Seams Like Old Times, but in a New Way : High-Tech Hobby: About 25 women, most seniors, are learning to sew all over again using state-of-the-art overlock machines at Cypress College.
Jane McKeeman, a 76-year-old Santa Ana resident, learned to sew on her mother’s Singer sewing machine, the old-fashioned kind with a treadle that she would pump with her foot to make the needle go up and down.
Today she’s learning to sew all over again on machines that can perform feats her mother never imagined. McKeeman is one of about 25 women, most seniors, learning to use state-of-the-art, high-tech overlock sewing machines through Cypress College’s Adult Education program.
Called sergers, the new machines deliver perfect seams and decorative stitches that allow their users to produce professional-quality clothing and home furnishings.
“I’m one who likes to keep up with everything,” says McKeeman, sporting a pink sweat shirt adorned with a picture of a bulldog she stitched on her serger. “Whatever’s best for my sewing, I like to do. Last week I made 12 pairs of underpants.”
On Monday mornings in a small portable classroom, the students hunker down over their sergers, small but complicated-looking contraptions with as many as four spools of thread; the machines scarcely resemble the early push-pedal Singers. Some of the more advanced models are even computerized--an LCD display panel indicates the proper setting for all the stitches.
Many students wear thick glasses that help them see what kind of mischief these machines are wreaking on their latest projects. Last week they made lingerie--”underwear” to this no-nonsense group. This week, it’s hair bows that, thanks to the machine, can turn a wisp of chiffon into a fabric rose--if you know what you’re doing.
Despite the sophisticated sewing technology, the class maintains the folksy atmosphere of an old-fashioned quilting bee. The women enjoy poking gentle fun at each other’s handiwork, trading news on grandchildren and sharing tips about where to find the cheapest fabric or the best machine.
Pointing to her friends in the front row, 71-year-old Maxine Roszell of Seal Beach jokes: “They started taking this class when they were in their 50s--20 years ago.”
Her friend Bobbie Judson, also 71, of Cerritos, is busy struggling with her machine:
“This machine doesn’t like me,” Judson says. “I’ll have to take this class three or four times.”
Roszell is working on a slip that somehow ended up with an elastic waistband at least eight inches too big.
“We’ve been sewing forever. We’ve made all of our square dance clothes, the whole bit. This is a challenge,” she says, taking the stitches out of the slip.
Their teacher, Gayle Hawthorne, spends most of the four-hour session moving from student to student, trouble-shooting.
“This is a fun group. They’re all real eager to learn,” she says.
Hawthorne shows the women how to thread their machines, execute the stitches and put together a project. So far, the students have tried their hand at napkins, place mats, T-shirts, sweat shirts, vests and children’s clothes. At one point, Hawthorne informs the class that, for next week’s lesson, she’ll show them how to make swimsuits.
“Swimsuits? At our age?” Judson asks incredulously.
Hawthorne assures the class that, due to the cold weather, she won’t spend a lot of time talking about swimsuits. Instead she will focus on heirloom sewing--stitching lace inserts into fabric to make blouses, christening gowns, doll clothes and other items of more interest to the group. A few raise their eyebrows when Hawthorne pulls out a sexy lace camisole.
When Hawthorne is out of earshot, the students sing her praises.
“She has patience--working with us is like working with a bunch of kids. We never listen,” jokes Nicole Grant, a 59-year-old Garden Grove resident.
Most students discover the class after a well-meaning family member gives them a serger as a gift or they buy one for themselves--lured by the machines’ ability to simultaneously cut, stitch and finish a seam to perfection. Sergers can perform decorative stitches and sew two to three times as fast as regular machines (1,500 stitches per minute, according to the Butterick Home Catalog), so students can finish their sewing projects in far less time.
“You can do a shirt in half an hour,” says Juanita Giron, a 67-year-old retired nurse from Fountain Valley. Yet even threading the machines--which requires juggling multiple spools of thread and one or even two needles--can be daunting.
“I bought this machine, and it sat in my closet for three years,” says Jeraldine Rankins, a 64-year-old Buena Park resident. “I used to sew all the time, but when my husband passed away I quit. I didn’t do much of anything for several years.”
This fall, while signing her grandson up for kung fu classes at Cypress, she decided to enrolled in the serger class.
“I started coming here, and I’ve been sewing, sewing, sewing. I’m hooked.”
The class has therapeutic benefits, its fans say.
“I call this my exercise machine for my brain,” Grant says, feeding a swatch of fabric into the serger. “We come here; we make friends, we have fun.”
For seniors with too much time on their hands, the class has proved a welcome activity.
“Bored. I was bored,” says Barbara Riegle, a 73-year-old great-grandmother from Anaheim. “Plus, I wanted to make some bibs for my granddaughter, so I said, ‘I’m going to learn to use this thing. It looks peculiar.’ ”
She has since fallen in love with her serger. “I made a dress the other day in about 20 minutes. This machine does everything.”
The serger class is $5 for an 11-week course.
“You can’t beat the price,” Rankins says.
The sergers, however, do not come cheap. They range from $300 to $2,000.
Hawthorne’s next session, “Care and Use of Overlock Machines,” begins Jan. 3, and many of the same faces will be back.
“I know why I come,” says Grant, who is taking the class for the second time. “These women love life. They love to do things. They love to learn. I’ll be here ‘til I’m 90.”
