December 21. The Cadillac.

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While away in Sweden taking Assistants to Infancy training (Montessori 0-3) I touched back on my long abandoned love for sewing. A to I training involves a lot of material making (sewing projects, mobile making, wood working). When I came back to Aruba, I hunted for a sewing machine that would meet my needs as a beginner and meet my wallet's needs as well. I purchased a plastic machine at Price Smart which promptly fell to pieces just a few days after I bought it. The repair guy that came to pick up my bundle of broken crap showed a lot of contempt for my broken purchase and promised to show me what a real sewing machine should look like. He gave me a 101 on the old timey machines that he coincidentally sells at his repair shop. I left him the plastic as a souvenir (he already had a mounting pile of broken plastic machines in the corner of his shop) and brought home this CADILLAC of sewing machines. It is a Singer 237 from 1968, all metal and all love. It took two people to carry it from the car to the dining table (where I suppose it will make its home forever). The machine is perfect for me. You basically cannot screw up with a machine that only sews forwards, backwards, straight or zigzag.

The test project for the machine was a Montessori Teacher's Essential Apron. Two side pockets for observation notebook and pen (for split second retrieving, like taking out revolvers in a cowboy bar, except it's a pen and a little notepad) and a middle pocket for storing the millions of units that one finds on the floor throughout the day if one is the teacher of my classroom. The apron required no previous knowledge of apron making, no ironing (we don't own one), and not a lot of time.

Sayenne made one too but hers is not finished yet. When done, we will showcase it as it well deserves.