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RE: Housekeeping.

I wonder if children still wear hand-me-downs. Probably not. I would have preferred them to the horrendous creations my mother ran up on her sewing machine.

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I wonder if children still wear hand-me-downs

I know babies do around here. It is customary for a mother to bundle up her baby's clothes and equipment (crib, etc.) and pass these on to an expectant mother.

the horrendous creations my mother ran up on her sewing machine

I think if your mother had planned to sabotage your childhood she couldn't have been more successful :)

My mother sewed also, but she was a professional seamstress. She had worked in the factories in the New York fashion district before her marriage. She had collected a suitcase full of fabric remnants and another suitcase full of thread spools. When we needed a very special dress for a school assembly she would mine these supplies, sit at her trusty Singer machine and put together something spectacular.She would have to sew these late at night when we were all in bed. Her custom creations were often the prettiest dresses in the show. Our shoes, on the other hand, were another matter. I mastered the trick early of putting a piece of cardboard in the shoe to cover up a hole in the sole.

I think I’ve said this before, but your mother sounds like a dream. Do you sew? I still have spools of thread my mother acquired while working as a machinist for Jeswin Overalls in the late ’60s. I’ve no idea how, but her sewing bag has followed me for over forty years.

I never learned how to use the sewing machine, but I am ready with a needle whenever something needs hemming or tucking. I like to sew. It's very relaxing.

her sewing bag has followed me for over forty years.

I think that's more than practical. I think there is more to that sewing bag than thread.

your mother sounds like a dream

Thank you. Her birthday yesterday so I'm a bit nostalgic.