While in Warren/Bisbee at the historic home tour this past weekend, one of the homes had a general store out back that had pieces of a U.S. Postal teller window, ice cream parlor, and items for sale that one would find at a real General Store years ago. One of the items that caught my eye, and was captured in this photo by my friend who accompanied me, is this cabinet that displays clothing patterns.
Although I have inherited the sewing cabinet my dad made in high school wood work class which my mother used frequently to store her thimbles, needles and thread, I haven't gone to the still-filled drawers to use the contents for a sewing project. My mom used to store patterns in the side cupboards of her cabinet and I recall her carefully unfolding and refolding the tan tissue-paper and making sure all the "pieces" were in order before she put them into the envelope, usually labeled as a McCall's or Butterick product. She sewed my sister and my ballet costumes , casual clothing and Ginny and Jill doll clothes and, of course, mended my dad's socks and "lowered" the hems of our skirts and pants as we grew taller as children.
As a child, when my mom bought a new pattern for an outfit, it meant that the kitchen table would be soon filled with the sewing cabinet contents and that she would be intensely busy, pins in her mouth, purple marking chalk in her hand, scissors nearby, placing her carefully selected fabric under the pattern paper and preparing to create a finished garment.
All that and more comes back to me as I gaze at this cabinet and remembering how important patterns were in my mother's life. What kind of objects do you have that recall good memories of your childhood?
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