HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO AN AMAZING SEWING MOM!
I’m delighted every woman here is part of my Sew Like A Pro™ community.
Thank you for being an integral part of the magic that helps keep Mother Earth strong.
Thank you for being YOU.
At the ripe old age of eleven I chose never to have children. I have never once regretted that decision.
In many ways though, I still consider myself a mother because I was born female and because I have had many four-legged children in my adult life.
Here is my little orange kitty named Sophie Fiona. She was feline rescue number 26 (though I am now up to 32 rescues). When she passed away just for New Year’s 2022, I grieved as if she was a human child. She was my companion and the best travel kitty ever. She was always patient and tolerant during our van life years together.
For those of us lucky enough to be born female, it is in our DNA to nurture and care.
If not for our own children, then for other people or animals on the planet. Or even for the planet itself, our planet, Mother Earth. We are all mothers.
So again, I say HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! to all the women, and to the men who play both parental roles for their children.
My mom and I travel a lot and are seldom in the same place on Mother’s Day. However, in 2020 we happened to be near to each other, both in Colorado during the Covid-19 shut-in. Therefore, we got to spend our first Mother’s Day together in at least two decades.
Here we are trying to decide how to hug during the crazy Covid-19 paranoia.
Mom and I usually do lots of fun things together throughout the year.
As part of our mother-daughter adventures, we do all sorts of atypical things and keep the crowds roaring with laughter as we go. Well, okay. Maybe we just entertain ourselves 😉
Twice we volunteered to pick up trash on Lake Powell, Arizona. (Though Mom has been several other times.)
Volunteering with Trash Trackers is one of my favorite working vacations. Doing good for Mother Earth, making new friends and getting a free week on a houseboat in this beautiful part of the world. Hooray for Trash Trackers and the National Park Service! I had hoped to go again this summer, but I guess not with the Covid-19 craziness.
Mom and I pulled invasive Sahara mustard weeds in Glen Canyon, Arizona (which is just as beautiful as Lake Powell since they are desert neighbors.)
We traveled to Europe together in 2000 and Costa Rica in 2012.
Sometimes we do only a three-day trip, sometimes our trips are a week or two. We rarely get on each other’s nerves. It’s quite fantastic.
This photo of Mom and me was a selfie in Twin Falls, Idaho. We were both taking selfies and laughing so hard I’m surprised our eyes are open.
We were on the way from Oregon to work at the 2019 Adult Figure Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Of course, we had to stop and sightsee along the way.
Thank goodness Mom was game for helping me at the event! I would never have been able to film all the skating dress vlogs you enjoy without her help.
Thank you SEW much! You’re the best filming, photographing, sewing mom!
And guess who taught me how to sew?
Yep. My mom, of course.
As a youngster, I was not into Barbie or baby dolls. Instead, I sewed clothing for my stuffed animals.
My sewing mom made my special occasion clothing, like when at age five I was a flower girl at my aunt’s wedding. She also made my entire cheerleading team outfits two years in a row.
Those of you who have made Vogue patterns know they can be complicated. Oiy!
In high school, I unwittingly tortured Mom by asking her to make this Claude Montana pattern. I still have the pattern, but a rubber band holds the envelope together so I found the picture online. 🙂
Once she even made me a Fortuny pleated evening gown from a magazine photo. No pattern. Sewing mom to the rescue! She just figured it out. I still have the dress, and it fits. Maybe one day soon I’ll have a formal occasion so I can wear it again.
In high school, I learned how to make an evening gown for the high school pageant.
Once I realized how difficult it was to make dance costumes, I felt bad for asking her to make those complicated Vogue patterns.
I think it would be okay if the 200+ Sew Like A Pro™ members in sixteen countries gave my sewing mom a virtual pat on the back.
Ditto with all the hundreds of women for whom I made custom dresses before starting my online sewing school teaching people how to make dance and skate costumes.
If you sew, did your mother teach you as a youngster like mine did?
I would love if you commented below telling me, and our Sew Like A Pro™ family, how you learned to sew. Or maybe share a fun mother-daughter time.
Happy Mother’s Day once again.
May you have a mountain of patience and respect for yourself and others.
May you stay grounded yet flexible.
May you be open to learning new things.
May you be willing to honor what is right for you.
Teresa Sigmon
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Enjoy your moments. Be present. Quiet the voices in your head.
Don’t be sad or regretful over the past. Don’t worry about the future.
That is easier said than done, I know.
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Smile or laugh.
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10 replies to "Happy Mother’s Day to all the Sew Like A Pro™ sewing moms!"
I love hearing about the adventures with your mom. I used to live in Arizona so it is really fun (and a little bittersweet) hearing about your travels all over the state. I lived in Tucson first and then Flagstaff.
My grandmother taught my mother to sew. Both of them were so good at making clothing you would swear that the garments were couture. My grandmother kept a tailored wool coat my mom made when my mom was in high school. The style was classic 1949 including bound buttonholes.
I learned to sew by watching my mom from an early age. I was always at her knee when she was sewing for me and everyone else. When I was 8 years old, I found this great cougar print flannel for a nightgown. It sat on the ‘to do’ shelf for a long, long time. One day, my mom was gone for a long time. I decided I could not wait any longer for the nightgown so I cut it out and had just started putting it together when she got home. She was very impressed with my ability to do it all on my own and decided maybe it was time for me to start sewing.
I got instruction from her and 4-H. Sadly, the 4-H garments that were part of beginning sewing were never fashionable enough for my tastes so she always me to work on something more advanced than the current 4-H project.
