If you make ferret bedding or other items please continue.  For those
that do not, it will be off topic.  Just scroll on by.  Have a Nice Day ;)
 
From a 1949 version of the Singer Sewing Book by Mary Brooks Picken:
 
"Never try to sew with a sink full of dishes or bed unmade.  When there
are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so that your mind is free
to enjoy your sewing."
 
"When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible.  Go through a
beauty ritual of orderliness.  Have on a clean dress.  Be sure your hands
are clean, fingernails smooth--a nail file and pumice will help.  Always
avoid hangnails.  Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing
machine where you can pick it up and dust your fingers at intervals.
This not only absorbs the moisture on your fingers, but helps to keep
your work clean.  Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on
with care.  Looking attractive is a very important part of sewing,
because if your are making something for yourself, you will try it on at
intervals in front of the mirror, and you can hope for better results
when you look your best.
 
Again, sewing must be approached with the idea that you are going to
enjoy it.  and if you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in
or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together,
you will not enjoy your sewing as you should.  Therefore, "spruce-up"
at the beginning so that you are free to enjoy every part of any sewing
you do."
[Posted in FML issue 4387]