My crafting knowledge and inspiration has been passed down through the female line of my family. I still hear from an aged aunt today the story of how my Grandmother hand sewed little dresses for her, she is now 86. These were hand sewn from silk shirts which Jewish tailor Great Uncle Harry passed on when he had finished with them. And how, twelve at a time, they could be seen fluttering in the breeze on the washing line much to the chagrin of the neighbours. We are talking about late 1920’s when silk was a fabric for the wealthy.
Another tale of the parachute silk of WW2 and the dance this same aunt attended wearing it, in a slightly different form of course. My Grandmother was, apparently, an amazing seamstress and nothing was beyond her capabilities where needle and cotton was concerned. I never knew her, she died long before I was born but, strangely, I am told I resemble her in appearance as well as ways. I do wonder if she knows that I am trying to keep her work going.
These stories and others like them have become my family folklore.
Apart from two very elderly Aunts, one of whom still sews and stitches tapestry at 91, there is only myself and one other girl cousin left and she is not into crafts so I am desperately trying to pass these gifts on to my Grandchildren and only one of these is a girl . She will do crafts…..
Link back to Folksy
http://blog.folksy.com/2011/05/12/inspiring-craft-blogs
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good luck with teaching your grandaughter to sew - it's so tricky with all the distractions of the internet and the media now, although there are so many great tutorials online to refer to so it's not all bad - I hope she is able to tell the same tales of her grandmother some years on :)
ReplyDeleteHilary