A stitch in time saves nine

Dolce far niente!

I learnt those words from Eat Pray Love and fell in love with them.

It means the sweetness of doing nothing.

And I can't describe my weekends in a better way than that.

Except for last weekend.

I attended my very first sewing class.

And second sewing class.

Well, there were only two anyway.

When I was little, my mom really tried teaching me and my sister how to stitch.
She bought us one of those stitching sheets with holes in them from the craft store.

I learnt running stitch and cross stitch and I played with it like it was a game.

Clearly I couldn't mend anything. Or even sew a button.

So I joined a beginner's level class at the HAB.

It was like Sewing 101 for Dummies.
The Dummies being my sister and me.

As they say - Better late then never.

I learnt how to thread the bobbin and the needle, sew somewhat in a straight line, and also how to do picot, buttons and button holes with a machine.

Wohoo!

And I also learnt so many fun new words which I liked for different reasons:
Bobbin - it reminded me of eating Poppins (the candy).
Foot Dog - sounds like Snoop's brother (from another mother?)
Picot (pronounced peekoh) - it's French!

So here's the truth - I sucked at sewing.
It's not as easy as it looks even with our 21st Century machines that do half the work for you.
Last week I spent an entire day teaching myself HTML and in all honesty, that was much simpler than sewing.
But the feeling of having learnt something new was like a mini achievement in itself and it felt pretty great.
 

The HAB (short for haberdashery) is by USHA (of fan fame) and has a whole range of classes to choose from.

From how to thread a needle to actually being able to make stuff - the dream!

It is a wonderland for sewing and craft lovers.

They even have an amazing machine that does stitching as well as embroidery and it's all computerized.

That's right!

So you can be out watching a movie while the machine does all the work.

It costs a gazillion Rupees but if sewing + laziness is your thing, it's for you!

Dolce far niente!