Last month I made a dress for a client. She wanted a Caribbean model. I haven’t made one before and when I was in fashion school, I didn’t practice it either because it takes too many yards of fabric to achieve.
Due to the fact that I was the one sponsoring myself, I avoided styles that required too many yards of fabric.

This time around, I had no problem with making the dress because she was the one providing the fabric and it was very sufficient.
In the process of making the cloth, I ran short of sewing machine needles so I decided to get a pack. I was surprised when the seller told me an extra fifty naira has been added to the price. What’s really happening to our economy?

I got home, inserted the needle in the machine, and resumed sewing. I wanted to deliver the dress in time. Besides, I sooooo much dislike piling up fabrics or seeing dresses that need an amendment or a touch of my sewing expertise laying in the shop for too long.

Kpaaaa……Kpaaaarrrrra….Kpaaaaarrraaa…..the machine hinged as I sew.

You just won’t believe what happened next.

Kpa! The thread cut! I inserted it again into the needle’s eye but few inches after sewing, the thread would cut off. I kept on inserting the thread over and over again. Sometimes it didn’t get to an inch before the thread cuts off again while sewing.

I just didn’t bargain for any of this. It was just so annoying and at the same time frustrated. I was at a crucial section of the dress making and the constant cutting of the thread would make the dress lose its perfect finish.

I decided to do a minimal service of the machine. My assumption was that it was an accumulation of dirt or tangled dusty threads under the machine’s plate.

You needed to see me carrying screwdrivers and undoing nuts. I was so much in a hurry. After I undid the nuts, I cleaned the engine of the machine and some strands of threads were found there. I took them all out, believing they were the cause of the machine’s malfunction.

I poured in abundance a good quantity of machine oil just in case friction was also an affiliate cause. Then I screwed the nuts back in place, cleaned the machine, inserted the thread in the needle’s eye, placed the dress underneath, and resumed sewing.

Heaving a sigh of relief when for some time, the thread was still in place. I smiled and thought I had dealt with the problem.

Then…

Kpa!!!

The sound I detest the most.
The thread had cut off again.

There and there I knew there was more to it.

I began to mutter words.

“Devil, it will not work for you today on this dress that’s for a first-time client “
“God please touch this machine for me and fight against everything hindering it from sewing”.

I automatically became a praying mantis.
Although my instincts told me it was probably the needle, I pushed that thought aside.
I can’t just change the needle like that. I just bought it and I’d already speculated how long I’d use it. Besides needles were now more expensive than they used to be.

My mind kept pointing out to me that the needle was the problem, while I kept trying other remedies. At some point, I just knew that was the problem but I was reluctant to change the needle because I wished that wasn’t what was needed.

Finally I reluctantly took the needle off and inserted another from the new pack.

You needed to see the miracle.
The thread stopped cutting as I sew and the stitches were neat and beautiful.

Yeah! Don’t be so judgemental on me right now. We all are sometimes like that.

We attribute all problems, stagnation, disruptions, and barriers on our path of purpose to the devil. Believing it is either a witch from our father’s side or an enemy from our mother’s side. We never want to own up to the consequences of our own mistakes. For some persons, they love hanging on some flimsy reasons.

And maybe you belong to the category of those who are one-way-traffic-headed. You keep trying the same thing over and over using the same procedures and getting the same results but you never want to check up on the things you are not doing right. You just believe it has to work that way. Your way!

How about those who feel they’ve invested so much in a particular project and they just weary themselves out daily even when they ain’t seeing results. Things don’t work that way. Sometimes you have to lose to gain and move forward just like I changed the needle.

Forget what you’ve lost.
Plot a new strategy.
Check up your excesses and flaws.
Work on yourself.
Purposefully search out things that have made you falter and halter in the past and avoid them.
Look ahead.
Face one Course Until Success.

In the second quarter of this year, let’s be purposeful and stop majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors! Sometimes it’s not the big things alone that count, but the Little things do too!
Let’s Grow Together.

MAY WE NOT BE THE WEAPONS FASHIONING AGAINST OUR OURSELVES.

Mordi Comfort is a storyteller, creative writer, event host, and organizer. She uses stories to pass messages, to relate relevant life experiences, and to bring about positive changes in people’s lives.
You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
…Kuzie Writes…