Blog No 4 – What’s Mom got to do with it?

March was a bit of a tough month for me.  It wasn’t until the end of the month that I started to put things together.  This March, my Mother has been gone 9 years and would have celebrated her 92nd birthday.  It wasn’t until I stocked my booth towards the end of the month that I realized I brought in multiple new items that were “Mom” themed.  You might think that I was just preparing for Mother’s Day in May, but my heart knew better.

When I was a child, my Mom and I were close as can be.  Sometimes, we’d make things together. She teach me how to cut out a pattern after carefully pinning it and I’d sew the basic parts.  I didn’t really want to learn how to sew but I really enjoyed spending time with her.  She was my best friend for most of the years that I lived at home.  Sometimes when friends would call to do things, I would elect to stay home and hang out with her as her “little helper.”  She’d often have to force me to choose a friend’s house instead.

Me modeling one of Mom’s creations (Summer 1975)

She became a bit of a seamstress in her spare time and would do simple jobs for cash.  When I look back on it now, she was an entrepreneur.  She’d hem pants and skirts and her prices were always fair.  She’d take the money people paid her and squirrel it away.  We’d often go to the fabric store to look for fabrics to make outfits for me.  She even made one of my Homecoming dresses. If I picked out a fabric that was a bit pricey, she’d supplement the money my Dad gave her with those dollars from sewing.  She’d sew late into the evenings, often not going to bed until 1 in the morning.  And as I mentioned before, she really liked things to be perfect.  Whether it was the seam of a dress or the color of the thread, there was always a reason for it to be done “correctly.”

My Mom would say that she wasn’t great at Math or Science but she could do other things.  She could spell, write, and help with social studies and she enjoyed reading short stories.  She couldn’t really draw from scratch but could look at a picture and sketch a pretty good resemblance.  She could recover chairs and make a mean chicken noodle soup that I just can’t replicate.  She even looked at my hairpiece when I tried on wedding dresses and quietly decided she could make it cheaper.  I wore that hairpiece twice and I still have it.

As I looked through old photos for this Blog entry, I saw several where I knew she cut up an old dress of hers to sew dresses for me.  The fabric was exactly the same and I remember her wearing something similar in other photos.  I guess she was a little ahead of the re-purpose movement, although I’m pretty sure it was more about saving money.

University of Wisconsin Center - Waukesha Graduation (May 1993)

As I reminisce each time I prepare to write this Blog, I remember more and more things that shaped where I came from and how I became exactly who I am today.  My need to create is as much a part of me as the need to breathe.  I saw my Mom live it and now I’m living it.  I could probably still make some reasonably straight curtains at this point, although it’s not high on the list of things I want to do.  But I still have her sewing machine, just in case.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.