Fernanda Foertter

I sewed something for the first time. Well that’s not entirely true, I poorly hemmed a pair of shorts that were way too long first… but this my first actual project and the parallels with life and even computer programming were not lost on me.

My grandmother was a seamstress. I’m not even sure if there’s a more appropriate name for this line of work. All I know is she made people look great, but more importantly feel great, on the most important days of their lives. Whatever we call it today, it doesn’t give her skill justice. She wasn’t perfect, and not a good mother to my mom, but she did the best she could in life and work, and there’s virtue in that.

But I’ve digressed. Where was I, right, sewing.

We are restoring a 1978 GMC motorhome. Hypatia is her name and she’s not perfect. It’s taken us a lot of money and time to get “Hyppie” to move, oh and stop leaking gas. Some wouldn’t take that project on but for me it’s a joy to work on her. I can’t explain why, but it’s probably some sappy metaphor for life where she’ll heal me as I heal her… it’s not that, at least I don’t think.

Back to my grandmother. If an imperfect uneducated woman could turn threads into masterpieces I figured I had inherited something in me that could do it too. So I decided to sew covers for the beds on the Hyppie. Simple enough.

It’s not a coincidence sewing gave birth to computer programming. Well, weaving. To duplicate those intricate patterns these mechanical marvels called looms were programmable.

Men built the machines and women did the programming, so it’s no coincidence those same cards would be repurposed to make computers programmable too.

What may be hard to believe is there was a time computer programming was “women’s work.” Times change, machines change, people change. I’ve digressed yet again.

I’ve learned that for both sewing and programming it doesn’t take a lot of skill to make something functional. My skill being practically zero when I started sewing, learning to turn on the machine and load it with threads, add a needle and choose the right stitch pattern was enough to get me started. It took me several tries to wind up and then load the bobbin properly. Ok it probably took two hours between YouTube videos and words my grandmother would probably not approve of me saying out loud if she could understand English. When I’m my most frustrated I curse in Portuguese, but luckily I didn’t reach that level.

So I finally have the threads loaded… threads. It dawns on me that computer threads tie back to these cloth threads. Apologies if it seems obvious to you, but English isn’t my first language and some English words feel more like glyphs than something decipherable. Of course, threads… can help a computer program do things in parallel. Such an obvious connection and I’ve been in the business for over a decade. Threads are weak on their own but put them all together and you’ve built something useful.

The context I originally learned about sewing was back in Brazil, whilst my grandmother worked and I sat in that room filled with mannequins wearing half finished gowns. My tiny feet pumping the cast iron pedal of a Singer type sewing machine for hours of “entertainment.” Over and over and over, and over, I can still hear the creacking metallic sound it made. My grandmother would ask me to fetch her “linhas” of different colors. In Portuguese threads are called lines, perhaps this is why I never made the language connection.

Goodness, those manequin shadows still haunt me til this day. ::shudder::

Anyway I’m sewing away thinking about these parallels between my grandmother’s work and my own in computing. Slowly I’m making progress, adding features like a seam all the way around the top perimeter of the cushion.

The whole time I’m thinking “I’m probably doing this wrong,” but who cares. It’s easy to make mistakes but also fairly easy to cut the threads and do-over. Except cutting fabric. I learned there aren’t do overs on that one. Oops.

Programming is no different. Sure coding will be an important skill later on, but are we forgetting sewing? It reinforces so many programming skills and about processes and good planning and the ability to do-over. Unless you’re cutting… that’s why you should have a backup of your material. See? Programmers and non-programmers alike understand the meaning of the last phrase in completely different contexts.

I mean these seams are pretty hideous yet hilarious at the same time. Definitely doing something wrong. It’s good enough though.

I asked my oldest daughter to put on some music. The parallels between programming and sewing continued. Musicians are basically threads weaving a pattern programmed on paper… by now I’m laughing wondering if my coffee was spiked because everything seemed so connected this morning. Or maybe it’s the ADHD talking. Definitely.

It’s finished and imperfect, but good enough, functional and quirky. By now I’m not even sure if I’m reflecting on my sewing, computing or my life skills. The answer is probably “Yes.” Dodger doesn’t seem to mind all those imperfections, he’s loving the final products.

I should feel it’s good enough too but that’s hard. Life is a bit chaotic at the moment some days I’m barely hanging on… by a thread. (Pun intended, I’m going to own it.) But I keep hacking away making mistakes and remembering there are do-overs for most things in life.

Except cutting. Unless you have a backup of your files. Anyone ever notice life is an anagram of file?

That’s my only advice actually: backup your files people. Or maybe it’s to back up your life. Yeah do both of those, take your time doing it right even if it’s just good enough.