2021 Ellie Goldberg

I was luckily awarded the Hal Tayloe Memorial Award to pursue my interest in sewing, in particular, swim suits.

A few hiccups along the way, but I did learn some things about the sewing process.

My original goal was to sew several pillowcases to get familiar with a sewing machine and assorted fabric types. Because Covid affected the supply of sewing machines, one that can sew bathing suit fabric, I was not able to purchase an affordable sewing machine until after Thanksgiving. I finally found one and had to use all the award money and more, and bought fabric, threads, and other notions. Surprisingly, fabric is not cheap, neither are sewing notions! So, I gathered old shirts and practiced sewing. I learned to do basic stitching and most importantly, thread the sewing machine and make bobbins, which provides the thread that creates the underside stitch. The machine has so many different stitching buttons, but I kept it simple. I’ll attempt those this summer. I completed 12 assorted sized pillowcases, and added a drawstring to make them into closeable bags.

Although my project was delayed into winter, the Christmas holiday helped to give the pillowcase bags a different purpose. I had planned to take the sewn cases to a local shelter, to be used as placemats, bags, or towels. Instead, I filled them with a few toiletry items, and placed them inside a box, underneath the homemade cookies that I make for the shelter, for which I volunteer during the Christmas holidays.  An added surprise!

So, the next step was to try sewing a bathing suit. I made a protype using cotton/polyester fabric to learn how to turn corners and adjust for body curves. Because it’s very expensive, I only worked with a little bit of the elastic fabric, and that was not easy.

Bathing suits continue to be so expensive, but now I see why. It’s very difficult to sew bathing suits! The stretchy fabric and the stretchy thread need a lot of patience to work with.

While I have not mastered the art of sewing a bathing suit, I have learned how to sew basic stitches. A very useful skill to know. I will continue to play with the machine and try to sew basic clothing, and I will continue to work on sewing a bathing suit that fits me perfectly.