Friday, January 28, 2011

My mom, Mrs. Sew and Sew

I'm asked pretty often how I got started sewing. It's largely in part of being around my mom, who made most of our clothes growing up. It just doesn't seem weird to me to think "Gosh, I have nothing to wear tomorrow night, and I've been dying to have a blue dress. Ok, better get a move on and make one if it's going to get done in time!" It's really empowering to think that we can creat the basic things that we use every day. I think it is very similar to how I look at food. Food and clothing are some of our basic needs, and we can impact their availability creatively. With cooking, we can be creative at least 3 times a day! Here's a pic of my mom with my sister and sister-in-law at the pumpkin patch. I miss the Midwest in the fall!


I grew up in the mid to late 70s, when there was a movement much like today to have a vegetable garden in back and sew your own clothes, paint, sculp, make crafts like macrame. We made crafts constantly. You can see in the background of the photos my mom's paintings that she painted, she is really artistic.


My parents had a huuuge garden, filled with rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, carrots, etc. and then a strawberry patch too! We went apple picking and made pies together, picked strawberries and made jam. It really impacted how I consider food and how we procure it. I watched my mom sew all the time and saw how much time it took to create one garment: the planning, the shopping for materials, the careful cutting and piecing. She even embellished with hand embroidery and applique, you can see the overalls with a little dog on the front, how sweet! We laughed as teenagers about my brother in gingham with a bow tie, but now that I'm expecting a little one of my own, I'd do just the same I'm afraid.


Both with food and clothing, modern marketplace forces have taken us to very abstract places with how they're produced. Most of our food travels over 2000 miles to get to us, and most of our clothes are made by slave laborers in Asia or obscure Pacific Islands that are falsely labelled "Made in the USA". We buy both food and clothes for far cheaper than we ever did, scale-wise, but there is a cost involved in the soul of the means, IMO. As fans of vintage clothing, we have to remind ourselves that things were manufactured differently back then: 95% of the clothing in the world was made by union laborers in the United States, and now it's only 5%. Many ladies sewed their own clothes to save money.

I think this is why it's become so meaningful for people to take the methods of production into their own hands, it reminds us of how much work our foreparents did on a daily basis, the tradition of skilled craftsmanship, and it's also really fun! Thanks Mom!!!

8 comments:

  1. I already know you will start making your baby clothes, if you haven't already!

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  2. We were just looking at these pictures at their house recently. Awesome!

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  3. eeeks...this is such a heartwarming post...and the pictures with the outfits=ADORABLE. You were such a doll and your own little baby is going to be gorgeous and so well-dressed, too! I love the abundance of gingham in the get ups your mom made!!! Regarding food and fashion: Although my grandparents, who had the huge vegetable garden, and my grandmother, who made many of my clothes, did these things not as part of an ecological or anti-globalization movement, but out of habits formed during the Depression and WWII, they really helped me view the food and fashion industries in the same way you do.

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  4. How adorable! I guess it's true--the apple (picker) doesn't fall far from the tree! I grew up much the same, but my mom doesn't sew too well. Thus, neither do it.

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  5. To quote the latest Dr. Who, "Bow ties are cool."

    Fantastic post! The one thing that I cannot stand about where we live now is that I can't have my own garden! Yes I have a small porch that I've turned into a tiny garden space (much to dismay of my landlord), but it's just not the same as going out and planting 5 different varieties of antique tomatoes, and having fresh squash, cucumbers and berries every day of the summer. It really makes me sad that I teach Nutrition students in college who have never eaten green beans, but we all do what we can to educate and share to try and change things in our own way!

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  6. Hey Kim, I love the kiddie pictures! I also relate the growing of food and making of crafts to my family, especially childhood when we would receive hand-sewn items from my grandmother on special occasions. Even though my mom isn't much of a seamstress, she still made little sewn decorations for all of the holidays. I guess the idea is much the same as it was 60 years ago; a mix of pride in making something yourself and the advantage of self-sufficiency. Can I see what you are working on for baby? x

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  7. Thanks so much for all the thoughtful comments! My family never saw it as a political statement (that tends to be my interpretation), but it is so rewarding to be self-sufficient on any level. And it saves money which everyone can appreciate! I love hearing about all of your past, present, and future projects, that's what I'm hoping for with this blog, to share in the creative process, so fun.

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  8. You were such a doll and your own little baby is going to be gorgeous and so well-dressed, too! I love the abundance of gingham in the get ups your mom made!!!

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