger. I still get the "odd eye" when fabric/craft supply shopping... but I have to admit though when that cashier got snarky with me (yes I too had something similar happen, however not so blatantly inappropriate) about my purchases and then complimented me on the dress I was wearing *That I MADE* I had a good go at making it WELL known to her the dress that *yes, I MADE* (she just complimented) was infact made from the very same items that just ran across her scanner...... total BURN! I guess that'll teach her to be judgemental, hmph.... and I then handed her a business card (snarky me).

I find that, apparently, I don't fit the "crafter look" whatever in the heck stereotype that is exactly. Like all sew-ers are supposed to look have a certain cookie cutter "image", I can ONLY imagine what it might be. They should've made a "Gett'n Crafty Barbie" instead of "Pool Party Barbie"... get my drift ... then MAYBE folks would be more open minded... Boo to them!

I have to admit though, I kind of get an kick when the fabric cutters ask the "SO, what are YOU going to make?" yeah you know the TONE and exactly what they mean... I just look em straight in the face and tell them I sew "Couture" dresses and clothing. I love the baffled look that creeps across their little faces, I can almost her their little wheels  grinding to a halt, "Couture? WTH is Couture?"... BURN, again! Of course merely I aspire to sew fantastic Couture, however what do they know, and I am QUITE proud of my recently perfected felled seams finishing... Hey, she wanted to know and had to ask and now most of them know me by name because now they want to know/see my latest creations.... fan club? *shrugs shoulders*  

I feel for ya, and everyone else, who has had to go through crap for being creative/gifted/talented when it comes to gett'n crafty, but I suspect the folks who do this either ...
a.) wish they had Crazy cool creative crafting skillz: everyone has a gift/talent for something even if it is just fooseball
b.) are sincerely, and truly, ignorant of the coolness (and cool pride) involved in creating your own things
c.) born hater : see option a implied jealousy  


So do we have a secret handshake, since we are all in the same club??  

[Bubbleparty]

A 14-year-old in a knitting class full of old ladies- hilarity ensues! I stick to teaching myself things from now on.

Also, has anyone else noticed that old woman hanging out in the craft department, buying tons of ugly fabrics and wearing a patchwork reindeer sweater? If I see her one more time...

[chloesmum]

Wow that was really rude of the cashier! I'm 20 and have been sewing for a few years, and when I go to Spotlight (which is about an hrs drive away) I've noticed that a lot of the time the cashier will serve someone else ahead of me while I'm standing there laden down with bolts of fabric. They look at you then just move on to the next person. Makes it worse when I have my 15 month old daughter in the pram kicking up a fuss coz we're not moving anywhere (although she sometimes helps get the point across that I've been standing there awhile lol)

[onceinlovewithAmy]

I get similar reactions whenever I go to craft stores--which is actually why I tend to stick with Walmart for my supplies, 'cause the employees in the craft section of my local walmart are too dense to even notice I'm there, much less be jerks to me. And I tend to stick to buying fat quarters for general sewing, so I don't have to take bolts of fabric to the counter. Last time I did that the lady that cut the fabric gave me some crap about it, 'cause not only am I only 20 years old, but I look like I'm about 13 or 14.

But the way I figure, we'll be some pretty butt-kickin' old ladies with some SERIOUS crafty skill by the time we're older, 'cause we've started so early!

[PeanutPaterooski]

I don't generally post pictures of myself. even more rarely do i post pictures of my son.

But for this post....



This is us. In all our weird, punk rock, angry, tattooed, childish glory.

I'm 33. He's 19. That's not the point.

I've been crafty since I was a munchkin. I've encouraged his creativity every single day. Except for when he was living with dad, he's been out of trouble, spare a few fights, for it.

He sews. On a machine and by hand. He paints on cloth and makes his own punk rock patches. He crochets and knits. He cuts and folds paper. He stencils. He mends his own clothes. He quilts. He made his friend a black baby blanket with a skull on it, and his son his first black onsie with a punk rock patch. He makes tams for his dreadlocks. He knows how to cross stitch but doesn't like doing it because it frustrates him.

He's pretty fucking amazing, and rivals my craftiness. He's a master dumpster diver. He also restores furniture and electronics, irons like a professional, and is a master housekeeper.

I'm damn proud of my kid. He's pretty cool if you ask me. Completely teenage boy, plays guitar, skateboards, loves fast cars and loud music and pretty girls. Makes incredibly cool stuff with a sewing machine or a crochet hook. Or a blowtorch and some metal. Or a sharpie and a dumpster wall.

Me? I posted this before and I'll post it again. I like tea cozies and amigurumi too, but i am a skulls and rockabilly girl mingled with hippy and Buddhism. I am a mix of punk and pretty. I call it ecclectic. I like it all. I wear my tattoos with pride and my home made clothes.

