Curtain Call

For the past two weeks I have been going on home visits to the families of the students who will be in my classroom AND I have been working in my classroom; labeling and laminating, putting up posters, moving furniture, setting up files, attending meetings and collaborating with colleagues.

But for this holiday weekend I set school aside and I sewed almost non stop to finish curtains for my daughter's Chicago apartment. I used to sew, in fact I sewed a lot. The machine I bought when I was in college, sometime around 1975, is the same machine I struggled with this past weekend. Every few inches the thread would break off or tangle on the underside of the fabric. So every hour I seemed to be consulting with the manual and changing something; I changed the needle, the pressure on the foot, the tension in the thread, the tension in the bobbin (yes, the sacred and finicky bobbin), I even changed thread. I finally stopped and dusted it's innards and oiled every moving shaft and gear. The machine did not get the best of me and finally the four lined 47" by 77" panels were finished. I even hand hemmed them. I wouldn't say I won the 'battle' with the sewing machine but I can say "Mission accomplished!" Thanks to me, my daughter will be able to get her beauty sleep, unperturbed by the street light outside her windows. Seems to me I should've made her an eye mask instead.