I took my Granny home after church today and, once we had the obligatory cup of tea, she asked me if I would do some wee sewing projects for her. I am home with 2 skirts to take in and up and when I was there I sewed on a button for her (she is basically blind now). She produced a fantastic sewing box that I had never seen before and in it were various treasures including cover your own button buttons from the 60's /70's!
It got me thinking that sewing for me really is a link to the past. My Grandma died 3 and a bit years ago and I am sad I wasn't sewing when she was here as I know she would have been full of fantastic tips! She started sewing as a young girl and by the time she was 14 she was a fantastic seamstress. She loved fashion and frequently told the story of when her street had been bombed during the war she managed to sneak past the police to get in to her house to save the dress and jacket she had just finished for herself (she was only 15 at the time!). She had saved up her rations to get the fabric and was determined to save her new outfit! I don't think I will ever be as good a seamstress as my Grandma (don't have enough patience) and I certainly doubt I will ever risk my life for a project!
What an amazing piece of oral history your grandma passed down to you Allison. That jacket would have meant so much to her for many years after I am sure, not just because of the sense of accomplishment from saving for the fabric and then using her skills to make it...but I'm sure there were many other emotions associated with her rescuing it from her home
ReplyDeleteYou are right, I think in some ways the outfit represented her, in a small way, saying that no crazy man in Germany was going to ruin her life. Her job during the war was to write the telegrams to families telling them their family member had died so she very much lived for the moment as she knew how fragile life was.
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