Sara Davidson
|September, 29, 2025
Last night I sewed a button on one of my favorite shirts. I was surprised at the sense of satisfaction that had given me. The long white shirt with its missing button was one of my favorites, but it had been hanging conspicuously on a hook in my bathroom for months.
I had not managed to dig out my sewing kit from a crowded drawer near my bed, then find the spool of white thread that was sitting on the old Singer sewing machine in the back of a downstairs closet, find a manicure scissors and sew it on.
No big deal, right? I hadn’t wanted to take the shirt to the tailor because he’d have charged me $17 to sew it on. And yet, there it hung, week after week.
I was reminded of a friend in New York whom I’d often stayed with back in the Eighties, who did take one of her shirts to the tailor to have a button sewed on. I’d been appalled. How much effort would it take to sew on a button? She also sent out for a cup of coffee and toasted bagel to be delivered in the morning to her apartment, when there was a deli just steps from her front door. But she was a New York Jewish princess
And yet, decades later, it takes me several months to sit down and spend ten minutes sewing on a button.
And what a sense of satisfaction I felt.
When I first was married, at 28, and some friends of my parents had asked what I might like for a wedding present, I’d said, “a sewing machine.” And I still have it, a Singer. It works perfectly.
How many things do you manage not to do, things that would be simple but you never seem to find the moment?
I’m not sure why, but I don’t make a “to do” list any more. If you do, what’s perpetually on that list?
–Another moment of This Modern Life: Before I went to sleep last night, I said aloud, “Siri, set an alarm for 7:30 a.m.”
“I turned on your 7:30 alarm,” Siri said.
“Thank you,” I said reflexively.
“Don’t mention it,” Siri said.
But can she sew on a button?
What simple task do you put off doing? Or, what’s on your mind today?
Things get fixed when they are supposed to be fixed. Old tools, make me think of old friends and relatives, doing the same chores in different times. Reading this I think of the Marge Piercy poem “To be of use”. I have a magnet that sites on my frig. It says “just because you can do anything does not mean you can do everything”. Mending your shirt and sharing that, the best thing, just took some time to get there. Was losing your button, good or bad fortune? Both? Why was this one of your favorite shirts?
Hey David, thanks for your thoughts. This was and is one of my favorite shirts. but now that it’s fixed i haven’t worn it! Soon, I hope. I tend to save my favorites…not a good policy. Should wear it and enjoy. Warm wishes, Sara
Thanks, David, for your thoughts. It’s one of my favorite shirts because it’s long and luxurious and feels good. But I haven’t worn it since I’ve fixed it! I tend to save wearing things for the right moment. An old friend used to say, “Don’t save it, wear it, or it’ll go out of style and you’ll never wear it.” This shirt wil not go out of style, but I don’t want to wear it on days I mostly sit at my desk in my home/office. Should I?
I understand! Three shirts in need of ironing have been hanging in my closet all summer. They have become a fixture in their own right, an integral part of the closet landscape. And…I often long for the trusty black Singer sewing machine I got in 5th grade and gave to my step-daughter who never used it. Thanks to your blog and the introspection that accompanied it,I understand that if that machine were still with me, the sewing pile would become another fixture of the household landscape. Thank you for sparing me for button, closet, and sewing guilt.
So glad to hear from you, Joanie. miss you so much. love, Sara
My wife Lorry was 29 when we married in 1969 and she already owned a Singer sewing machine. Using it she made a corduroy jacket for me. I still have it!
Good for her, and you! Thanks for responding. Warm wishes, Sara
Love the conversation with Siri ending with “But can she sew on a button.” I don’t wan to think about a task I’ve put off doing, but I can worry that the basic women’s skills we learned from our mothers and grandmothers will be completely lost.
Thanks, Tracy, great to hear from you. How are you and Jon doing? Health? Spirits? You can email me at sara@saradavidson.com It’s been a while since I’ve had a good trip/adventure. Going to NY with my 2 young granddaughters next week. that’ll be a diferent kind of adventure. xx
Thank you for this article. It got me thinking about something I’ve been noticing for a while.
I have this weird idea that Satan isn’t really such a bad guy. He’s just misunderstood. Or maybe it is humanity’s perverse nature to work any angle we can to get out of work that is at play.
