One of the best things my mother could have taught me was the importance of learning skills, like sewing. She used to explain to me that I would need to use it in some capacity or other. Whether it be hemming or patching holes to avoid buying new clothing, or to make alterations to make immodest clothing modest, she knew I would use this skill at some point in my life.
She first taught me how to sew when I was in Junior high. When I was going into Junior High at age 13 she taught my friend and I how to take a pair of last years jeans, cut a the seam out of the outer legs up to the knee and put in a piece of fabric in the shape of a traingle to make the bottoms of the pants "flair," as was the style of the time. We'd always pick the loudest fabrics" bright greens, orange swirls, anything that would express our personality. And in a short amount of time and with little use of money we had new pants!
When I was in high school I was a part of a choir. It was a significant part of my high school career, and to this day it has probably impacted my life just as much as my faith and participation in the church. I auditioned for and was accepted into the elite jazz and madrigal choir. Each year we would perform a madrigal play, perform at the concert and perfrom at various functions in our madrigal costumes. As the choir was such a big part of my life I knew I wanted this costume to be something I'd keep forever instead of just renting one. Knowing how to read patterns I went and purchased the pattern I wanted to use, I read the back of it and got all the necesssary fabrics, linings and trimmings, and, not trusting myself, put all of those things in my mothers lap when she got home from work that day! And this was the final product:
(I am on the left).
(and sorry to my HS friends for not asking permission to put you on my blog. I'll keep your names secret ;))
Just as a side note, the original pattern on the dress was a very boob-a-licious dress. My mom was able to add alter the pattern to keep sacred things sacred ;)
Every time I wore that dress I'd think about how cool it was that my mom could do that and I wasnted to be able to do that for my daughter some day.
I married my husband while he was in law school and I was finishing undergrad. This translates to beaucoup dolla's in student loan debt. Debt in addition to the first years after law school when the newbies have to pay their dues and aren't getting paid much, money was tight. Because I could sew I was able to make some of my own maternity clothes for when we were expecting our first baby. I was able to make that baby his curdoroy church slacks for many years. I was able to outfit each of our houses with inexpensive window treatments and other accents. Sewing did prove to be an extremely valuable skill to have. But it wasn't enough to just be able to make our own articles of clothing to keep from buying new items. I started making toddler summer dresses and Christmas dresses for a local toddler shop!
(matching hat with bloomers)
All this baby girl dress making got me thinking that I needed one of those baby girl things to put in those dresses. So I did just that! And when she was born I wanted her blessing dress to be made by me and my mom so it could be something REALLY special. And to make it even more special, I used the fabric from my my wedding dress.
(Pre-wedding photo, week before. Yes, I did do something with my hair on my wedding day ;))
The dress is so special and I see it every time I open her closet. It makes me super happy that my mom taught me to sew! Mom made the headband and did the fancy hem with the trim and added the flowers on the shear part of the dress. It's super special and I just love every part of it. I even made her shoes! I am so glad my mom taught me to sew!
After my little Miriam was born, money got more tight. Surprise! So I tried opening an etsy shop thinking if I could get one or two orders a month selling roman shades and curtains that we could make ends meet. That happened for the first little while, then sales increased. So to celebrate I took my family to Disneyland! Then sales increased even more. So I hired a team! And now we are a team of five seamstresses and one assistant!
When I opened my little custom window treatments shop I never dreamed we would be what we are today. If you had told me I wouldn't have believed you. Not only have we been able to make ends meet, but we have been able to employ several mothers and keep them in their home with their young children and helped them avoid having to leave the home to go out in the work place. And through our sponsor program we are also helping out in the community. (See our sponsor link in the top bar).
I owe the success of my business to my mother who taught me the value and importance of sewing.
Thank you mom!
( I only added this because I hadn't seen it a long time and when I did I thought, "If I took a picture of Miriam right now it would probably look something like this." This picture was taken two years ago. My little miss is a bit of a crier).
