By Charlotte Byus
As a young girl I would sit in the cleaning shop and watch my Mom mend clothes for customers, or when all the chores were finished she would set out a pattern and material and get to work on a new dress for Dolores or me. Of course, we never started something new on a Friday because that was bad luck. Not too sure why, but Big Mamma said so. I watched as she would match the plaids on the material or place the flowers together and the outfit would look seamless. I watched as she would fit every piece of pattern on the material and have leftovers, you know just in case you should need that material to repair the outfit in the future.

I would try to sew on pieces of leftovers to learn, but you see it took lots of coordination to keep the pedal moving with your foot. I made lots of mistakes when I would not keep the foot and ankle moving together. You see this was a pedal machine, not electric. She was very patient with me, helped clean up the knots I had made between the bobbin and the top thread. Kinda like RR does when I get a really good bird nest in my reel while fishing.

Years went by and she would make dresses for all my years of school and even my prom dress. I found a picture in the newspaper for a formal sold in a small shop near what is now known as the Galleria area. Off we went on Saturday after the shop closed to see this dress so Mom could figure out how to make it. I just have to say it was beautiful when we finished. I was so proud that she let me help.

Mom did not sew much for me when I was in college, you know, I wanted store purchased items just like all the other girls. Silly me.

When my two girls came along, we started again. By this time, Mom and Dad had moved to the farm in Blanco to retire. That was funny, I really don’t think they had ever worked so hard as they did on the farm. Back to the story, we had only one car, so RR would drive us to the Greyhound Bus station in downtown Houston and Mom and Dad would pick us up at San Antonio or Austin. We would have lunch and head to the first fabric store. There we would spend hours looking a patterns for the girls and material. Daddy would roll down the windows in the car and take his afternoon nap. Off we would head for the farm where Mom and I would design matching outfits for both girls and sometimes me too. Once again we would place pattern pieces to make the most of the material and sometimes we would have enough left over for doll dresses for the baby dolls.

In between this, Daddy and I would bale hay and put it in the barn. Let’s just say, I lost a few pounds during these weeks. You should have seen how pumped my arms were. The girls would stay with Mom in the house making doll dresses until it was time for our afternoon break for water or lemonade. Daddy and I would sit down on the side of the trailer to rest and the girls would jump on the bales of hay.

This was something we did twice in the summer – Once, for the first cutting of hay, or for the summer shorts and tops to be made, and then again in August for school clothes. Also, August was our family Birthday month so we had celebrations and lots of cakes to eat. Oh yes, and peaches we picked from Stonewall or the Hill Country.

Once again, years went by, and by the time Di was in Ag needing formals for occasions, I would go get Mom to spend about a month with us and we would start the process of patterns, materials and sewing again. Daddy had passed in July of ’81, so Mom enjoyed the sewing and getting together with Dolores and family. There is more to tell but not today.

This morning, I was watching “It’s sew easy” on PBS as always, and I remarked to RR that it was sad that I did not sew as much anymore. His comment was so true to heart. Honey, the fun of sewing was with your Mom. Neither of the girls took up sewing nor the two granddaughters. Needless to say, my eyes swelled with tears and my throat closed up and I nodded my head.

Enjoy your week and the wonderful rain we have received.
See you next time.

[8-26-2019]