My sewing students mostly fit in one category. Little girls. It is easy to entice them to make doll clothes, or stuffed bunnies, or felted penguins. Boys show up occasionally, and have a great time creating capes and bean bags.

Recently I have had a teenage boy coming to make pajamas. I think he is impressed with his ability to create something that could come from the store. But there is one distinct difference between him and eight year old girls.

He won't ask for help. 

The way my sewing room is set up there are two walls of fabric arranged into rainbow colors, and specialty categories like Christmas and animal prints. Four machines are lined up on three tables, along with an iron, and we all work side by side.  In other words I can hear the rumble of their machines. After forty years of snipping fabric I know the sound of an empty bobbin, a tension regulator that is incorrectly threaded, a reluctant wheel, and a snapped needle. There is no need to tell me. But younger students are quick to seek assistance. 

"Miss Lori, the machine is broken." While I still have to take a deep breath at the insult to my Featherweight, I know it is not actually misbehaving. It is simply an invitation to rethread, or refill, or untangle. 

The other day the teenage boy was trying to finish a side seam. I knew without looking that his needle had snapped. Probably he felt horrified at the thought that he had done permanent damage to an expensive machine. 

"Need help?" I asked casually.

"No, I'm good." 

There is a whole drawer in my table devoted to machine needles. They break. Just today three broke while I was making a pair of Raggedy Andy pants out of upcycled jeans. But he did not know that. He felt terrible.

Over the course of the next few minutes I asked again, but he was going to solve this on his own. I longed to assure him that I like helping. Finally, after fifteen minutes of unnecessary angst, he let me in. 

"I guess the needle broke," he timidly admitted. 

Cheerfully and swiftly I changed the needle. He was back in business. 

Asking for help seems to be an inevitable part of sewing. And of marriage.

"My partner is broken."

God knows that we need a hand, whether or not we can admit it. He even likes giving it.