Coming to an end

Although I'd planned to finish this memory blog in a month, I hadn't really thought about arranging the entires--and indeed, they aren't topical or chronological.

This photo isn't the last outfit I ever made, but it is close. I recall a few outfits in the 80s probably when I was between jobs. I started taking contract appointments in 1978 until I got a tenure track position in 1986 at Ohio State University Libraries. This photo was taken in 1979 at our church after I'd gone back to work, and my daughter was tall enough to borrow my clothes (she's wearing my skirt). I made the wool plaid skirt I'm wearing in the photo from the maxi-pattern I showed earlier. We were transitioning--shopping with friends would become a social event in my daughter's life; I would be too busy or too distracted to sew; the children's school demands would create a lot of conflict; and my husband was unhappy at work.

Sewing, which I never did particularly well, sort of fell by the way side until it disappeared from my life all together. When we bought our summer cottage in 1988 I had great plans to learn to slip-cover--even kept the sewing machine up there for a few years, but it never happened. Mother continued making things, moving more to crafts, and home furnishing and helped some of her grandchildren learn to sew.

Last week on a church bulletin board I saw a large display of photos of Sunday dresses for children of the Hilltop area where many of our members volunteer at Highland School. They were lovely--velvet and satin and ribbons and lace. Everything that a little girl could want in a fantasy dress. Thinking it might be a group sewing activity, I called for information--might even be an excuse to dust off the sewing machine. I was told they were all made by one woman.

Oh my.

Update: I called the woman who made the dresses--she'd made 24 dresses in sizes 4, 6 and 8 from her "stash" (she has a sewing businesses). A friend found little canvas bags at a sewing store and painted a design on the bag to match each dress, and her husband found hats to match. Now she is making pajamas--she's making 40 for the children. Update 2: Saw her this week and now she's made 61 dresses.

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sewing, 1970s, memoirs, vintage patterns