Last weekend I had my sister, Lori and her husband over for dinner. I had gotten an order of onion sets for the garden and as usual, I was actually sent two bunches. Instead of throwing one bunch away, I had made arrangements for her to take them off my hands and get dinner in the mix. It was a nice dinner. But, as the evening wore on, we ended up in my office where I was showing her the latest prizes of fabric I had acquired at a "Going Out of Business Sale" of a local fabric store. Then the more we talked, we ended up in the bedroom closet and I tried to get her to become the owner of some blouses I had hanging that I know I may never wear again. She did try them on and they fit her perfectly. But all she would say was "I can't take these, you made them."
I made a lot of clothes over the years.
I started sewing at the ripe age of 8 for the local 4-H chapter. I started with the usual hot pads, etc. and went from there. In high school, I took a home ec. course to fill in some time. The year's project was something that could be modeled and would be graded strictly. Mom took me to Lapp's Dry Goods where I found a lovely skirt pattern and a wonderful large checked wool fabric that would make a perfect skirt. The pattern had a nice waistband, zipper and hem, but nonetheless, it was still a skirt. The teacher knew that I would wipe that pattern out in one period and decided that it was time for me to learn something new. She showed me how to make the entire skirt, from beginning to end, with the handstitch used by the pilgrims. All seams had to be perfectly straight, the zipper had to be inserted according to the directions but with an exact ¼" back stitch as were all the seams of this garmet. Ms. Zepp, my teacher, told me that my project would be graded on the same scale as all the rest and it had to be perfect. I got an "A" on the project and got to model when the school had a modeling show. Then it was put in one of the display cases, with the discription of how it was made and it's grade to be displayed for the rest of the term. I was proud of that skirt and wore it into my college years.
This blouses fit Lori and she should have taken them. I'm now making a whole bunch more. I don't need the old ones anymore.
2 comments:
Did she not want to take them because they were a memory for you? I'm not sure what she meant by I can't take them, you made them. Did she feel the value was much greater and that simply giving away them away would somehow make it seem like they weren't worth as much? Was her reluctance based on "I just don't want them" or was it based on, "These are so lovely and handmade that I just can't take something of this value?" I'm trying to understand the reasoning as well.
Austin
"These are so lovely and handmade that I just can't take something of this value?" This is the reasoning behind her reluctance to take them. I wish she would have. I'd rather they go to someone who could appreciate them. She just didn't understand that.
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