First in a series of ramblings on the perils of being a “first generation homemaker.”

That’s not to say that my mother didn’t clean our house, or feed the family. There were even stretches of years when she was a “stay at home mom.”

But she never considered “homemaking” a vocation. She didn’t have more than a curiosity or hobby interest in crafts, sewing, gardening or serious cooking; she would never even have thought of canning food, making soap or candles, or baking all her family’s bread.

So I am trying to return to some of these activities, which would have been considered strictly “normal” as recently as two or three generations ago.

Learning to sew has been particularly frustrating for me lately.

Much more so than, say, cooking, sewing defies the simplicity of following the steps of written instructions.

There’s only one way (at least as far as it matters) to add 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking power to the bowl.

With sewing there are things that are hard to describe, things that are assumed “common knowledge” that may not be mentioned, things about your particular sewing machine or situation that may change what is needed…

I’ve wished many, many times that I had a “mother figure” here to show me how to do certain things.

Practice makes perfect is okay with me, but hardcore trial and error is tough. Even more so when your funds for supplies are limited, and your time for projects is restricted by family needs.

How quickly these skills have passed out of common usage!

Hopefully I can learn enough to start Jewel off on an easier homemaking path…

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