There’s Something About Sewing
There’s something about sewing that brings out the worst in Elly. Most recently we had this strip reprinted showing Elly screaming at Michael while she was trying to concentrate on sewing. The theme is repeated in today’s For Better or For Worse. The big difference today is that Elly seems to have forgotten she has a sewing machine. We see Elly cutting out material, which implies a majour sewing effort. However, she ends up trying to thread a needle as if what she planned could be done by hand without the sewing machine.
In both strips, Elly tries to ignore her children. Michael is 4 or 5 years old and he can operate by himself, even though history has shown that a neglected Michael is a destructive Michael. If my children had that kind of history of mayhem, I would check on them pretty frequently. However, to ignore little, barely one-year-old Lizzie seems a little negligent.
The part of today's strip that makes the least sense is the part where little Lizzie is seeking out her mother to tell her “poo-poo.” I remember when my kids were just older than one years old, and I can’t remember a single time when either of them informed me that they had just messed their diaper by saying “poo-poo” or any of the other childhood variations on that word. They usually let me discover that on my own, often in very disgusting ways. It’s been 10 years since I had a child who was 1, and yet I can still remember that clearly. It’s been over 30 years for Lynn Johnston. Maybe I will forget such things when I get to be her age, but I hope not.
In both strips, Elly tries to ignore her children. Michael is 4 or 5 years old and he can operate by himself, even though history has shown that a neglected Michael is a destructive Michael. If my children had that kind of history of mayhem, I would check on them pretty frequently. However, to ignore little, barely one-year-old Lizzie seems a little negligent.
The part of today's strip that makes the least sense is the part where little Lizzie is seeking out her mother to tell her “poo-poo.” I remember when my kids were just older than one years old, and I can’t remember a single time when either of them informed me that they had just messed their diaper by saying “poo-poo” or any of the other childhood variations on that word. They usually let me discover that on my own, often in very disgusting ways. It’s been 10 years since I had a child who was 1, and yet I can still remember that clearly. It’s been over 30 years for Lynn Johnston. Maybe I will forget such things when I get to be her age, but I hope not.
posted by howard at 11:45 PM
6 Comments:
There's also something about sewing that brings out the stupidest in Elly; John might make noise about how her working outside the home costs him money but he never stopped to consider how expensive her attempts at thrift were. The recipes that ran indicated to me that Elly likes to go broke saving money so whatever she's sewing would cost about three times more than something she could by at Zellers or Wal Mart.
As for ignoring her children, we're one again reminded that it was a miracle either of them survived to have children of their own to neglect.
dreadedcandiru2,
Things might be cheaper at Zellers or WalMart, but there are a whole variety of reasons people sew aside from that. Back in 1970s, my mom used to make her own dresses because the department stores went through a long phase where they only sold miniskirts. Then she occasionally did costumes for her kids for this or that school activity. With Elly, it's hard to say because, aside from a stuffed animal repair, we never see the end product.
As for her kids, I think they were remarkably resiliant. There was that one strip where baby Lizzie went tumbling down the stairs, which probably would have killed most babies.
That is a good point; as member of a family of women who like to knit, I know that a lot of people like the idea of making their own clothes. That being said, it's too bad that we don't know what the end product of Elly's labor is. Either way, it seems to me that she'd do better to keep Lizzie in the room with her so she can keep an eye on her.
There were several costumes made by Elly over the years (angel, the little bo peep hat that IIRC "mommy spent so much time making" but Lizzie didn't want to wear, um, ladybug? I'm sure I'm forgetting some... [John made a cardboard airplane costume for Mike, too])
A blouse might not make sense as a thrift measure for Elly, but Halloween costumes would. (I'm sure Elly would save money if she made all her clothes, bought fabric on sale and reused patterns, but we never see any dedication remotely like that - and we do see her clothes-shopping)
In any case, the toddler should eb playing in a corner of the sewing room, as DC2 points out.
Speaking as a seamstress... :)
1) Sewing one's own clothes can be reasonably economical, especially if you're hard to fit and want garments that flatter you. But I've never had the impression that Elly made any efforts to wear garments (of her own making or otherwise) that flatter her figure.
2) I've had it pointed out to me that my sewing my own clothes is one way I assert myself. So, if sewing is a means of asserting oneself, I can *easily* see spineless, passive-aggressive Elly "slaving away" over some garment, but never having the guts to wear it. Or of being willing only to sew costumes for the kids--since there's little danger of the costumes being worn more than once--but no "real" clothes.
3) With Elly's attentiveness (read: complete lack thereof), kids shouldn't be allowed near her sewing area. Will they find the big sharp scissors/rotary cutters/blades? Or the small sharp seam rippers, pins, and needles? Or the heavy/possibly hot iron? Or the small, easily ingestible bobbins and lead dressweights? Or will they just get their hands on the tissue paper of just-cut pattern pieces and render the piece useless, either by ripping it, crumpling it or slobbering on it? Or will they accidentally crawl over the foot pedal of the sewing machine while Elly changes the presser foot, and drive a machine needle into her finger?
Kids with Mike and Lizzie's apparent track record should *not* be left unsupervised in a sewing room.
All told, I call BS on Elly being much with a needle and thread. Most of the people I know who sew are a) pretty protective of their equipment, b) willing to show at least *some* of the end products and c) eager to share the experience with the next generation--or at least show the next generation how to do basic things. Elly doesn't seem to fit with any of these.
We have seen Elly do costumes. We have seen Elly clothes-shopping. But a strip with Elly showing off something for an adult we have not seen. In many respects it seems like Lynn made Elly interested in sewing for no other reason than to say that Elly is the type of person who sews.
She gets parent points for homemade costumes. I know when my kids wore homemade costumes on Hallowe'en, they got envious looks not from the other kids, but from the parents.
It's interesting then, when Elizabeth's wedding dress came up, that Lynn chose to make Deanna the seamstress who made modifications for it, and then she put Moira Sobinski in charge of the flower girl dresses. After all those years of showing Elly sewing, you would have figured Lynn would have put Elly into that spot.
I know that Deanna the seamstress leads into Deanna, the person who quits pharmacy to run a sewing school in the final strip; but I have to wonder if there is something more to it. Is Lynn really saying that Elly likes to sew but she is so bad at it, you can’t trust her with anything more important than a costume? After all, Lynn can write the character anyway she wants. Why not make Elly good at sewing?
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