It Was 50 Years Ago Today{24}
Look. I don’t want to go all Little House on the Prairie on you – wait – that’s a lie – I always want to go all Little House on the Prairie. I have a story to tell.
One day, when I was getting ready for school in the morning, my mother approached me with a measuring tape. I was seven. Or eight. She measured here and there and off I went. I don’t remember thinking too much of it at the time. There was to be some kind of concert in the evening. Chorus or something – I have no recollection of the event itself whatsoever. What I do remember is this: When I got home from school there was an entire outfit for me to wear to the concert and it was brand new. It was a two piece ensemble. Skirt with a self ruffle at the bottom and a vest. Beautiful, soft, grey velvet. It fit me perfectly and I felt very beautiful wearing it.
I’m not sure I’m communicating the wonder with which I beheld these pieces of clothing. It’s not that I was pining away for pretty clothes. I had a series of long, calico, Laura-Ingalls-type-dresses that I wore and I was perfectly happy with them. But you have to realize that my first pair of non-hand-me-down jeans is still about 3 years away at this point in my life. New clothes didn’t just show up on any kind of regular basis. My mother had, of course, sewn them. She had, of course, cut down a dress she bought for herself in a thrift store and made it into a beautiful skirt and vest for me.
Half Pint: “Ma! You used your yard goods to make dresses for Mary and me!”
See what I mean? Sigh. . . Well, that’s what I was thinking about while I took these photos today. This isn’t my mother’s Singer sewing machine, though hers is very similar (and she still uses it). It belongs to her sister, my Aunt Kathie, who has loaned it to me on a semi-forever basis. Tomorrow morning it goes off to the shop to be reconditioned – it has “seized up”. It is FIFTY years old and from what I understand it will be as good as new after 2 days in the shop. TWO DAYS! There was no hemming and hawing about the age of the machine. This shop has been in business longer than the sewing machine has been around (!) and the nice older man on the phone said, “We do it fast because we know you have to be able to do your sewing!” I used it once. Fourteen years ago. Hasn’t sewn a stitch. Since. Then. Seized. UP.
Now, I am itching to sew. My sewing projects will undoubtedly be like my knitting and woodworking projects. Very simple. Easy enough for a beginner. So, if I can make them, you too, will be able to make them. I already have so many things planned out in my head. . .
Just two more things:
1. I wrote this entire post thinking that 1962 (when this sewing machine was made) was FORTY years ago and I just realized my mistake and had to go back and change everything. . . wow. FIFTY years. . .
2. The only other thing I remember from that night is Krisinda Bleu, high fashion second grader, touching my new skirt with longing and saying, “I knew everyone would be wearing velour.” It was the first and last time I was ever in fashion.
Thanks, Mom.
I’ve asked you this before but, do you sew? What kind of machine do you use? Do you love Little House on the Prairie? Books or TV?? Your answer may determine the future of our friendship. Choose wisely. It might be a trick question.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 08:23:29
Gawd! I can still feel the “heft” of that machine as I moved it from spot to spot, I still know how that pedal feels under my foot, I still love that color! No tears, just a big, sappy grin on my face as I think about all the fabulous things you will do with it! Here’s to another wonderful 50 years, dear little machine!
Apr 25, 2012 @ 08:34:10
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:20:39
eek! by the way – he said it might be “the gears” in which case it would not be worth fixing – too much cost in labor. he will check the gears first and then call me if it’s bad news. if it just needs COA (clean, oil, adjust) – he will proceed – and i can pick it up Friday. fingers crossed!
Apr 25, 2012 @ 08:28:36
Lovely post. Wow. What a machine! You could make a pillowcase as your first project after you get the sewing machine back. No pattern needed. I’m sure you could find the step by step instructions online. I believe it takes 1/2 yard of 45″ fabric. You could pick out some fabric that speaks to you (I’m thinking something with bees on it, maybe). Several people I know used this as a first sewing on a machine project and found it very rewarding to sleep on their work.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:22:52
that’s a great idea, Michelle. I have made a few things before – see this post: http://breidawithab.com/pinspired-and-produced-4/
and there have been other projects, too. I can’t wait to get started – on easy stuff! No costume designing going on over here!
THANKS for reading and commenting!!
Apr 25, 2012 @ 11:49:31
Hi bunny,
I remember my mom going through a sewing phase, as new clothes were few and far between for us too, as kids. She bought this shiny silver quilted stuff and made us vests that we wore to the roller rink. Very shiny in the roller rink lights… WE WERE COOL, for those couple of sessions we wore them…
My gramma was an incredible seamstress, she sewed everything she wore, almost, and if she bought something at the store, she would figure out how they made it, and make an even better one, whatever it was. She sewed the lovely pink suit she was buried in.
As for me, I love to sew, and was gifted with a Kenmore my first Christmas as a married woman. I made us Christmas stockings, that we still use every year. Let’s just say, I still have the sewing machine, not the husband. Way more useful and reliable. Even if it’s not a Singer.
My latest obsession is landscape quilting. Looking forward to graduation so I can sew and throw pots again.
Love you kid.
Dianna
And of course, Laura Ingalls is my homegirl.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:24:13
Beautiful memories. I know you are a sewer… what’s a landscape quilt? How is the countdown going? I’m sending you all kinds of good thoughts!
b.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:05:00
Haha! I loved LHOTP when I was little, but then as I got older, it used to annoy me how Half Pint used to cry in just about every episode. I can remember my dad yelling at me and my little sister saying, “Why can’t you guys just get along and love each other like those girls?” The really funny thing is that Melissa Gilbert is now on Dancing with the Stars and the other night Mike said how he wouldn’t have known who she was, just like her dance partner didn’t. I looked at him like he was crazy. I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t know who Half Pint was. He reminded me, as he likes to do, that I am much older than him and he didn’t watch everything I did. I reminded him that he’s the same age as my little sister and SHE sure remembers watching LHOTP….so what the hell was wrong with him that he grew up not ever seeing it?? He then reminded me that I grew up watching strange things with my dad, like HeeHaw and Benny Hill and Hogan’s Heroes. He had a point there.
