Hi again,
I haven't written a story for almost a month!
Denver, Co. - 1969 - 3rd grade?
I got a little sewing machine (my first) for Christmas. It was a 2 toned powdery blue color and it was electric. I was super excited. Eventually, my mom tried to teach me how to sew on it.
I don't know what the problem was but we could never get the tension right and the stitches were always loose! It made me so mad. I knew I could use it if it would just work right! It never did.....and I don't know what ever happened to it. (This might have been the same year we crashed our car and I lost my embroidery thread in the glovebox).
7th grade - Broomfield - 1973 or 4?
I am taking "home economics" in school. In sewing class, I made this big grey velour stuffed mouse with a long tail. My brothers named it PB and would swing it around by the tail and let it go. It would fly through the room. I don't know whatever happened to PB either.
The next year (8th grade) my best friend was this little Italian girl (she was one of the 4 cheerleaders in a previous story). She had a hard time fitting into "teenage" sized clothes, so her mom always had this seamstress come over to fix them for her. I didn't realize that you could fix things. She would pin out sections, etc.....
A girl in our neighborhood had a mom that sewed clothes for her and her sisters too (cool looking halter tops and stuff). I couldn't believe that she made these things either.
I continued to take sewing in school.
My mom and I went to the fabric store. We got 2 colors of denim fabric for pants, and a polka dot print for a top that would match the denim.
She was a Mary Kay Cosmetic consultant at the time. She had to go to Texas for the weekend for a big meeting or something. (She helped do the make up for the Miss Colorado pageant in 73 or 74 when Rebecca Ann King won. The next year Rebecca Ann King won Miss USA!) Right on!
Anyway, my mom left for the weekend meeting. I was impatient and decided to cut out and sew the pants and top myself. I knew I could do it.....
I'm not sure what happened, but somehow I really messed up. When my mom got home she looked at it....We ended up pitching everything.
Was it that bad?
I'm not sure when I finally excelled at sewing - maybe in early high school. I had a job at a cleaners where I did the alterations and mending. I was there for 5 years. After I left there, I went to a cool clothing store in downtown Portland (it is closed now) and got a job as a seamstress. Two Italian women were the head seamstresses - my mentors. They were so cool and so were the clothes we worked on. They sold Chester Barrie suits $$$, Escada gowns $$$, etc..... Rosa - with red hair was from Northern Italy, Maria - with jet Black hair was from Southern Italy. I learned a bunch from them. The first thing I had to "alter" was this dark green ball gown with green feathers that were molded to make the sleeves. I had to hem the bottom of the dress. Nice! That was so awesome.....
A year or two later, the store closed for good.
Someone convinced me to (and helped me) open an alteration shop in this cool little mall. My space was 800 sq. ft. and rent was 10% of my sales per month. Score! I did a great business and had it for about 6 years.......that was a long time ago.
Today, I am kind of a master seamstress/tailor. Who would have guessed that I would be able to sew like all of those women.
I have made all kinds of things.....clothes, a few wedding dresses, sheets for bunks on boats
(I wouldn't mind making a set of sheets for Johnathan Hillstrands' bunk on the Time Bandit!!), etc.
I have two wedding dresses here at home to fix right now. One for a fitting this Sunday (wedding Aug. 20th), and the other for a September wedding. I made a "festive" bridal veil for the bride at her shower a few weeks ago (at Skamania Lodge). It was really pretty but "bad" at the same time......
I am wondering if there is a market for these things?
Last month I fixed 3 pairs of my brothers' Carhartt Work Overalls. There were holes and split seams. I patched them all up. For a surprise, I sewed a little waving monkey patch inside the bib on one pair, little hearts and flowers in random places (inside pockets, etc). One had a Trout fish patch. He eventually noticed some of the flowers and said "What are you - a fricken flower child"? I laughed and asked him if he saw the monkey. He hadn't but when he did I think he liked it.....the fish too. It's not like I put them all over the outside for everyone at work to see.......(he is a 260 lb guy.....)
Anyway - that is my story tonight. Hope you all have a good weekend. I will be sewing.
: ) MF
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