Me and my mommy.
Those of you who’ve been paying attention have probably heard a thing or two about my mom. She’s the owner of the Grand Old Dame, a reformed serial crafter, and was courteous enough to answer my nosy questions in a sewing interview. She’s also sorta the reason I started this blog, if only because last year at this time I was calling her up about once a week to yammer (for an hour or two) about my revamped sewing hobby, and, I was pretty sure, boring her silly. Also the long distance bills were racking up, but that’s beside the point…
Anyway, sometime (back in the fall? I really don’t know) she “discovered” my blog, and I gather has been enjoying it since (not to mention pimping it to her friends… thank you mom 😉 … thank you any of Mom’s friends who are reading… 😉 ). And the sewing phone-calls have gradually picked back up, laced with a liberal dose of style/fit/age/lifestyle angst (I’ll blame most of that on seasonal depression, though). Most of the conversations went something like this:
Mom: I love what you made.
MMM day 8... I'll just sneak this in here.
Me: Me, too! Except this and this and this.
Mom: Well, it doesn’t show in the photos. I don’t know, I just can’t find anything I want to wear. I go to the mall and nothing fits, and if it does fit it looks like it was made for a teenager or an old lady.
Me: Well, mom, you do have that kick-ass sewing machine…
Mom: yes, but I don’t have any time/money/energy for another hobby! Everything takes too much work! I want to go live under a bridge in Edinburgh!
Me: Well, you probably do need to simplify your life a bit… But I think running away to Edinburgh is probably a bit extreme. Ireland might be better… at least you could probably get your citizenship there*.
Mom: And you got such a good fit on that other thing you made…
Well, you get the idea.
And so it went, aside from occasional worries about my mother’s sanity.
And then, yesterday, I get a call from her. She sounds chipper. Excited. Upbeat.
Mom: Guess what I did?
Me: What did you do, mom? (oh god she bought plane tickets to Edinburgh…)
Mom: I downloaded and printed out the Burdastyle Franzi vest and Ellen pants, and I bought some wool blend fabric to make them up, and I ordered five patterns from Jalie, including the jeans!
Me: (swallow… gulp… sit down… let the shock wear off…) Wow, that’s awesome! You’re really going for it?
Mom: Yup, I am. Now tell me how to do a full bust adjustment!
Yup, apparently I have lured my mother back into the wild world of sewing (and the somewhat-new-to-her world of advanced fitting… hopefully she survives!). She’s still claiming she won’t become a sewing blogger, but with any luck she’ll let me showcase a project or two—and with a little more luck, the wonderfully helpful online sewing world, and maybe a helpful book or two, will help to get her past her old fitting issues. (I get my long legs, short torso, and rectangular shape from her, except that on her it’s even more exaggerated, plus she kept all the boobage in the family for herself. On the bright side, she doesn’t have my swayback).
Knittopia
In other enabling news, my Fabricland seems to be doing their spring cleaning, and there was a cornucopia of lovely (or at least, tolerable) knits in the clearance section, for no more than $3/m. Including this ivory sweatshirt knit on the left (typically $25/m or up!!! it’s stained, but I’m pretty sure whatever I can’t get out I can work around.) The three pieces on the right are also knit in the round, which is the best way to get knits in my opinion. And look at all those colours! Bright, soft, springlike… I know, you’re saying, am I reading the right blog? There’s even patterned pieces. Well, stripes. Stripes are almost a pattern. And either the solid blue or the solid coral would be perfect for knocking off Steph’s Anthropologie knockoff (apparently I have no creativity of my own at all these days…)
There’s plenty more enabling going on out there in internetland, but I think this enough for once post, don’t you? Oh, and if anyone has any advice for my mom on getting back into sewing, fitting, or the wonderful world of online sewing resources, do share! 🙂
*my mother, like approximate half of Canada, had an Irish grandfather, which is apparently good enough.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
Your post made me mis my mom. Her birthday was two weeks ago on February 27th. If leukemia hadn’t caught up with her 8 years ago I’d be having two-plus-hour phone convos with her too! We both had to struggle through the seasonal blues every winter, and would’ve hopped an airplane to Edinburgh in a blink (except it’s likely even greyer there than here!). She (and Hazel Swilley my homemaking teacher) taught me to sew. Fortunately, I saved many of the better pieces she sewed for me in childhood. I’ve had such fun putting them on my daughter. Enjoy your mom! Thanks for all your great sewing inspiration.
YAY! So GLAD you’ve been an enabler! Oh and your mom is welcome anytime in Edinburgh–I am sure we could get into some serious trouble shopping at the fabric stores 🙂
That’s awesome. My mom has me on the lookout for some organic clay dyed cotton knit so she can make herself some tees (knocking off her favorite one). She hasn’t sewn for years! Not sure where I’ll find fabric like that, though. Your coat looks fabulous.
Haha! Good job on bringing another into the fold! (heh, pun totally unintended but excellent none-the-less)
That’s so cute! I am going through the same thing with my Mum right now. She was my inspiration to sew but she put it down years ago. She loves seeing what I make and just recently asked me for a pattern I used so fingers crossed she gets back into it and enjoys it just as much as I do 🙂
I laughed about living under a bridge in edinburgh. heheeh. Well done, you’ve ensnared her! I keep trying to convince my own mother it’s a good idea, and we have long rambling conversations over Skype about style and ageing and the fashion industry, too. 🙂
I have no creativity of my own either. Thank God other people have more than enough and let us borrow some of theirs. Great job on your Mom re-entering the sewing world!
It’s lovely you can share your love of sewing with each other.
Fantastic 🙂
If your mum is after fitting advice, then IMO there is no better FBA resource than Debbie Cook’s tutorials. It sounds like the rest of the alterations are all ones that you’re intimately familiar with.
As beautiful as Edinburgh is, I second Julie in that it’s really not the place for curing seasonal disorder. Nor Ireland, come to that. California, and maybe you’re talking.
That’s so cool! Maybe you could Skype each other (or webcam it maybe?) to save on really long/pricey phone charges then there’ll be mmore timem to chat re: sewing, the only downside??? Less time left to sew LOL!
🙂
P.S. If you do visit to Edinburgh do it during the annual Comedy festival – then if the weather is bad you’ll have something to keep you happy & amused 😉
How cool is that – nice one T and here’s to sewing in the family! My mum sewed frequently when I was young because clothes for us were cheaper for her to make. She stopped years ago and gave me a bunch of notions and fabric when I picked sewing up. Then, because I was talking her ear off about my sewing, trials and tribulations of fitting etc, I pulled her back into stitching again. Sound familiar? LOL.