Back to School Sewing

Back to school was an exciting time in the house where I grew up.  School was a costly business for my parents with new clothes and shoes, school supplies, book fees, and lunches to pay for times six.  The process began in August when the Fall Sears catalog showed up in the mail.  My sister and I would carefully turn each page dreaming over the skirts and sweaters, the darling dresses, and adorable shoes.  Usually Mom would place an order for new undies and socks and double kneed jeans and cords for the boys. We girls could pick an item or two, but the majority of our clothes came from my mom's talented sewing ability.

One day Mom would say, "It's time to get busy making you girls new school clothes." We'd march uptown to Hill's Dime store to browse through Butterick, McCalls, Simplicity, and Vogue pattern books searching for the latest styles.  Then we'd slowly walk up and down the aisles of fabric to select just the right fabric for our dresses, skirts and blouses.  To be honest, I was not always happy that my mom made my clothes.  I wanted to dress in Bobby Brooks skirts and sweaters when I got older, even though Mom was an amazing seamstress.  I realize now that the clothes she made were far better than anything purchased, but at the time all I saw were girls in name brand clothing and I was in no-name, homemade frocks.

   I found these fabrics in a bin I have kept for years.  The fabrics in the photo are the leftovers from dresses my mom made me in school.  The red rooster print was a top that went over a yellow knit bodysuit that I wore with jeans when I was in high school.  The striped knit became a shift type dress with sleeves and little round buttons at the neck. The tiny print was a dress that had a white bib, and the red corduroy was from my junior high cheerleading outfit.  Yep, my mom made red and white outfits for the entire squad that year and continued sewing cheerleader outfits for me and any girls who needed a seamstress until my junior year in high school when the school began purchasing sweaters and skirts to pass down from one year to the next.

With love and talent, she made the dresses we three girls wore to the prom and wedding gowns for me and one of my sisters.  Sewing was my mother's creative outlet.  When we grew up, she turned to piecing blocks and then quilting tiniest of stitches to create masterpieces of color and texture that she gave to her children and grandchildren. 

I still have the outfits my mom made for me when I was a cheerleader, but the dresses and skirts are long gone.  She sewed for my daughter and those sweet dresses remain tucked into a container for safe keeping.  I must photograph the quilts and dresses she made when my daughter was a toddler. Each one is a labor of love and a tangible way to hold her close to me, even now.

Blowing a kiss to the sky, Thank you Mom

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I'm linking with Kim Klassen for Texture Tuesday.  I used Kim's If Only texture with multiply mode at 70% opacity.  I added a running stitch brush by Obsidian Dawn along the right and bottom edges. 

One more thing...yes I was a cheerleader through junior high and high school.  Over the years cheerleaders have been given a bad rap...well it ain't always so. Not all of us were uppity, good in the back seat of a car, snobbish stuck ups with no brains.  So laugh if you want, but I'm proud to say I was a cheerleader back in the day, so there! 

5 Fact Friday

I'm linking with Kim Klassen & Xanthe over at Reflection  of You for {5 Fact Friday}.  Wanna play along?  Just follow the link.

kevin & amanda have a fun selection of free fonts like the one I used, Pea Amy Sue. Check them out!

Stitching

Wanted: A needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.

~ Charles Simic

Photograph textured with Kim Klassen's If Only.  I used it twice flipping it and adding the second layer of texture so there would be stitching on the bottom, too. Oh what lovely, fun things you can do with photography!