I remember going to the homecoming dance with Chris D’ellasandro wearing a prairie-looking skirt and blouse with ruffles. That was 6th grade? Do you remember that dance? I look at the pictures now and I’m horrified that I thought that looked good.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:25:15
Danielle – I never a attended a single dance at school. Middle or High. not one. Were you a fan of the books as well?
Apr 25, 2012 @ 14:29:43
You didn’t miss anything. I only went to that homecoming dance and the Senior prom. I had the books, but I honestly don’t remember reading them. I may have read the first one (Little House in the Woods?) but I think I didn’t like them for whatever reason. I watched the show a lot.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 21:13:56
As the sewing mother of a seven-year-old, raised by a mother who sewed also had a mother who sewed, I loved the way you described the magic of possibility around all of this. My mom was here for a visit recently and brought my daughter the floor-length red velour skirt with a ruffle at the bottom that she’d made for me for a 5th grade choir concert. The look on my daughter’s face– that *she* was now the recipient of something so infinitely glamorous– made me feel that excitement all over again.
Altomari does great work… hope the patient recovers beautifully. You are going to have a BLAST.
Apr 25, 2012 @ 21:34:24
Kathy-
I hope it all goes well with the sewing machine, too! I have my fingers crossed.
Thank you SO much for stopping by, reading and COMMENTING! I hope things are going well at The Treehouse – I have yet to come in – I’m putting it on my list for THIS week!!
Thanks again for your kind words,
breida with a b.
Apr 26, 2012 @ 08:08:15
Wow – that really is a gorgeous machine. I just have a Wal-Mart bought basic. I like to sew when I get the chance, which isn’t often with three littles running around. I can’t wait to see the magic this lovely brings you! And yes, I vividly remember watching Little House everyday after school on PBS. Love it and still do!
Apr 26, 2012 @ 11:23:29
Thanks, Krissy! I can’t wait to get it back from the shop. If all goes well, I will pick it up tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks for reading and COMMENTING!!
b.
Apr 26, 2012 @ 14:52:52
Not a sewer here but I can appreciate the process and workmanship involved. Love, love, love the Little House books even now. I pull them out every few years and have to read them all over again. The show was too sappy for me. I can’t wait until my daughter is ready for the Little House books!
Apr 26, 2012 @ 17:16:33
That’s how I feel about the books, too. I have read them all through a couple of times to my kids already and I was very surprised at my own (different at this point in my life) perspective. There were parts of the show that I liked (in the first couple of seasons) and the pilot movie is Very good. Check it out sometime.
And THANKS for READING AND COMMENTING!! It means SO much to me!
b.
Apr 26, 2012 @ 20:17:52
But, MH, you can so sew! You made some awesome quilts, back in the day. I was always impressed at how you just decided you wanted to and went ahead and made them!
Apr 26, 2012 @ 22:49:25
ha! a woman after my own heart! it must be the pioneer spirit! Go LHOTP!
breida with a b(lown away)!
May 04, 2012 @ 02:08:02
[...] on my sewing skills in time to try out some of the beautiful cotton fabrics she is designing. My vintage Singer is back from the shop and ready for threading (as soon as I get someone to show me how to thread [...]
May 07, 2012 @ 21:15:02
How did I miss this post!? My latest DYI project if finding a PLACE for my sewing machine which has been in a CORNER for months. (Not to mention the 100 year old cabinet machine in the basement which I am sure is BEYOND “seized up.” I could probably use the name of your shop. What I need is a sewing ROOM. But that has to come after two additional bedrooms and office and a guest room. Jealous as I am of your energy (and place) to make stuff every week, keep doing it! Its inspiring to see and gives me hope that when my little ones get a big bigger I’ll have room in my life again for making things.
May 07, 2012 @ 21:46:08
Thanks, Pauline! I also have a treadle Singer – the man at the shop said that one wouldn’t even need to be fixed – you just put at new leather belt on it (he picked up a spool of leather “belting”) and it’s good to go. The link to the shop is up there in the post – if you click it it will take you to the home page for Altomari’s in Kingston. Interesting note that you will appreciate: when i lived in Schenectady my mom (and my aunt, too) always took her sewing machine to JoAnn’s – and that was Altomari’s too! they had a drop off there and they took them back to the shop in Kingston to work on them. So now my mother and I both live in Ulster County (we imported her) and we can just go right to the shop in Kingston!
May 26, 2012 @ 10:56:06
Wow what a treasure you have in that machine:) Did it get fixed? That knob is the tension knob if I’m not mistaken
And kudos to you on knitting – my Mom can knit but I’ve never learned. My oldest daughter can knit but I’ve just never had the desire. Guess I’d reather design and sew 
I loved the Laura books – still have a set. And I love this story – do you have a picture of the outfit your mom made you???
May 26, 2012 @ 14:21:05
Sadly, there is no picture of that outfit. Only in my mind. And hers.
The sewing machine DID get fixed. I just need to have my mom come over and show me how to thread it!
b
The Little House of My Childhood {Innocence: 50% off at a yard sale}
Aug 20, 2012 @ 03:05:03
[...] know that I have mentioned the Little House books here before. Maybe more than once. I’m hoping that you are not one of those people who are [...]