While touring a favorite antique mall of ours, I saw a booth with a new basket of sewing goodies. Patterns, thread, buttons, were all gathered together for my plunder. There were handmade wooden buttons and needlebooks distributed as advertising media, too.
This booth’s owner must have gone to an estate sale where the remains of a sewing stash were discarded. The old wooden spools with their richly colored threads are still beautiful and the vendor must have enjoyed corralling them artfully in jars and vases. As I studied the bits of an unknown woman’s history, I thought of the line I’ve recently seen, “our children don’t want our stuff.” That headline advises us to clean out, get rid of that stuff (the jars and vases included), so our children won’t have to.
Now, I don’t want my children to have a burden to clean out my stuff, but I don’t want to get rid of it now! I’m loving my stuff, just as Ester, or Mildred, or whatever this woman’s name was, loved hers. She bought those patterns and planned clothes for her and her children and grandchildren. She selected the threads and buttons to make those dreams a reality. And the leftover pieces are now there for me and others to cherish, repurpose, or just see and remember her pleasure.
I still have bits of my mother’s and my mother-in-law’s sewing treasures. I use some of them every day. Others, I just enjoy their presence as I sew. And, though I didn’t buy all of Mildred’s stuff today, someone will. And, Mildred’s selections will become part of another stitched work of love.
Often when I buy these fabric treasures, the clerk at the counter will ask what I’m going to do with them. It seems everyone loves them but, “no one knows what to do with them.” When I explain about my art, sometimes showing them a photo, I get mixed reactions. Some say, “oh, no, you’re going to cut it up?!!” Others say, “That’s good. It will continue to live on.” That’s my hope.
Note: I know “sewist” looks awkward in print. The first image that comes to mind when you read “sewer” is not of a person pulling needle and thread through fabric, now is it? Right. So, I embrace the word sewist.
