… as a child I spent hours in front of my mother’s fabric cupboard, eyeing all the different colours and designs in her collection, running my hand over the textures, dreaming what I would make with each piece if I was allowed…
… when I was 8 a friend came over to play, I suspect we were driving my mother mad, so she sat us down in front of my sewing machine, a hand powered Singer I still have at my parent’s house, gave us each a piece of fabric, some elastic, and by the end of the day we had matching skirts. I wish I could find the photos of us, standing proud, in matching skirts, turquoise t-shirts, I think I was jealous as my friend had platform sandals, I had boring jesus sandals (it was the late 70s)…
… my parents have moved at least 3 times since I left home, a lot of that fabric had gone, but there were still a couple of boxes in the attic. Home over the holidays, my mother asked me to go through and have a look and see if there was anything I could use. I don’t really need any fabric at the minute, but… I had a look…
… each piece had a story, an intended use, something it was going to be, but never got round to being made into, something it was left over from, there was even a bag of leather scraps… I brought home about half the fabric, persuaded my mother she should use a few pieces, and other pieces were put back in the box…
… I am not yet sure what I will make with it all, I have a few ideas, some may be taken to the meet up later this month to swap…
… one piece I won’t be able to give away is the left over from those skirts my friend and I made all those years ago…
The fabled skirt fabric is the lighter red one in the top left hand image with all the florals. There are a few liberty lawns there too… the turquoise in the top right hand image is a beautiful silk, I seem to remember my mother making an evening gown out of this in the 80s, I was most disgruntled it wasn’t a party dress for me – that I probably would never have worn!
grt*escp 
I love fabric collections. What a great challenge, finding the right project for the pieces you have!
I know, I have a bunch of ideas, and a bunch of blank canvases 🙂
Who would have thought fabric could provoke such wonderful memories 😉
I grew up surrounded by sewing and crafting, my mother, my grandmother, one of my friend’s mothers, different fabrics and projects remind me of so many special moments in my past 🙂
What treasures! All the colors, prints and textures are so lovely. Do you think you’ll dabble in some leather sewing?
I used to make all sorts of leather things with my grandmother when I was a kid, so I am really looking forward to using this… I have a few ideas, but I need to see the size and weight of it all, it really is a bag of mixed scraps – I also found the collar to my grandmother’s fur coat in the bag!!
How lovely. I have a few pieces in my collection from my mother and grandmother. The memories make them extra special!
I have a dress I made in the early 90s with one particularly coveted piece. I could never get rid of that dress even though I no longer wear dresses.