I really appreciate her financing high quality fabric for me, great buttons and notions, and Vogue patterns, including, Issey Miyake, which were so very different from the clothes she wore growing up in Cincinnati. When I was in high school working on advanced sewing projects, several of my 4-H garments made it to the state fair where I won purple ribbons two years in a row. I attribute these awards to the sense of sewing excellence that my mom instilled in me. She never made me feel badly when I needed to rip out seams and re-do stuff. She was very matter of fact about the idea that ripping out is as important as sewing together.
She continued to sew until she got sick with COVID. She left me all of her sewing stuff including many yards of beautiful woolens that she got at Vogue fabrics in Chicago the year before she died.
I know that she would love this new adventure that I have started with Sew Like a Pro.
Yes my Mum taught me to sew. We’ve started with hand sewing and embroidery when I was about 6 and then graduated to making dolls clothes on a “toy” hand operated mini sewing machine – that stitched like a real machine. I think that was the moment my interest in design kicked in! Mum taught me to use her sewing machine when I was 7. That was the start of a lifetime of sewing.
By high school I made everything I wore including my school uniforms and fun outfits for my friends for school dances, my debut frock, my school graduation dress and sew many costumes for the school musicals. Life got quite busy after that and I sewed less and then “ inherited” Mum’s 25 year old Pfaff machine as she upgraded.
I used her new machine to make my wedding dress and dresses for attendants then made a few wedding dresses for others. For my 30th birthday my husband bought me a new Pfaff machine – one the first computerised models. I’m still using that machine nearly 40 years on. Another hiatus when my twins were born – boys so not inspired to sew for them although Mum made endless track suits etc.
Mum and I got together again when I joined a choir and over the next seven years we worked on costumes for the choir of 24 – Mum had acquired an overlocker so we developed quite a process line. I continued to sew but more intermittently and Mum had moved quite a distance away. I missed having her around to measure and fit me. She passed away in 2010. I inherited her overlocker – still haven’t mastered the treading.
I started dancing in 2015 and with that came new inspiration for sewing – dance costumes!!B ecause of work I haven’t fully embraced the SLP program but I do work on costumes and remakes. Every single time I sew I think I my Mum, thankful for what she taught me but also missing her helping hand. She would have sew loved to help me with dance costumes. Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Thank you SEW much, Lyn for sharing your story about learning to sew from your Mum. What a lovely story. Goodness you two were very busy through the decades!
I had to laugh about your comment about not mastering the threading of the overlock machine. That is why when I bought my newest overlock (which is now about twenty years old) I bought the Baby Lock self-threading version. Even the needle can be threaded by the machine. 🙂
Thank you again for a wonderful post!
My mother used to make all my clothes when I was going to school, and I, in turn, made clothes for my children. I loved watching her sew and embroider on them. I’ve made dresses and gowns for me and pants for my husband. One year, I even made matching suits for my husband and son for Easter. Now I’m trying my hand at making ballroom dresses since I’m dancing now. Those dresses are sooooooo expensive, so I’m making my own. And it all started with watching my Mother sew all those years ago. She’s been gone for 27 years now.
Carlene, what a wonderful comment. Thank you SEW much for sharing!
I have never made a, entire suit, but my two attempts at making men’s jackets were enough to turn me off for good. 😉 I’m glad you are able to make your own ballroom dance dresses. It is always a pleasure to see you in my design challenges and other sewing classes.
Best wishes.
Teresa
Happy Mothers Day to all the moms. Yes, my mom taught me to sew. I was enrolled in 4-H and mom wanted me to do the sewing category. UGH! The story I tell anyone that asks is that I would sit at the machine with a shotgun at my head. teehee. If I made a mistake that needed riped out, I just handed it to her because she knew if I got up to do any thing, like iron, I would be gone.
But I am so happy that she forced me to learn because after her passing, I ended up with her machine and was needing to make a dress for a good friends wedding that I was asked to sing at.
That was the start of me getting excited about making items from a flat piece of fabric.
Josi, thank you SEW much for the post.
Wow, 96 is a very long time to live! Good thing your mom taught you how to sew.
I’m delighted you were inspired to sign up for my sewing school a few years ago. It’s been a pleasure seeing skate costumes you make get better in quality and complexity each time.
Who knows what your figure skating granddaughter would wear for competitions if you were not making her beautiful, creative and nicely-fitted costumes 🙂
Yes, it was Mom that taught me to see at age at an early age for my dolls and by the time I was in Jr High, I was making my own clothes. I was mad when she made me tear out a seam and redo it but am so thankful now that she was that picky about my technique. By the time I was in high school I had made lingerie, swimwear, evening gowns and a suede jacket. This is my first Mother’s Day without her and I am forever grateful for everything she’s given me, especially my love of sewing.
Thank you SEW much for the wonderful comments about your sewing mom!
Making a suede jacket in high school is quite the endeavor. Since suede can be unforgiving with ripping stitches, it is good that you learned to be meticulous thanks to your mom’s training. 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day to your mom. She is amazing and I know you enjoy her. My mom passed away 3 years ago at the ripe age of 96. She taught me to sew when I was 9 years old. She would buy 2 new outfits for me at the start of school. However, she would buy all the fabric that I wanted. I sewed clothes as a result. My mom was able to help me through sewing tantrums and I learned how to correct my mistakes. I miss her every day. My youngest daughter, like you, decided she does not want children. Her life is rich.