Memory Monday: My Mother, the Seamstress

My mother in 1947

MY MOTHER, THE SEAMSTRESS OF THE FAMILY

As long as I can remember, my mother sewed. She had an old treadle Singer sewing machine when I was growing up. Later, she got an electric one. She made a lot of her children’s clothes—after all, there were four girls in the family. She sewed my wedding dress, as well as my brides’ maids dresses. Even after I married, she made many things for me. One time when she and my father came for a visit, she brought me 10 pantsuits (OK, that happened in the 70s), all with coordinating shells that she had also sewn. After my father passed away, she moved to the same town where my family lived. After that, “Grandma will fix it” became a common saying around our house if you had a button come off or a seam rip. She sewed all the patches on my daughter’s Girl Scout uniforms, as well as my son’s Boy Scout patches—and that was a lot since he became an Eagle Scout.

Well, the years have passed and my mother’s gone. And the mantle had to eventually move from one generation to another. I knew how to sew—I took Home Ec for three years and made a very pretty green suit. After I married, I even made my husband an unlined suit—he wore it often. But I never really liked sewing. No, that’s not true—I hate sewing!!!

I was thrilled when our daughter wanted a sewing machine. So for her birthday a while back, we got her one. I figured out it operated and planned to teach her. I also asked if I could keep it for a little bit to repair something (I can’t remember what that was now since this happened a couple of years ago. But that’s another story.) Since I had the machine, she asked me if I could repair her husband’s pants. She brought a couple of pairs to my house and it only took me two years to get them fixed. He has his pants back as of last week, and maybe, my daughter will learn to sew this summer.

If not, I may have to wait until my two-year-old granddaughter gets old enough to sew and then the saying will be “Sophie can fix it.”