Your Mothers Failed You
Have you ever actually stopped to wonder why only grandmothers can sew? Why only crazy cat ladies crochet? Why your nana is 65 but still hosts Thanksgiving dinner? Why are grandma hobbies the only thing young women seem to be interested when they learn to put their phone down? Why are they called grandma hobbies? Why do only grandmas do them?
Because they didn’t teach you how to.
Craftsmanship is something that used to be passed down through generations, mothers teaching daughters how to alter, cook, knit, and then, daughters teaching their daughters. It was rooted in suzie-homemaking and patriarchal home systems, yeah, but they were genuine life skills being taught in families. Not just in families, too- that’s what home economics was for in schools (something that you see happen in old sit-com reruns, but never see it unfold in real life once you reach high school). It seems obvious to me that with the rise of department store shopping, fast fashion, and standardized sizing, Time-honored practices of mending clothing and knitting scarves have almost disappeared.
Grandma hobbies are known as grandma hobbies because grandmas stopped teaching us how to do them. Now we dump shirts with holes and donate jeans that don’t fit. I was a lucky kid, and my grandmothers both helped me learn how to sew. When the strap falls off my 99 cent thrift store tank top, I can just slap it right back on. I love sewing. I love being able to say that I made my pants or my bag or my headband. I love having a wardrobe sized perfectly to me. I love when something is completely mine. Sewing and knitting and crocheting shouldn’t be grandma hobbies, they should be life skills. It’s kind of sad that they’re not anymore. I can’t knit, and I can’t crochet. I don’t have an interest in either, honestly. But, sewing is one of my favorite hobbies. It’s one that I do the most. It’s rewarding to make something useful and perfect for yourself. It makes me happy. I think if you don’t already, you should try out a grandma hobby. Keep that familial spark going. Make something for yourself.
It’s hard at first, but it gets easier, just like any new skill. It’s rewarding, it’s practical, and it can help you connect to something or someone. It’s important. Just try it.
From, Willianny
