Reflection on Occupation

My foray into dress making was a part of my Occupational Science paper, as part of my Occupational Therapy degree.

Part of this assignment is to write an opinion piece on our learned occupation, specifically:

An appraisal of the value and meaning to them of their learnt occupation. Drawing directly on their experience of participation. Examples should be drawn from student’s occupation learning record (500 words).

As part of this paper, students were encouraged to spend 15 hours learning a new occupation, and I  chose the up-cycling of clothing. At the very center of this occupation I was learning how to sew
clothing - re using, re vamping and recycling clothes that were otherwise destined for a shredder. But as I learned to sew, I also found myself learning how to follow a pattern, how to design a pattern, how to make, create and repair, and how to be clever and inventive when sourcing and including different types of materials. I learned patience, persistence, and when to just step back and try again tomorrow. I learned sewing machine maintenance and repair.

I was really proud to be able to give my friends little girl a purple whale and tell her "I made this just for you"

A highlight of my journey was when a friend said to me "Oh, you've got a new skirt... hold up, you MADE that didn't you?! It's Awesome! You've got so good at that!"

I was able to link back to my lovely Mum, both by taking up a hobby she was proficient at, and by using her sewing machine.

I was able to do something 'just for me' and I was able to feel I was making things for my children, saving money and saving the planet.

Do I consider myself a seamstress? Not yet, but I now feel that I'd be more than comfortable dragging out the machine and giving it a go to repair or rework before just throwing in the clothing bins.

The biggest barrier I found was when I wasn't able to attend the basic dressmaking course due to my husband being called to investigate a warehouse fire in Gore, so I was left without my babysitter. I had huge facilitation in youtube, pinterest and google though. I was able to source almost all of my materials for free - from the Waitati Free Bus Stop, from friends and family and by altering clothing I already had.

I feel that the 15 + hours I spent on this occupation has given me the confidence to keep going, and I really think I'll continue my fabu fashion for free hobby in the future

The final tally:

A bed for the dogs

A skirt for a 3 yo

A skirt from a wrecked pair of jeans

a pod of cuties

A special something for a little girls first birthday

A hand knitted snood 

Curtains for the kids bedroom

A mens T shirt I turned into a ribboned singlet and rocked at Soundwave '14 in Brisbane

All in all I feel pretty Occupationally Satisfied, and I'd love to put my new found skills to use in a practice setting.

Wait.... am I a sewer now?? When did that happen?

This is a Torneau cover from a friends new ute.

The stitching had come undone, and he was asking around about getting it fixed.

Another friend told him "Oh, Cath can sew... ask her!"

So he did. And I fixed it.

Wow - world famous in Palmerston.

Sure, it's not exactly haute couture, but it's something I was able to do for someone else, and that was pretty damn occupationally satisfying.

Cool :)

ooooooo Fuck!

It's funny how when you go out to learn a new occupation you suddenly find yourself learning other occupations at the same time.

Today I'm learning sewing machine repair for numpties :/

And my dogs are learning a vast and colourful array of swear words.

That's part of my needle bar, also known as the UppyDowny (see post #2).

It's supposed to be attached to my machine, but it spat out the words tiniest grub screw and it's now in the lunchbox of shame where I keep other mystery machine parts.

Dammit.

I guess occupational fulfillment must be tightly linked to occupational adaptability.

That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Something Really Special

This is something really cool.

This is Mum's Pfaff:

She bought this in 1980 something, and used it for everything from waterproof overpants for crawling babies to my wedding dress.

I spent a good chunk of my childhood drifting to sleep with the sound of this old girl whirring the the background, so it's really special to have it at home with me.

The instruction manual for this isn't with it - Mum wasn't big on throwing things out, so I'm sure it would have been filed away safely, but thanks to the wonder of the internet I was able to get a manual for it in one easy Google search.

This really is a glorious machine. Mum must have paid a fortune for it when she bought it. Modern Pfaff Machines (even second hand) easily run into the thousands. Check out Trademe if you don't believe me. This old girl even threads her own needle - how's that for helpful! It's heavy, powerful and ruthlessly efficient. Turns out German sewing machines are just like German Cars.

It's been very special to be able to carry one with one of Mum's occupations using Mum's equipment, I've thoroughly enjoyed learning the temperament of her machine, and it's special to be making things for her grandkids using her machine even though she's not here anymore.

Something a bit different

My wonderful Mum died at Christmas time, 2012.

She was a phenomenal seamstress, and as mentioned previously most of my childhood clothes were loving hand stitched by her.

She wasn't only a machinist though, and was very capable with wool as well.

When we were cleaning out Mum's house last year I came across a glorious bag of wool odd and ends, including a magnificent ball of multi coloured madness.

I'm not sure what she was ever going to do with it, because multi colour wasn't really mum's 'thing' but I snapped it up and got knitting.

Knitting for someone like me is S.L.O.W.

Even though I was only doing a plain/purl stripe this took me weeks.

In progress....

And done!

  (Model provided by Back Yard modelling Inc)

So just in time for spring and too late for Winter I had made myself a fabulous pure wool snood.

And it's lovely :)

And no Cole you're not allowed to keep it.

This was cool for a change - there was no set up/pack up like when you get the machine out, and it was something I could do while chilling out watching TV. I can't do that when I'm sewing because it takes my full attention.

Pretty happy with how it turned out, but I don't think knitting is going to be a full time hobby for me, I'm an instant gratification kinda girl, and it was just to slow.