| Back in the 1950s, when I was a wee child, kids did not | | | | and I was hooked. I had to try myself. The next day I |
| have video games, computers, cell phones, or several | | | | found a pattern for a smaller doll. I cut out the pieces |
| televisions in the house. No girl that I knew had a closet | | | | from blue cotton print scraps and sewed them up into |
| full of clothes or a doll's chest full of doll clothes and | | | | a shirtwaist dress. Remember, I was five. Well, it |
| accessories. If anyone wanted even a working | | | | looked real good, or at least it looked like a dress, and I |
| wardrobe, or one for the favorite doll, the normal | | | | was proud. When I showed my mom, she was |
| female of the 1950s spent time sewing for themselves | | | | impressed, but there was no opening for the doll to get |
| and family members. It was just something to do that | | | | into the dress. |
| required time and skill, and some money. Now, the cost | | | | I am sure that is how many home sewers start. With |
| part could be partially controlled, by using the remnants | | | | the sewing machine and the scraps from a mother's |
| table, or looking for low cost tables in the five and | | | | sewing bag, a new passion is born. Sewing doll's |
| dime, or by taking apart old clothing and using scraps | | | | clothes and costumes for my sisters was a hobby I |
| leftover from other's sewing projects. | | | | indulged in for many years as well as clothes for my |
| I have been sewing since I was five. What got me | | | | siblings and myself. I would wait all day at school to |
| started was watching my mom make an evening | | | | come home and sew, especially if it was something |
| gown for one of my dolls. It was an 18 or possibly | | | | challenging, something I had never tried before. And, I |
| 20-inch fashion type doll. The dress had a solid dark | | | | have to say that, it was easier for me to learn how to |
| blue strapless bodice, and a light-blue, dotted Swiss, | | | | a sewing process from pattern directions than it was |
| three-tiered floor length skirt. It was the most beautiful | | | | from asking my mother how to do it. I learned to sew |
| thing ever, and I watched my mom go through the | | | | by following directions. |
| whole process from laying out the pattern and cutting | | | | Following directions is a great skill to have, and I learned |
| the fabric, to sewing on the 1950s model Singer | | | | it from being a home sewing enthusiast. My passion, |
| sewing machine. This sewing machine went forwards | | | | my hobby, at an early age I decided that what I was |
| and backwards, no zigzag at that time. But the | | | | going to be when I grew up was a fashion designer. |
| possibilities of what could be made were endless. The | | | | Sky is the limit. That did not happen, but I still have use |
| forwards stitching could sew sturdy seams, rolled | | | | for my home sewing. I make almost all that I wear, |
| hems, or gathering stitches. The beautiful doll's dress | | | | have upholstered some furniture and a couple car |
| used all of these. | | | | seats, made rugs from animal hides, and along the |
| My mom, not the most patient person, had some | | | | way I learned how to make my own patterns even |
| issues with the gathering and possibly said "Hell's Bells" | | | | though my preferred way to sew is to use a sewing |
| a time or two. So, I saw that it was not entirely an | | | | pattern by either Vogue or Butterick. |
| easy process. I saw that the dress could be made, | | | | |