The Bookless Club: Do you sew, knit or craft?

The word “notion” is an odd one.

We’ve all had a notion — a conception or a belief about something. Those are pretty common. You know what is uncommon these days? The other kind of notion. As in sewing notion. Sewing notions are buttons, zippers, hooks, elastic — the things that keep your pants anchored, your fly oriented to the north pole, button-down shirts buttoned, and bras snugly in place. Yes, sewing notions are the bits and bobs responsible for keeping us from looking like a pile of laundry.

It used to be that if you popped a button or the elastic in your skirt failed, you’d head on over to the sewing supply store and pick up exactly what you needed. While you were there you would be beguiled by a chorus of siren cries from the bolts of beautiful fabric appealing to your imagination. Gossamer chiffons, jewel-like silk charmeuse, nubby tweeds, crisp organzas, handsome worsted wools, and velvets that would inspire a frotteur. Sewing notions could be found at a variety of places, but the motherlode was to be found at a fabric store.

Fabric stores were simply everywhere. In Vancouver, those stores included Gold’s, Elegance, Gala, Fabricana, Saba Brothers, Robson’s Fabrics and, of course, all the department store fabric departments. These were the happy collaborators between commerce, creativity and thrift. And happy collaborators we were. I went to my first school dance in a dress my mom made for me. “Running up curtains” was a skill common in many households. In the months leading up to summer weddings or graduations, battalions of women would pour into fabric stores to execute upon their vision.

Where would you go today if you needed a zipper? Have you bought buttons of late? Name a fabric store today. Dressew, long a bastion of sewing supplies in the downtown core, announced in the summer that they’re calling it quits. Elegance Fabrics now only does catalogue sales. Fabricana is down to just one outlet in Coquitlam. Department stores aren’t really department stores anymore, if they exist at all, so sewing opportunities have also vanished.

I spoke with Sherrill Mair, the president of the family owned and operated N. Jefferson’s Ltd., a Vancouver-based sewing notion supplier that will turn 100 years old next year. She blames the economy for the decline in the sewing/quilting/knitting industry. Sherrill bemoans this trend, noting that, “In Canada, the poor economy has resulted in people having very few after-tax dollars to spend on hobbies.” And what is lost when we lose the skills that underpinned (no pun intended) the fabric (again, not a pun) of our society? She says that, “Sewing, quilting, knitting, crafting isn’t just stitches, fabric, wool and needles — it’s creativity, patience and the magic of making something from nothing”. But she also notes that it isn’t really something from nothing. After-tax dollars are stretched thinly. Time is, increasingly, a scarce commodity. And few people now have the space to lay out a pattern or piece together a quilt. She notes that you can buy socks cheaply, so why knit a pair or even darn a hole? So, we outsource our lives. The simple skills of self-sufficiency and the more magnificent skills of creativity are now not something many of us can lay claim to. The shame of it is that we’re not using the time once devoted to these creative tasks and simple maintenance for anything greater than doom scrolling.

I suspect there are greater rewards in knowing how to pin a pattern than just the resulting garment.

Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver. She writes The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com

This week’s question for readers:

Question: Do you sew, knit or craft? Do your kids?

Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at thebooklessclub@gmail.com. We will print some next week in this space.

Last week’s question for readers:

Question: What does it mean to be Canadian? Is booing ever okay?

? I am Canadian by choice. My citizenship judge reminded us that we had the right to live in a free country, that Canada was not perfect, and that we now had the responsibility to make it better. Share your customs, traditions, and food. Seek to learn ours. You will learn a lot observing your children making friends. I am so grateful for my citizenship and never take it for granted. Booing is easy, but it degrades the spirit and promise of Canada.

Pamela Cohen

? To be Canadian is to live in a nation built on the principles of peace, order, and good government — where civility is not just a courtesy, but the foundation of our democracy. But good government is not possible without good people. We strive to be those people — choosing diplomacy over derision, strength over scorn, we lead not by jeering but by example. Booing may feel like righteous defiance, but it is beneath us — a cheap insult when, as a nation committed to peace, we know that true strength is moral strength. A peace-loving people do not imitate hostility. We rise above it.

