Tuesday, January 17, 2012

17/348 + 1

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of the days I spent with a neighbor women old enough to be Grandmother. I have vivid and fond images of kneeling on a dinning room chair while she pinned dress pattern pieces to elegant fabrics. She often gave me the unused pieces and scrape fabric, teaching me how to pin and cut. In later years she taught me to sew. Fifty years later I still enjoy the touch, felt and smell of fabric and for 12 years worked in a fabric shop.

I have always wanted an old treadle Singer sewing machine. These are becoming more difficult to find as many are being dismantled and their ornate legs used on coffee and end tables. Last week while B and I were snooping around some antique shops we came across not only a table but a table with the Singer machine attached. Several days later, when I returned home from work, it was sitting in my living room.


                      
   textured with Kim Klaussen's evolve 2 and submitted to her texture-tuesday
prompt ~ open (rose is open)

9 comments:

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

Glad you got the sewing machine and didn't pass it by only to regret doing so later when you returned home. My wife has one still with the machine inside but uses it as a side table in the kitchen. She'll stick with her computerized Husqvarna for sewing. Very nice still life shot.

Susan said...

How sweet. Beautiful picture and memories to go with it.

Blessings♥

georgia b. said...

wow... lovely.

and such great memories. i never experienced that as a kid. in fact, i hardly knew my actual grandmother, and never got to meet the other one, as she died before i was born. so it's nice to walk down memory lane with others who have these types of memories.

came here via kk's texture tuesday. now following, too.

Anonymous said...

Awwww-- now you know I'm LOVING this picture! I've been meaning to take a picture of my treadle machine for years now-- the ornate details are too good to pass up!
And man do I miss the smell of working at the fabric store :( People just don't understand when I say that I miss the smell (and the wonderful co-workers of course! :)

msdewberry said...

Your story reminded me of my Aunt Naomi, who also worked in a fabric store and raised seven children single handedly doing that. She brought home scrap pieces and end pieces of fabric bolts and made the most amazing quilts out of all the scrap materials she got. Sadly she was diagnosed with Alzhiemers disease and before she succombed to this awful disease she set about making one quilt each for each of my seven cousins. The steady progression of her disease can be seen as she worked on these quilts but she finished her task and each of my cousins will forever treasure thier quilt. She also used a Singer sewing machine with a knee control. Your story brought back some fond and bittersweet memories, thank you for those!

Ivanhoe said...

Did you use it yet? I remember having one in our house when I was a child. It had a foot paddle and you could flip the machine inside and use the top for cutting fabric or anything else when not in use. It was pretty cool!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic story and beautiful photo.

Gretchen said...

Oh... how beautiful... and very sweet!

Anonymous said...

Such a lovely picture! I remember my grandmother's treadle machine.