Feet Don’t Fail Me Now!

I’ve always considered myself to have at least average intelligence.  My IQ tests in the top 15% (only proving I’m good at taking tests) and before rebelling against the Honor Society, I was a member.  I have a 4.0 grade point average in the few college classes I’ve taken and I read a lot.

My hands know many feats…. they hand quilt, hand sew, machine sew, knit, crochet, embroider, crewel, cross stitch, wedge and throw clay on a potters wheel, tole paint, hang wallpaper, lay wood or tile flooring, butcher, chop, dice, julienne, cut glass, make glass beads and rebuild 2 barrel or 4 barrel pre-80’s Holley carburetors, among other things.

Today, I’ve learned an important lesson about myself.  My feet are DOG ASS STUPID!!! (sorry dogs).  I’m surprised they can walk across a room without getting tangled….. uh…..most of the time.

I sat down today at my ‘new’ treadle machine prepared to set the world on fire with my newest feat.  I firmly planted my feet where my grandmother’s feet had gone before and SNAP!  I broke the thread.  I tried again and broke it again.  I checked the machine and found no problem.  I tried again and again only to SNAP, SNAP, SNAP!

It took me a minute to remember that straight stitch vintage treadle machines will NOT sew backward and feet weren’t born knowing how to pedal frontward.  Just pumping the treadle pedal does not necessarily cause the machine to stitch forward.  My own personal research indicates that freely pumping will result in snapped thread 98.7% of the time.  One has to spin the handwheel forward and the feet have to catch up with the treadle in order to pump forward.  One tiny slip up will break the thread EVERY BLASTED TIME!!  Today I’ve learned VERY well how to thread the treadle machine needle!!!

I followed the advice of other treadlers and sewed scraps of fabric to paper foundations.  This enables a newbie to learn to operate a treadle machine without wasting pristine, new fabric as she learns to treadle FORWARD.  Hang wasting a bunch of thread!

I’ve saved lots of used printer paper so I cut it in half lengthwise and with my scraps-n-crumbs bin within easy reach, I began ‘making fabric’ that can be sewn together later to make a bright, wild-n-crazy……. uh…….. something(?).  I can either sew the strips together or cut them smaller before sewing them together to make a……. uh……. dog quilt?  lap quilt?  throw pillow?  pot holders?  oil changing rag? 

I’ve decided it doesn’t matter what I’m making (besides a mess!).  I’m teaching my feet a new feat and maybe, eventually, they will get a little smarter.

Shirl