Dian Kalen-Sukra

? Booing the U.S. anthem is inappropriate. It shows our displeasure, but to the wrong people. The solution is simple: Eliminate all national anthems from sporting events. They are entirely unnecessary.

Norm Dawson

? We diminish ourselves if we allow Donald Trump’s “Beggar Thy Neighbour” economic policies to turn us against our best friends and neighbours to the south. Being proud of who we are, and who we strive to be, is important and appropriate, as is buying Canadian — it just doesn’t have to be at the expense of our relationship with Americans. Booing the U.S. or expressing anti-American sentiments is inappropriate and harmful. We can acknowledge our differences without being disrespectful. We need to stop whining, and rather than preaching our values to others, we should practice what we preach.

Bob Bryant

? To be a Canadian means to “Stand On Guard”. It would help if we opened our eyes when doing so. I can understand why the musical intricacy and melodic genius of the U.S.’s “Oh Say Can You See” song brings tears of pride into the eyes of American citizens. I can also understand why the stumping, non-inventive rhythm and the eternal repetition within “O Canada” brings tears of boredom to the eyes of Canadian citizens.

Gerald Baskett

? Many Canadians, myself included, found the initial booing at various Canadian sports venues quite inspiring. A sense of unity against a sudden, complete betrayal prevailed across the country. But now, at the 4-Nations hockey competition, I feel that cooler heads and hearts should prevail. I agree that sitting down during the American anthem is a more respectful (ie: “upright and disciplined”) form of protest. But wildly cheering and celebrating whenever any team scores against the U.S. would send a much more typically dignified and satisfying “hyper-national” Canadian signal to the world, eh?

Scott MacEachern

? A Canadian is a person who has the great fortune to be a citizen of a large and open country of immeasurable wealth and resources, who has abundant freedoms and security based on equality and human rights and the protection of person and property, all protected by the rule of law and a free press, who is secure enough as a person that he or she can welcome and live in harmony with others from diverse cultures, who balances individual liberties with a respect for the rights and needs of others, who can realistically aspire to a better future for self and family, and who treats others with calm respect even if opinions differ. And no, while booing may send a message about dissatisfaction with current U.S. policies, it is rude and inappropriate.

Ian MacLeod

? Recently, our neighbour to the south has insulted our leaders and us as a nation, disrespected us, attacked our sovereignty, and threatened economic warfare for no justifiable reason. I think our response to those attacks in the form of booing the American national anthem at several basketball and hockey games was about the most polite way of showing our feelings about those attacks. And the talk-show hosts picked up on it, which shows that at least some of our neighbours are listening. As I learned in school, bullies try to exploit any weakness in their adversaries, and without a robust pushback, they will continue to escalate their attacks. Canadians are not weak, as you detailed in your column. We’ll have to wait and see if the bully continues his attacks. If he does, I expect more booing.

Terry Edwards

I have to say I was very surprised by the booing of the U.S. national anthem, and as a proud Canadian it made me cringe. I agree, we must keep calm and rise above the antagonists.

Mary Lynn Cassels

? My great-grandparents were born in Ontario to parents who fled Ireland during the potato famine. I am now the grandmother of 10 grandchildren, and all are proud and privileged to be Canadians. They and their friends behave with respect for others regardless of their nationality.

Dianne Kellough

? What being Canadian to me is to be kind, dependable, and willing to back a friend. However, friends don’t sucker-punch one another, which is what we have seen with the current U.S. president. As with hockey tradition, we hold a bond with our teammates and will stand up to bullies who throw sucker-punches. Booing the American national anthem sends a message that Canadians will not be submissive to a bully, that we will stand up for who we are. The boos are directed not at the American people, but who they elected and his minions.

David Johnson

? Booing is the height of rudeness and total ignorance. I might think less of something, but I keep it to myself. I find booing so disgusting.

Caroline Duncan

? I’ve heard that people cheered the American participants at the Invictus Games just as much as they cheered for the other nations. This made me proud. America knows we’re shocked at their behaviour, so we don’t need to humiliate individuals like the person performing the national anthems or 11-year-olds playing in their first-ever international tournament. There are better ways to send a message without degrading our national reputation. Start by being friendlier to the Canadians you see on the streets everyday.

K. Li