hollip's Profile

36 years ago when my mother left home for college, my grandmother bought her a brand new Singer sewing machine. It was on sale, so she bought one for herself as well.

I still recall my mother sitting at that machine making my childhood pants, dresses and Halloween costumes. So, when my grandmother asked me if I wanted the second (matching) machine she had bought and “hardly used”, I was quick to say “yes.”

“Hardly used,” turned out to mean: “never even removed from the box,” and I was the proud recipient of a new, yet, 36-year-old machine, complete with handbook, attached carrying lid and all the accessories.

So my “proudest sewing moment,” wasn’t about making the fanciest or most elaborate or even my first project. For me it was about feeling as though I had stepped back through time and connected to my mother, at 18 years old, off in the world on her own, and my grandmother, giving her “girls” the ability to begin to create for themselves.