And Sew on...and Sew on...and Sew on...

This afternoon I made a Halloween costume for our little Hayden. His love of sharks prompted him to want to be a Great White Shark this Halloween. Being the good mom that Andie is, she sat at her computer and diligently looked at anything she could find that would make a shark costume for her little guy. She found a Blog where a lady had created her own pattern and made quite a nice looking shark. Hayden seemed happy with it except for not having 5 gills on each side and a white tummy. Andie tried looking at patterns that could be adapted to make a shark. After tons of research, she took brown paper and cut out a shark shaped pattern and taped it together. Hayden was pleased. Then Andie trundled off to the fabric store and picked up fabric for me to make this costume. Armed with Andie's brown paper cut out and a picture of the Blog costume and a picture of a shark Hayden found acceptable in one of his shark books, Gramma started to sew this afternoon. As I sewed on this costume I looked at my hands getting older and started to think of my sewing history. My mom was an excellent seamstress. She even sewed for the public when I was a child so that she could work out of our home. I remember her sitting at her sewing machine making beautiful dresses and things for different people. She always had a glass of RC Cola to sip on.

Papa gave her a full length mirror which they attached to their bedroom door to assist in this process. He actually gave her a wallet with a tiny mirror in it and a note that let her know the real gift was the full length mirror.

My mom sewed on a Pfaff (I don't think I spelled that right) sewing machine. She knew every part of the machine. She cleaned, repaired and maintained it herself. It sat in a really nice wood cabinet in her bedroom in front of the window. Neffie, my little sister, now has this machine. On that machine my mother made wedding dresses for each of her daughters, blessing clothes for grandbabies, and I even watched her make a little white suit for a pre-mature baby who had died to be buried in. She made formal piano recital dresses for me and my sisters. She made suits for my father, slip covers for furniture and the list goes on.

When her daughters got old enough, she taught each of us to sew. If a seam wasn't right, Mimi had no qualms about telling us to rip it out and do it over. The catch phrase was always, "If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right!"

One of my favorite memories was trying to pin a hem in any skirt or dress made for me. We had a dress code in the Lawrence home. Dresses went below the knee. Now my body is really long from my shoulders to my waist. Then my legs are long from my hips to my knees. However, from my knees to the ground it is not so long. So we would try to come to some compromise about the correct place to pin those hems and invariably it ended in a laughing match looking at where the hem was pinned. I enjoy sewing. I'm not the world's best seamstress but I can stitch things together and do a few repairs.

I made a lot of clothes for my girls and a few things for Jake. There just always seemed to be a lot more patterns for little girls and not as many for boys.

Some of my more notable efforts are very silly to me now. At the time they were great deals but in today's fashion world, not so much. I made Claude a bright yellow sports coat out of yellow double-knit fabric. I tried to make my little girls bikini's. I made Jake a red plaid sports coat and red slacks. Claude said he looked like a little 'used car salesman'. Such silliness.

Jake, Nissa & Andie

Whenever we took the kids somewhere big that we might loose them (like Disneyland), I would make them all the same color shirt so that I could count heads and not lose any of them. One time I used some bright yellow bandana print fabric and to mkde them all matching shirts. Very easy to find my kids that time. My favorite fabric purchase story happened right after moving to southern California when Claude was in the Air Force. We rented an apartment and then were asked to be the managers of this little 13 or 15 unit complex. We moved to apartment #1. It needed curtains in the windows. Claude had re-enlisted in the Air Force and they gave him what was called a 'variable re-enlistment bonus'. There was more money than either of us had ever seen. We used it wisely and one of the things we purchased was a little White sewing machine for me in a very inexpensive wooden cabinet. My first project was to make curtains for the kitchen windows in this apartment. I measured my windows, determined to just made simple curtains, and we headed off to the fabric store. I figured I need something like 10 feet of fabric. Claude and I picked out the fabric we liked best. He took Nissa (a baby at the time) and I went to the cutting table. For some reason, I translated my 10 feet into 10 yards. Oh My Heck!! As the lady is unrolling the bolt I'm thinking, that looks like a lot of fabric, but Claude and I had both checked my measurements. As I'm standing in the checkout line, I realized my error. When I got out to the car I told Claude I bought 10 yards instead of 10 feet. Bless his heart, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I guess you can make a refrigerator cover too!" We both had a chuckle. I didn't make a refrigerator cover but I did make placemats and gave them to all our family for Christmas presents that year.

My next favorite fabric purchase story was when Jake was little. The girls were in school so he must have been about 3 or 4 years old. While the girls were in school I took Jake with me to buy some fabric. I picked out a piece I thought would be great for whatever it was I was going to make. I put the bolt on the cutting table and as the lady was getting ready to ask me how much I needed, my adorable little blond wonder looked up at me with those big eyes and said, "Mom, be sure you get enough for your hippos!" Ya gotta love kids.

Today I thought back to when Nissa was a little girl. She was about 2 years old and we wanted to take her Trick-or-Treating. I used old pillow case fabric and made her into a rag doll outfit. Jake wanted to be Dracula one year. I made him a black cape with a red lining. Then I headed to the dentist to get disclosing tablets. You chew them after you brush your teeth and they turn the inside of your mouth red to show where you didn't get your teeth quite clean. I also slicked Jake's hair back with Vasoline that year. BIG mistake. After 4 shampooings when we got home he still had oily hair.

When Katelyn was little she really wanted to be Robin of Batman and Robin fame. I made her an outfit just like Robin. She loved wearing it. I remember Katelyn and I going for a walk and looking for fall leaves. Andie had moved to Texas and they just don't get the fall leaf color we did in Maryland. So Katelyn and I picked out the best leaves in the brightest colors we could find and mailed them to Andie. I dropped my camera in the bag while collecting the leaves and for a long while after that I had a hazy spot on my lens. Valuable lesson learned about cameras and damp leaves. One of the years before I made Katelyn a pumpkin outfit for Halloween. This is Paul in that pumpkin outfit.

Katelyn & Paul

When Aubrey was little she wanted a princess dress for Christmas. Aubrey loved everything pink. So I found this beautiful material with pink sequins on pink fabric. I got the cutest princess pattern I could find and set to work making the dress from "H E double toothpicks"! Do not, I repeat the warning, DO NOT buy fabric with sequins on it. They are glued on. The glue sticks to your sewing machine needles and causes great frustration. Also the loss of many sewing machine needles. The dress was a cutie though and Aubrey Anne was a happy little girl. Bailey turned 2 and needed dress up clothes. I found a pattern sale at Hancock's and bought 5 patterns for $1 each. I made a ton of little dress up clothes for the mini-Marx's. When Andie got married I made 4 brides maid dresses and a dress just like theirs for Katelyn who was the flower girl.

Over Hayden and Bailey's little life I've made a lion, a frog, a Native American dress, a brave knight, a princess and now a shark. I can't wait to see our Hayden in his shark outfit. I still have to put a hem in the bottom but I need to be sure where to make that hem and will pin it after it is on Hayden.

Hayden as a lion and a frog

Bailey (Native American) & Hayden (Horse) then Charlotte (Betty Crocker) & Hayden (Brave Knight)

When we were getting ready to retire, I replaced my old White sewing machine with a new one from Sears. It's in a studier cabinet. It took a bit to learn to use it but now I totally enjoy it. I do like to sew. I'm grateful my mom patiently taught me this skill. It has saved us a bunch of money when we were starting out as a young married couple. It has allowed me to make some nice gifts for family and friends over the years. And now it brings back a lifetime of memories that I can cherish even when these Gramma hands get too full of arthritis to sew in the future.