The Blessings of a Sewing Legacy

When I was growing up my mother always made our dresses for special occasions. As I grew older, people were calling upon her to sew clothes for their special events. She may have made her own clothing when we were little, but mostly I remember that she sewed costumes, dressy clothes, and hard to find items. Her mother and grandmother were both skilled seamstresses. "Granny" and "Mema" could make anything, thus, so can my mother.

I realized over the years that my mom was rare. Other girls' moms did not know how to sew. They purchased all of their clothing, including prom, wedding, and holiday dresses. Many of them couldn't even hem pants or sew on buttons! Their daughters didn't learn either.

I watched my mother sew sometimes. She probably did most of her work while we were at school to avoid being interrupted. She did not try to teach me how to sew. When I was fourteen or fifteen I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas. I think she had told me that I could not use her machine to learn and that I would need my own. My parents kindly bought a portable machine and I began to learn. I became easily discouraged as I tried to decipher the patterns. Often I would rely on Mom to help me understand. Therefore, I only sewed a couple times a year. That continued through my early years of marriage and parenthood. These days, I can usually find my answers on the internet. And I sew monthly, if not weekly. I am forever grateful for a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who sew(ed). I am not intimidated by any project that I determine to be worthwhile, no matter how challenging. I get that from my mother too. She has a "can do" attitude.

My eldest girls are sixteen and fourteen. They can both choose and buy their own fabrics and patterns and have made several dresses. They can repair and alter clothing. I encouraged them to buy their own machine to share, but only because we were all wanting to sew at the same time and had only one working machine. They are far ahead of where I was, as a seamstress, at their ages.

These days, Kendal made our many of our window treatments, designs her own clothes, makes her own patterns, and has made patterns for our littler girls too. She has even taught a friend how to sew her own dress. Kelsey has made a couple of dresses and altered/repaired many skirts from the thrift store. Most recently, I've made baby slings, ballet skirts, throw pillows, tee-shirt dresses, night gowns, maternity outfits, and baby blankets. We are blessed to know how to make things for ourselves.

When Kendal was very young we bought a small quilt kit for her from Vision Forum. Once she learned how to make a nine patch quilt, she began to make them from all the material scraps of dresses I'd been making for her and Kelsey. She then taught Kelsey and me. Her hope chest is full of nine patches made from our family's scraps. In fact, Kelsey and I also have strips from many projects that will later be converted into our own quilts. It will be such a treasure one day to look at each piece and remember the little girls in their homemade dresses.

I usually scramble and make dresses for every girl for Easter. Kendal and Kelsey made their own this year and I made one for my pregnant self and for Joy. But my favorite and most practical clothing to make is a tee shirt dress. We purchase high quality knit tops from Lands' End overstocks and find bargain fabrics to match for skirts. Until the girls are old enough to wear ladies' sized skirts from the thriftstore, our daughters wear these dresses everyday (from one to about twelve years of age). Most of those tee shirt dresses cost us $2-$10. Often times we were given nice shirts and sometimes fabric and we were able to match them up and make dresses for free. For cold weather or rowdy activities we add leggings or shorts. (We also keep a supply of jeans for the really cold or hardy events outdoors) I've especially enjoyed adding rickrack, lace or other trims that I found in a bargain bin or at a yard sale.

Material is expensive. Patterns are too. Bargains can be found though. And money can be saved. Most importantly, modest, beautiful clothing is still available if you are willing to learn how to sew! Even better, teach someone else how to do it too!