Sunday Dresses and Every Day Aprons
My mother, like many women of the time, made most of her dresses, blouses, and aprons. Carefully the pattern pieces were laid out, the pieces cut–sometimes with a pinking shears as most of the fabrics were cotton and raveled in the wash. The garment pieces were then placed near the sewing machine–and the leftover fabric was rolled up and fastened with either a piece of selvedge or a straight pin. Mom tossed hers into a large cardboard box at the bottom of her wardrobe—closets being a luxury the farmhouse did not possess.
As the sewer and the daughter, I inherited all these little bundles. The straight pins had rusted and it was a chore to pull them out and iron flat all those scraps.
This is the quilt I made from all of those scraps–I still have some of the fabric left.
It was chosen for a special exhibit at the Quilt Museum in LaGrange Texas and then in the Quilt Festival in Houston. I was surprised and pleased to learn someone bought this quilt.
Now I have the memories and this photo of me standing next to it in Houston.
Sylvia Weir Art 