24 April 2020

I’ve spent this morning (when I wasn’t lounging around drinking coffee in my happy place – the courtyard at the back of my house) sewing more shopping bags.

Now you may remember from a previous edition where I mentioned these shopping bags, in connection with threading my overlocker. And in updated information, I had to rethread the overlocker today, and it ONLY TOOK THREE ATTEMPTS!!!! I take that as a personal triumph and if it’s not covered on the telly news tonight I will be highly offended.

The shopping bags I make have one distinguishing feature. They are designed to hold a decent weight of shopping and not fall apart. My mental criteria is a 2l milk bottle, a bottle of juice, half a dozen tins – whether these tins are of chopped tomatoes for chilli, baked beans to assist in family wind concerts, tuna to give Josh nightmares, it doesn’t matter, just six tins, and a bag of potatoes. I’m thinking up to 6kg weight. Of course, the bags could also be crammed with 6kg of chocolate too. It’s entirely up to you, and no judgement will be entered into…

To make sure the bags and the handles can hold this weight, I reinforce. A lot. There’s a lot of rows of stitches where perhaps in bags I have purchased in the past, there has been a single row. Nothing annoys me more than a bag falling apart while you’re walking to the car with your 6kg of chocolate – sorry, I obviously meant tuna.

Anyhoo – I go overboard on reinforcing the bags, smugly sure in the knowledge that people using my bags will be able to get their stash into the house with no one the wiser about the contents.

So… my analogy of the day. There are a lot of people going through some tough stuff. If you are one of them, my thoughts are with you. My question is – what do you do, to reinforce your fabric?

Everyone goes through stuff that puts their strength into question, but by reinforcing the fabric of their lives they gain more strength.

Don’t get me wrong, like with the shopping bags, some fabric is sturdier than others. But even the strongest of fabric will break under the strain, if not reinforced.

What reinforces your fabric?? Family? Faith? Blue skies? Willy wagtails? Bubble bath? Red wine? Chocolate (no judgement!)? Meditation? Pets?