Tuesday 10 June 2014

..Now Hands That Do Stitches....




...can feel soft as your face?

Years ago there used to be an advert on British TV for Fairy Washing Up Liquid, it went on for literally years and years, from the typical 50's housewife at the kitchen sink in her high heeled mules and her frilly apron,  to Nanette Newman and a cutie pie Leslie Ash, waiting  desperately for a 70's empty bottle so she could do a Blue Peter project.

 But "What in the name of Great Googly Moogly" has that got to do with sewing I hear you ask,  Well Dear Reader I'll explain!

Part of the Genius of any Ad Campaign is having something that in less than 30 seconds (maybe less than that) can sink into the sub-conscious and remind you forever of a certain brand or product, regardless of what it is.  It'll be the same in all countries,  but in the UK, you say to someone "Anytime, Any Place, Anywhere" they'll know the answer is "Martini",  What helps you "Work, Rest & Play"? A Mars a day! -   and for Fairy Liquid,  it lasts longer than other brands isn't what sticks in the brain it's .............

              "Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face, with mild green........                                            Fairy Liquid"

so soft and gentle there's no need to wear rubber gloves to do the washing up!

The reason this has been on my mind for the last wee while is this,

I've never had great looking nails and hands, going for manicures or doing it myself has been a really sporadic thing for me, fits and starts, still my hands have been Okay,  nothing particular to write home about, but nothing wrong with them.  Apart from the occasional accident in the kitchen, or a couple of paper cuts when I was at work, there was nothing to look at.

Fast forward to the end of March 2014  when I decide to try my hand at Patchwork & Quilting, however, and 2 months later my hands look like they've been shoved through a meat grinder!

I first noticed it when I tried to use a piece of satin as the centre square in a modern log cabin  block,  I cut a teeny piece but between cutting and the sewing machine - 4 steps - the satin got pulls and I couldn't work out why the scratches were there, then I realised that it was getting actually quite sore to push a needle through the fabric, even pinning got so it hurt.  Am I alone in this?  has anyone else got hard skin from Who knows where on their thumb? (normally it's on the soles of my feet).  I've got stab holes from pins and needles, and Yes I DO know that I'm clumsy, I've got no end of slices from the rotary cutter, regardless of how careful I am, and every so often I actually have to put a plaster over the cuts to protect the fabric from pulls and blood spots.  It's quite bizarre that a ladylike pursuit, like sewing, can make your hands look like you do hard manual labour with sharp weapons.

I mean when you think back to Georgian times - I'm talking Jane Austen and Mr D'arcy territory here, when Sewing was what the ladies did with their time, did they too have hands like navvies?  you think of it being all gentile and sweet don't you?

Well I'm here to tell you that the truth is, they had cuts, scabs,, split nails and cuticles, and they probably needed those gloves not as a fashion accessory, but to protect the hideous state of their hands from prying eyes.!!

I'm just off to find some plasters,  Sigh.  Talk to you later peeps.

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