I know you are wondering what this has to do with sewing, but, it actually does relate. I received an issue to this magazine several weeks ago. In it I found two articles related to sewing. One was under Homeschooling Units. Since I homeschool and I sew and want to pass on sewing to my children I was very interested in reading this. The article was about teaching lost arts to our children. I really enjoyed this article. There is a quote that so spoke to my heart because it was how I see things, "There is a charm in occupation which can scarcely be understood by idle persons." I was raised with the thought that idle hands are the workshop of the devil. I can see in the society I live in that this is so true. If people spent more time in activities that produced something then I think we would have less crime, less depression, and more peace. In my opinion society's ill's could be cured by teaching people to be busy with endeavors that create something, it could be something useful or something artistic. We struggle with this in our family. We live in a large city. We live on the border of the inner city. Our neighborhood is not some place our children can play freely outside. Since we don't live in the country their are only so many chores my children can do. We struggle with finding things for them to do that do not involve sitting in front of the TV or an electronic game. I find with the boys it is even harder. I have also found that when we do find something they can do with their hands they feel better about themselves. They develop more self confidence. They develop skills they can use in other areas of life. They fight less. The are happier. This article has a nice pattern with directions for making an old-fashioned pin-cushion. I would love to see ideas for boys. They can make the pin-cushion, but, I would like more ideas for manly arts for boys.
The other article that interested me was in the HisStory section. It was about a family that does some re-enactment and how they learned the way pioneers got their clothes. I love history and I love sewing so this article was very interesting.
I hope you will get a chance to look at these articles and enjoy them.
Sew Long for Now.
