I heard the most amusing exchange between two young dudes on the train awhile back.
One was complaining that he had bought some of those great trendy jeans with the ragged holes in them, and his grandma found them in his room and, feeling sorry for the boy, patched them. He was bemoaning the ruination of his stylish pants, while Grandma, in her mind, had done him a great favor by making a needed repair.
When I was in high school, some kids found out I could sew and thought it was cool I would sew all kinds of outlandish-colored patches on jeans. One boy commissioned me to sew fake fur patches on his pants. That was his fashion statement. I think I even sewed them on the inside of the holes, facing out, so it gave the impression he himself was fuzzy.
My husband’s mother, who lived with us throughout our married life, was a masterful seamstress and mender. She sewed neat and sturdy patches on all our work clothes, even insisting on hunting up matching material and thread, so it would look fine. While I can do a decent job of patching adult jeans, I marveled at how she could work a patch into the narrow legs of our little boys’ pants, protecting their busy little knees from dirt and hay chaff.
My eldest son, Seth, I would say, began his engineering career sitting in his high chair by Grandma at her sewing machine, watching with fascination as she sewed. He showed outright glee as he saw torn clothes getting mended, saw her making useful clothing out of rags. It wasn’t long before he was her troubleshooter and mechanic, tinkering and adjusting the machine when it acted up.
One of her most meaningful patching jobs was on little Paul’s favorite fleecy winter chore coat, which he left too close to the stove one day so its sleeve burned off. The poor child was distraught, but Grandma consoled him as she found some spare fuzzy material of a similar color and proceeded to fashion an entirely new sleeve. He was very proud of his new jacket and remembers her fondly to this day for the remarkable skill and love with which Grandma solved his heart-wrenching problem. This story reminds me of the great song by Dolly Parton, “Coat of Many Colors,” in which she describes the love her mother sewed in each stitch of a patchwork coat.
Really, it was a major way Grandma showed her love for us, keeping our clothes mended. She wasn’t highly educated or accomplished in worldly terms, but she found satisfaction and fulfillment in serving her family.
She was a great example to us, and all my kids have taken up the useful skill of sewing to some degree. She also was teaching us to take care of the people around us.
It is meaningful in our language we refer to mending broken relationships, repairing the breach, patching up a friendship. Let’s not be too quick to throw away what can be repaired and restored.
Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network