Wednesday, May 16, 2012

What the heck is a Sewer Band?


I have to laugh at myself.  I was heading up the highway this evening when I happened to notice one of those electronic billboards that I pass everyday on my way home from the office.  “The Sewer Band” will be performing tonight at the Marin Civic Center.  

A band of sewers – well, that sounds fantastic – may I join the group?  Is it some sort of updated quilting bee that incorporates an audience?  Are a bunch of tailors and seamstresses performing in a band?  Or do they use a needle and thread while performing?  Perhaps singers somehow incorporate the use of old Singer treadle machines?


Clearly, it was the end of the day and I was a bit befuddled, to say the least.  

And then it hit me . . . today I was the clueless character in a farce who can see what is in front of her, but the actual meaning passes right on by without making any sort of impression.  


The reality is that the members of this particular band live in the same sanitary/sewer district, which is where the name comes from.    

In all honesty, I am thrilled that my mind did not immediately go to the gutter/sewer.  I wonder what percentage of the population sees the word “sewer” and thinks of an individual who sews?  I would wager, not a very high percentage.  

Isn’t the English language fun?!  

With all of the recent discussions about words to describe those of us who sew, I am a bit embarrassed to admit that the context was not immediately apparent to me.

Has anyone else had a moment in which it became abundantly clear that you are living in a world according to creativity rather than reality?  

Things could be a whole lot worse, right?!

Although, I take Tino out for a walk and am thinking about how to insert the lining in the dress sitting in pieces on my sewing table.  You know those people who may soon get ticketed for texting while walking?  Well, I may be the first person to be arrested for "conceptual sewing while walking."

12 comments:

  1. Ha! I totally get that. My confession: I "sew" when I drive. Sometimes I get home and wonder how I got there--I have no precise memory of the commute! But I have worked out some construction details . . .

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  2. LOL yes! I totally zone out in the shower, where all my best ideas come to me. I just stand there for like half an hour thinking about how to draft my own pattern for something fantastic I saw on Modcloth. Good to know this is completely normal :)
    Great post

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  3. Oh my goodness, this is too funny! I would have also guessed it was aband with people who sew, not the other sewer, lol. :]

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  4. As a costumer, I got excited when I saw there was a TV programme called 'Bonnets and Hoods' - then realised it was on the 'Men & Motors' channel!

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    1. That is hysterical! I want nothing to do with a automobile show, but a program about head-coverings would definitely be worth my time! Perhaps all of the interest in Kate Middleton will be enough to start a bunch of millinery obsessed crafting shows.

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  5. If memory serves, Peter Schickele, AKA P.D.Q. Bach, orchestrated one of his early pieces for an ensemble that included a Left-Handed Sewer Flute. I wish I'd seen it.

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  6. I know EXACTLY which sign you're talking about, I used to drive past there all the time on 101 through... Novato? I lived in Santa Rosa at the time.

    May I be the first ever (maybe) to suggest we use sewwer, with two "w's", just as knitter (with two "t's") means ones who knits?

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  7. Ever since I described myself in a 6th grade "about the author" as a sewer and mocked by an obnoxious boy as being part of a septic system, I tend to go with "seamstress" or "quilter" or "I like to sew things"...amazing that I still remember that so vividly at 31, LOL

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    1. That little boy was evil. Isn't is awful how we remember those terribly moments?

      But at least you stuck with the sewing!

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  8. Ha, I thought the same thing when I passed the sign. I thought there was a sewing expo and I got excited. Oh well.

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    1. I am glad to hear that I wasn't the only one!

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  9. Oh I would get done for conceptual sewing while walking every day I walk to work!

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