FUN and funny - what's not to love about sewing?

Anyone following this blog will already appreciate it is much less about the actual function of sewing and a whole lot more about me trying my hand at something new. To put it in Microsoft Word terms, you could ‘find and replace’ the term “sewing” with pretty much any pursuit imaginable and (save for the bits about interfacing, selvedges and twin needles) the posts would make something resembling near-perfect sense (likely even more in some cases. Especially if the word was "jelly-wrestling"). So, why sewing? 

I suppose for me, it’s two-fold:

1. A bit of fun

For many of us, a modern lifestyle sees our brains pretty overloaded with stuff.  Stuff to email, stuff to do, stuff to pick-up, stuff for others, stuff we haven’t done, stuff to cook (that one is a lie, I never cook), stuff to clean, stuff to fix, stuff we’ve been putting off and stuff we should do better next time.  Basically, a lot of stuff.  Sewing forces you to forget all that stuff and focus only on the here and now.  And, If you don’t, you’re going to be bleeding from more than one finger-tip pretty quickly (cross-stitch is also good for this (the whole bleeding thing), just ask my friend Gina).

I think TV is the easiest form of stuff-avoidance (and the drug I could see my over-active brain reaching out for more-and-more) and while it is awesome at times (GOT – need I say more??) in reality, it is a pretty vacuous time-waster.

So, if you’re like me, consider something else you can do in your Pjs, and in the comfort of your own home, that gives you a sense of calm, focus and achievement (seriously, just imagine the adoration and life-long respect you could garner by showing off your latest applique cat draft-stopper!).  Sewing is something just for me and a skill I can develop to show the people around me how much I love and appreciate them.

 2. A bit of funny

The second big draw-card for me is the opportunity to have a bit of a laugh with it all.

I think women are funny.  Genuinely funny. Like, funny as in funny ‘ha, ha’ not funny as in ‘intrinsically weird’ or anything. For this reason, it never ceases to amaze me then that stuff (see above for sophisticated 'stuff' explanation) targeted to women is generally not in the least bit humorous. 

Let me give you an example.  One of Lisa’s (meanwhile – I don’t think I have introduced you to Lisa yet.  I like to refer to her in an awkwardly loud voice as my ‘same sex life partner’ just because I think it is hilarious. But yeah, she’s the love of my life).  So, one of Lisa’s close friends Rachel (once Miss Jelley now Mrs Pickles with thanks to hubby Phil - no joke) recently had a baby girl. Beautiful baby Lyla and, needless to say, both parents are tickled pink (or pickled pink, depending which way you look at it).  We visited them several times during the pregnancy and what struck me was the difference between baby books for Mummies and baby books for Daddies.

Rachel’s books all looked something like this:

While Phil’s looked like this:

Seriously.

A far cry for the pastel-toned, know-it-all guides populated almost exclusively with words like “calming”, “coping” and “intuitive-breathing” (even worse: “should”, “must”) and laden with the kind of passive-aggressive undertones that would have any expectant mum feeling completely out of their depth.  

Books for dads are funny. 

Blokes have the confidence to be funny because they know that 'humour' and 'meaning' are not mutually exclusive.  That 'not taking yourself/the world/stuff too seriously' isn't the same as 'not taking yourself/the world/stuff seriously'. Quite the opposite, in fact.

So, while there are fabulous sewing books and blogs out there (watch this space for book reviews to come) I’m not sure there are so many who value irreverence as much as I might like.  Having spent years writing nothing much more than emails, I’m loving the challenge of taking a lady-friendly topic like sewing, and folding a hearty helping of Commando Dad into the mix to see if I can’t crack a smirk or two among you dishy readers.

Fun AND funny.  What's not to love about sewing?