This reminds me of the happy times
When Christina Mckelvie discovered her mum’s old Singer sewing machine at the back of the cupboard during a clear-out, she realised it was the perfect lockdown project.
The SNP MSP has spent painstaking hours rebuilding and rewiring the old family heirloom on her weekends off. “My eldest son moved out just before lockdown so I was clearing out his old room,” said Christina. “At the back of a cupboard, I found my mum’s old Singer sewing machine.
“It was all musty and covered in dust. But when I gave it a wipe, I realised it had been made with such craftsmanship that I wanted to do something…so I renovated it.
“My son is a joiner so I phoned him and asked what to do about the wooden box at the bottom. He told me to look out glue and clamps from his toolbox and I managed to get that back together and polished it all with beeswax. “Then I cleaned and oiled the engine and, when I plugged it in, the light came on. I couldn’t believe it still worked.” Christina added: “This sewing machine of my mum’s was legendary. We used to call the house Rose’s Refuge because, between her sewing and knitting machine, everyone had something she had made. I remember us being the first girls in Easterhouse with denim skirts that my mum had run up after cutting up my granda’s old jeans! “And, when I had kids, they were decked out in mum’s hats, mitts and cardigans and wrapped in shawls she had spent hours creating. My dad was diagnosed with MND when I was nine and my mum, Roseann, was the one who held everything together. She was the lynchpin.
“It’s been eight years since she died. She would have been 79 in March. She died suddenly from a massive heart attack. “I miss my mum so much. But it’s good to remember the happy times and this sewing machine certainly
Christina Mckelvie and her mum Roseann
reminds me of that. I think by bringing this sewing machine back to life, it’s like constructing an anchor back to a time when I felt more secure. This machine is certainly heavy enough!”
The new hobby is welcome for Christina, who hasn’t seen her partner of 11 years, SNP deputy leader Keith Brown, since lockdown began. “We live apart so we’ve had to make do with waving to each other in chambers. It’s hard but we’re stuck with it, just like everybody else. “Who knows, perhaps by the time we’re reunited I’ll have turned a pair of old curtains into a nice waistcoat!”