Lillian here. Delighted to host our Tuesday Poetics. I’m fresh back from two wonderful back-to-back cruises that began with four days in Athens, before we embarked and included four days in Barcelona at the end of the cruises. Along the way we stopped in Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, France, the Canary Islands, and Morocco. So I’m now ready to get back to poetry! But first, a bit about me as it relates to today’s prompt.

When I graduated from college, I asked my parents for a sewing machine as my graduation gift. They gave me one in a nice cabinet. It was the only new piece of furniture I had in my first apartment. As a graduate student, on my own in terms of making money, I took my old bed from the house I grew up in and then scoured secondhand stores for “treasures”. My idea with the sewing machine was to make my own clothes to save money. However, I hadn’t sewed a stitch since I’d taken Home Economics in 7^th grade. In those days, girls took sewing and cooking and boys took something called shop. Of course, grad school consumed all my time, so for the first year, I used the sewing machine’s cabinet as an end table beside my bed. But then, my old college friend contacted me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I was so excited for her, of course I said yes. However, I spoke too soon because then she told me “Great! I’ll send you the pattern, materials, and all the things you’ll need to make the dress!” Yup. I relearned how to sew by making a bridesmaid dress complete with ruffled overskirt! I was relieved when I showed up to the wedding rehearsal, dress on hanger in hand, to find out it did indeed match the other girls’ dresses. Success under stress. In my first years of marriage, I did indeed make many of my own clothes. When we had kids, I delighted in making sun suits, little dresses with bonnets, rompers, shorts and pants. I even made my husband and two-year old son matching red and black checked flannel shirts for Christmas one year! My son outgrew his shirt but for some reason I saved it. My husband finally wore holes in the elbows of his shirt so it got tossed. Fast forward many years, my son married and he and his wife were expecting their first child, I remembered that I had that little flannel shirt saved away somewhere. I did find it and gave it to my daughter-in-law at her baby shower, explaining the background of the shirt. All three of his children wore that little shirt!

My sewing days are long behind me and we sold the sewing machine many many years ago. So what does this all have to do with today’s prompt for poetics? I’m going to list some terms/terminology used in sewing, and I’d like you to use at least one of them in your poem for today. Bonus points if you use more than one! The topic and form of your poem is up to you. And obviously, you simply use the word/words within your poem. The word/terms will adapt their meaning to the topic and flow of your poem. In other words, the poem is not about sewing! It simply will include at least one of the terms below – blending in to the sense of your poem. I’ve capitalized the words so you can quickly see your choices. I’ve also included the meaning of the term as it relates to sewing….just in case you’re interested. So here’s the list you can choose from:

APPLIQUE: The technique involves sewing pieces of fabric onto a larger piece of fabric to create a pattern or design.

BACKSTITCH: A stitch used to secure a line of stitches.

BIAS: A diagonal line of woven fabric that runs at a 45-degree angle to the grain of the material.

BINDING: A strip of fabric that hides raw edges and creates a finished look.

BOBBIN: A small spool that goes into the sewing machine to supply the bottom thread of your stitches.

BUTTONHOLE: A cut in the fabric that allows a button to pass through and close the garment.

DARNING: A technique for repairing holes or worn areas in knitted or woven fabrics.

DART: A triangular or wedge-shaped fold of fabric that is sewn into the fabric of the garment to shape the fabric around the body’s curves.

EASE: The amount of fabric added to a garment to allow for movement and comfort.

FACING: Facing is a way to finish the raw fabric edges, stabilize, add structure, and strength.

FEED DOGS: The feed dogs are the teeth that transport the fabric through your sewing machine.

GATHER: a way to create fullness or a ruffle.

HEM: The bottom edge of a garment often folded up towards the inside of the garment.

NAP: the surface of a fabric with fibers that lie in a certain direction.

SEAM: A line where two or more pieces of fabric are sewn together with stitches.

SEAM RIPPER: a small tool to unpick a row of stitches.

So there you have it! I’m looking forward to a large number of diverse posts. The words above can be used in so many ways, other than in regards to sewing. Hope you have fun with the prompt! Image by Bruno from Pixabay

New to dVerse?  Need to be refreshed on the rules? Here’s what to do:

• Write a poem and include at least one of the sewing terms given above in the body of your poem. You may choose to use more. REMEMBER: the poem isn’t supposed to be about sewing. You’re just going to import one sewing term or several, into the flow of your poem. There is no required topic or length or form.

• Post the poem to your blog AND add the exact URL for your poem to Mr. Linky below.

• REMEMBER to either TAG dVerse in your post, or include a link at the end of your poem that leads readers back to dVerse (https://dversepoets.com). 

• If you do not TAG or include a link to dVerse at the end of your post, I will gently remind you to do so. After all, this will increase your readership and comments, and others will find dVerse and hopefully join in the fun. If you do not add the TAG or link after my reminder, I will remove your post from Mr. Linky. I do not want to do that! So please do include the TAG or link!