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Fabric Memories

After posting my comment in the 'Mother and Daughter lookalike' dress thread, I started to muse. I can remember the exact shade of green of that taffeta dress, and the feel of it.

Mum used to make most of our clothes and I can remember most of the fabrics very clearly - colours, print patterns, feel and sometimes even the smell (new cottons, the odd smell from ironing some of the earlier rayons and synthetics).

I can remember a couple of childhood horrors - the woolly vests that scratched, the ultimate clothing horror - the knitted swimsuit (bad when dry, appalling when wet) but even then I can remember the feel and colour and pattern.

Looking back this was probably the first indication that I might enjoy sewing and of a certain (ahem) fabric addiction. Am I alone in having these clear memories? I suspect that a lot of us here share a similar early fascination with fabric.

JillT

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gmt
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I think the time I watched in fascination while DM pieced a wool quilt and the way she tied it was my first indication I would sew, but I have never made a quilt, and that was some 67years ago. Emily

Reply to
Emily

Am

The very first thing that I made for me (instead of the Barbie or the Teddy bear) to wear was a gathered skirt. It was in a cotton print that was probably really home deco fabric, because it was beige with corn ricks and pumpkins and leaves on it. Upon reflection, I think it was probably pretty hideous. I got to make a button hole in the waist band, sew on a button, put in a zipper, gather the skirt on to the band and use the blind hemmer on the machine to finish it. Mom walked me through all the steps and helped me when I got totally frustrated. I think she finished the zipper for me. I wore to to school the next week. I was in

3rd or 4th grade. The next thing I remember making was a 4 piece bias skirt in highschool (I'm sure there were things in between, but they were not memorable). The fabric was woven with fine multicolor stripes, so I had to match the stripes so I'd get the ever-so-fashionable chevron things in the front and back. That had a zipper (which I put in backwards and had to redo) and a hook and eye. I think I hand hemmed that one.

liz young

Reply to
Elizabeth Young

I remember a "waffle pique" (have no idea how to spell it), dress that my Mother made me, she also made my sister and I identical dresses with white with a little green dot, I must have been about 6 at the time and my sister

  1. By the time I had worn mine and then grown into my sisters I was heartily sick of it!

I also have a clear memory of a "bunny wool" bolero she knitted for me when I was 6 or 7.

Dulcie

Reply to
Dulcie

When I was five the neighbor girl asked me to be a flower girl in her wedding. Her mother made me a pale blue taffeta dress that had a wide Pilgrim collar, matching blue satin sash that tied into a huge bow in the back and a nylon net overskirt. The dress wasn't long and I remember she daubed make up on my knobby, skinned up little tomboy knees at the church. I had white patent leather Mary Janes and they put little blue satin roses on the toes and anklets with blue lace ruffles on the cuff. I LOVED that whole outfit. I was a princess!! I still remember the sound it made, that was the best part, nothing like the rustle of taffeta to make a girl feel special. Good grief, I just had a reality check.......that beautiful young bride must be in her 70s by now!

Val

Reply to
Valkyrie

Omigosh, Val, this triggered such a strong memory--it may be the life event that caused me to want to learn to sew!

When I was five I was the flower girl in my uncle's wedding, and someone (have no idea who) made me the prettiest pink lace dress. I can still remember how pretty it was, and feeling like a princess in my lace, with little shortie gloves and a band of real flowers in my curly hair. We have a photo of me kissing the ringbearer--that dress must have given me some powerful self-confidence. LOL

I've always wondered where I got the urge to sew, since no one else in the family (except one aunt that I wasn't close to) really did much sewing. My mother certainly didn't. But I'm sure that having a dress made for me was so magical that it gave me the motivation to learn on my own!

Thanks for helping me solve a 45-year old question! Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

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