So maybe Satan just wants to serve us, and not trick us into soul sevitude. Maybe he really wants to help us…
…so he inspired Marconi with radio. A great way to get information and entertainment out to everyone. But listening wasn’t enough, so Satan inspired the creation of something more visual…movies.
People could then develop a new thing that became mass fandom and pop culture. But wait – there’s more!
Movies were a weekly thing. People wanted more visual entertainment, so along came television.
Now people became so glued to TV that they needed ways to improve productivity…so Satan gave us an incredible gift: the computer.
The computer automated so many wonderful things…but even laptops were too big and clunky. So how did Satan serve us next? Why by planting the idea and way to make the cell phone that could act as a handheld computer.
But slowly…inch by inch…byte by byte…everyone has become addicted to their screen. Computers and their “memory” replicate our mind, our likes, our…everything. Your computer’s memory is a kind of facsimile of you…which means your addiction and love of your computer is simply narcissism..
The scary thing is that we thought we were creating computers and the software that run them. Recently I’ve noticed with software updates and next generation point-whatevers that keep changing the way the software looks and works…I am not so sure that humans are training and developing tech…or tech is training us. Even Satan has lost control of what’s going on with AI.
I remember reading an article about dolphin trainers who were using treats to get the dolphins to follow some cues. The dolphins came for the treats at the appropriate cues, but each time they stopped a little further away from the human trainers. To give the treats, the trainers had to walk deeper into the water. At one point the trainers suddenly realized…the dolphins were working the trainers to see how far they would walk into the water. Who was training whom? (Or is it “Who was training who?” The rules of grammar seem to be changing as fast as everything else.)
Funny how a story about sewing a button could trigger all of this.
I love this! I think it’s the simple task of doing something for yourself, by hand. A computer can’t do that; sew on a button. I don’t recall putting things off or feeling overwhelmed by everyday chores before computers took over. And I never liked bread making machines. The whole idea of baking bread is that you prepare it, mix all the ingredients and roll it out then let it rise etc.. then there is a real sense of satisfaction and even joy when it comes out of the oven. It’s the same with developing film the old fashioned way. Now we just send our pics through the computer to Shutterbug or some other company that prints your photos and frames them
Or puts them
In a book etc… I really don’t get any joy from that. I think we’ve lost a lot. I’m glad Sara shared this story about getting joy by doing something so simple, yet many people don’t bother with such things anymore. I’m not sure about the Satan aspect, but perhaps I’m feeling that society has lost something by not bothering with mundane acts that unconsciously nurture
our souls. Take care!
Thanks, Richard, Enjoy hearing your thoughts and reflections. Warm wishes, Sara
Only you,Sara, could make sewing on a button interesting! I do make to do lists and feel a lot of satisfaction when I check them
Off as done. Well I hope you’re snuggled into your fav shirt enjoying your morning having a bagel from your toaster and a cuppa coffee from your French Press! I laughed when you mentioned the deli and thought how I enjoy the ritual of preparing my own coffee. I actually put a French style coffee bar in my home complete with an awning and bookshelves etc.. I just pretend I’m a barista! Plus, I get to make coffee while in my pajamas!
Have a great day, Sara.
Thanks, Joey, always great to hear from you. You have a great day too.
I have to renew my driver;s license on Ocotober 13th. I don’t want to go to the DMV in Kingston, I was there once and that was enough. I can probaably fill out the form onine, but what about my eye test? Oh god. The optometrist up the hill seems to have been drummed out of business and the 13th arrrives a week from next Monday and oh god. But I googled something that told me I don’t have to get it done by my birthday, when I will be 84. I have two whole years to figure out the eye exam. If i break a law, there willl be money owed, but if I don’t, I have two years from 0ctober 13, 2025. And maybe, with any luck, by then I’ll be dead.
My first sewing machine was a treadle one (Singer). We bought at a second-hand store for a small amount and enjoyed using it. Unfortunately, it is gone with the dreams of youth, since it was too heavy to move.
Still making ToDo Lists!! Not for everyday things like housecleaning, laundry, etc. But projects! The list provides a great deal of satisfaction when items can be crossed off. And sometimes I just write in an additional item that has popped up just for the satisfaction of seeing it in writing and crossing it off!