My Mom was an incredible seamstress.
Really I need not say more, but I will say just a little more.
...and she didn't throw anything of value away. You define value...
For someone of her age, she was born in 1933, I have found it to be fairly normal that this generation certainly didn't live a "disposable" life...as it sometimes appears today.
My Mom died in October of 2018, coming up on two years.
I was so fortunate to have helped her downsize to a condo just one year prior to her death, and in doing so we accomplished emptying the house she had lived in for 62 years. I have plenty enough stories here for many more blog posts of the future, but today I am sharing just ONE story of one item.
After Mom died I spent about 3 months trying to "give away" her crafting surplus, but it was her fabric supply that I struggled with the most. She had everything, and several of each. She had fabric in several cedar chests that again exceeded my age. She had wool for suits, she had camel for coats, she had gabardine for trousers...you get it right? Although Mom taught me how to sew it was not (and is not nor will it ever be) my favorite thing to do...so there was absolutely no need for me to keep 99% of what she had.
One of the last remaining items for me to donate was her ironing board. I have an ironing board, but mine is SO LOUD to open. It makes this gut piercing squeal when you slide it open...yes...hubby of all trades could probably WD40 it and all would be right with it...after all I only use it on rare occasions...but for some reason I decided to donate mine and keep Moms...hers was heavy...I'm assuming older than I again...but oh so quiet...so that is what I did.
When Covid hit, and the whole mask making crusade...I thought Mom would have definitely jumped on that bandwagon and what better way for me to keep her close in this time but to use her sewing machine and her ironing board and jump on the crusade myself...which I did.
After a month of using the ironing board I noticed my finger nails catching on the fabric on the top cover of the board. My Mom made the ironing board cover, yes she made everything...did I forget to mention that? Probably another reason I decided to keep it over mine...it was a bit of her in every project...but as the weeks went by my fingers catching on the fabric grew more and more annoying, the fabric was disintegrating each time the hot iron passed over it and last week I decided to order a new cover for Mom's ironing board.
And when the cover came in and it was time for me to strip the board of Mom's personal handy work, I just knew I needed to take a few photos and share them with you all...cause I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a Mom who didn't throw anything of "value" away.
In summary, there were EIGHT layers on Mom's ironing board.
The top two were covers she had made herself...from there they just get older.
It looks bad...but it's damage from the heat of the iron...there was no mold or odor...just many years of "frugalness" and an answer to why the board was so damned heavy!
:) Mom keeps making me smile.
The last photo is of my new cover.
And yes all the old went into the trash for I truly believe there was no value left...please rejoice with me!!
I still have quite a bit of sorting through Mom's stuff to do, but have decided to just work on a bit at a time...and I'm hoping these experiences will help me part with some of my own "stuff" that has accumulated over the years. No need to give me advice...I know what I have to do...if you do however ever want to come hang out with me as I sort, that would be a wonderful show of support.
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