F*** em. If I listened to what people said about me, thought about me, i'd never leave my home. Only things I listen to today are me, my truth, god, my son and the people I know care.  The rest, well unless they are speaking my truth too, screw them. I ain't got time....too busy crafting =).

==========EDIT===========

PS - You should see the looks my son and I get at JoAnns. I think they think we are going to rob the place. Also, pretty much everywhere we go, people guess we are dating, or brother and sister. They are freaked out to find out he is my son. Offended even. Many are offended just by how we look. The blue-hairs at hobby lobby literally shudder every time we come in. When he goes by himself they brace as if they are about to impact for a crash landing. He is raised to be polite, and kind. But I have had to grab him by the ear more than once for giving lip to someone for giving him a snide comment or look because he has chosen to express his individuality very openly.  I tell him if this is how he wants to look, then he must bear the cross of comments and looks. He really gets fired up when they say something about me, or his girlfriend tho. But again, I have to remind him, we make our choices.

Do I think its right for people to open their pie holes? Absolutely not. But I didn't raise a violent man. I didn't raise a criminal. And I didn't raise a weakling. I raised a proud individual who can walk anywhere any free man can, and who can look or be anything he wants without fear. I'll be damned to hell if some blue-hair who thinks he has to be a 70 year old tea drinking woman to quilt will take that from him.

[blushingbluegrass]

Hear, hear! Good for you guys! Your crafting confession made my day! Probably my week....

I think you guys are fantastic, and wish you nothing but the craftiest of wishes.

[Cheyenneswthrt07]

Peanut, you are awsomeness!!!  Your son sounds like a great person.  I hope my little boy, he's 4, will be as crafty!


 Matter of fact I'm currently at that dilemma stage, you know, do I get him a kids sewing machine, or do I just teach him on my old Gilda, Model 66 Singer.  Also if I do the kids machine it will be an antique as well, well maybe not like some 1920 antique, but there are some nice 1950's era kids Singers out there that are kinda cool looking, kwim.   Dilemma dilemma............ ..not to mention the little girl, she's 2 currently, but ya know she's gonna want her turn at it sooner or later.............. ...


As to the OP:  ITA with Peanut, screw them!  Glare back at them!  I have this way of looking oblivious to the looks, like I don't know that they are happening, ya it makes me look a little daft but they don't know me and I don't know them.  As for the rude comment, I tend to ditzy those out too, I chuckle and they think they are clever and never understand I'm laughing at them not with them lmao......... 

[PeanutPaterooski]

Cheyenne --

Thanks, man. He's awesome. I'm lucky. He is my hero. He's been thru a lot.  And he amazes me every day.


I waited until he was old enough to sew by hand in a straight line to teach him on my machine, then taught him on a disposable one similar to the Stitch Bitch (brother ls2125i).  Something without so many exposed moving parts.  He still prefers a machine like this and thinks Laverne is going to chop one of my fingers off.  But I see him all the time sitting at her, pushing the pedal, and grinning madly. I know he's gonna try her one of these days.

But he has big hands, and I think he's still worried he's got "growing clumsiness" to deal with, and will sew thru a digit. 

Anyway, I waited until he was adept with hand stitching, and could really understand how to thread a machine, and a bobbin, before letting him start sewing on one. That was about 9 i think. Then I taught him the same way Mom taught me....sew on paper first....then fabric without thread....then lines on fabric with thread....then pillows....so on.

I still bite my nails watching him with his iPod on and working some finer quilting on the Stitch Bitch, banging his head. Can't help it. To me, he's sitting there, 9 years old, with paper, for the first time, with a sharp needle and moving parts, his tongue stuck out and brows furrowed in deep concentration (he still does that, lol).


There are some cute kid models out there tho, like the hello kitty. And kids are learning fast these days.  Maybe with a ballpoint needle and paper....

Before he was sewing on a machine, he was plenty busy cutting and folding paper, crocheting, knitting, gluing anything and everything he could (god....those glue days were ... kinda nightmarish), playdough and clay modeling, making model airplanes, painting and drawing. There was tons to do.

Let them pick the time to start, and gauge their dexterity. There's lots of moving parts to crunch little fingers. ;-)  til then, easy to sew fabric and slightly dull hand needles =).

[karmellah]

ive gotten some snide remarks about the kind of fabric ive chosen. I made a quilt last year for my friends newborn. I wanted it something she could grow into so I had cutsey rubber ducky type fabric and pink skull type fabrics. As the lady was cutting all my fabric she asked what i was making. I told her a baby quilt. She looked at me like I was on crack. "With THIS fabric?" "Uh, yea. i wanted something she could grow up with." and she rolled ehr eyes and in the snottest tone "That is obvious"