gramarraine

At a very young age my mom was divorced with 3 children. That was during the days when there was no government help for divorced women. My mother survived by taking in ironing and sewing for one of the better to do ladies in our town. She used to take apart worn cloths and remake them into a small size for the ladies kids. Now the kids she sewed for are in their 70 and 80 and married into families with a lot of money. I sometimes wonder if they remember wearing cloths my mother made for them. I have a quilt that Mom made out of wool scraps and I am sure she got the pieces from sewing for others. My mother was a perfectionist in her sewing and taught me more than I ever learned in school about sewing. How greatful I am for a mother who would teach me but how sorry I am that I didn't start quilting while Mom was here and could enjoy it with me.

Vicki W

My Mama made all of our clothes until she went to work after my sister was kindergarten age. She still sewed after that but didn't have as much time for it. She even smocked our dresses when we were little. My sister and I were placed in matching dresses for years. My Granny sewed, my aunts, just about all of the ladies in the family sewed. I don't remember anyone who didn't.

missionslady

My mother! She made my dresses, dolls and toys, slippers for the family; she was always sewing. As a child, I remember falling asleep to the whirring sound of her sewing machine, and it was so comforting. She cut out patterns on the floor! She was a great seamstress, and she instilled a desire within me to sew. However, she was not a quilter, so I don't have much left of what she made. My grandmother sewed too, either by hand or on a treadle model sewing machine. She had 11 children and many, many grandchildren. I asked her if she would make one thing for me, and she made me a Yo Yo pillow. I still have it and it is my pride and joy!

Kim Bohannon

I think I was born next to a sewing machine... my mom started making her own clothing before I was born, so I can't actually remember the first time I noticed a sewing machine. I started sewing when I was 8 and have never stopped!

emerald46

Mother made Easter Dresses for my sister and I as we got a bit older...it was not one of her favorite activities...lol. She had a sister in Ireland who could see a dress in the store and come home and duplicate it without a pattern. Her daughter is the same. I think I got my sewing genes from her. My Aunt in Galveston always had a quilt in the works when we went to visit on weekends. I was in love with her treadle and all the pretty fabrics. She is why I can't go into a LQS without leaving with more fabric than I ever need.

majormom

I remember watching my grandmother (who brought us up) sewing on her treadle machine, making us clothes. She began showing me how to sew when I was around 9 or 10 and I loved it. I was sewing simple skirts and tops before my teens and have sewed ever since. The ironing machine was called a mangle. She had one of those too, but I never got to use it. That was back in the day when everything was ironed including the sheets and pillowcases! Oh the good old days. I'd give my eye teeth for that treadle machine that grandma had. Haven't got a clue where it went when we moved from the farm, but I never saw it again.

annesthreads

The "scrunch" of the scissors going through fabric - yes! That brought memories flooding back. My Mum sewed or knitted all our clothes for me and my 2 sisters - couldn't afford to do anything else. At first she had a small hand machine that did chain stitch, but later(about 1968) bought a Husqvarna Viking that 's still going strong. It cost her 40 pounds (about 60 dollars). I used to sit and watch her and she tried to teach me - but I was useless at sewing! It was 40 years before I found my sewing home, first with cross stitch, then quilting. I still don't do dressmaking, and have no desire to try.

majormom

I remember my grandma sewing feed sacks into clothes for me, and me sewing the feed sacks into blouses and skirts myself! And one of my warmest coats was cut down from a coat she had which had been a spring coat, so she made a very heavy lining and put that into the coat. It was deep red coat with a velvet collar and boy was it warm. Grandma could do anything. I think if one lived on a farm back then they were pretty lucky. I was pretty lucky.

hperttula123

I grew up with my mom always sewing. She learned how to make some clothes. I don't remember it, but she remembers us telling her to just whip us up outfits for school. Of course it would be an hour before we had to be on the bus. She did it a few times. So that is a little joke in the family still to this day...we just "whip it up". My mom let us sew at a very young age. I'm very grateful that she taught me all I know.

lizzyq

My grandfather had a grain business. Some of his customers wanted him to dump the feed into their bins, so my Nana got lots of grainbags, as we called feedsacks, for sewing. When the train came in with his supply, Grampa would pick her up and they would climb into the freight car where she would pick out the grainbag patterns she wanted, and he would take those to his customers who didn't want the bags. My mom, sister and Nana all sewed. Nana made clothing, hundreds of aprons for the church guild to sell, and table and bureau scarves on her treadle machine. How I would like to have that machine now.