Mom's dress

Are you a sentimental person? Have you ever caught a whiff of something and had a flood of memories rush upon you? An old perfume, perhaps? I recently smelled some tick/chigger yard spray, and I immediately thought of spending time with my grandfather each summer!

When I think about my mother during my younger years, I remember her in this dress.

Mom, me, Hillary, dad

My grandmother made this dress for my mom, and she wore it as her "house dress." Whenever it was cleaning day, my mom was sure to be in her blue anchor dress with hair pulled back in a bandanna. Mom wore this dress a lot, and I always thought she looked so beautiful in it. The way it just slipped on and wrapped around seemed so intriguing and fashionable! The fabric was worn and soft; such a comfort to a shy little girl!

I found a picture of her wearing it at my sister's first birthday party! (Mom did explain that this was taken after an all- day garage sale! Rather funny, if you know my mom, to think of her wearing a house dress to a birthday party! It gives me hope!)

Years ago, I spied the dress hanging in the very, very back of my mom's closet! I took it home, determined to make a house dress for myself. This was about the time I started wearing aprons, and I wanted a comfortable dress that would make my aprons look cuter! Sounds silly, I know, but an apron over jeans and a t-shirt just isn't the same as an apron over a cute dress!

One problem: I had never just made a dress without a pattern, and this had darts! It has been in my stack of projects for a long, long time. I had talked about it to many people, and I finally decided just to go for it.

I took apart the top, traced a pattern off each piece, and sewed it back together. It is now hanging in my sewing room! I made a practice dress out of scrap fabric (bombed the first try...), got it right, and then made a real one! I made the bodice too short, so I had to improvise a waist band. I can fix it for next time, though. It turned out pretty well, and it is very comfortable! Ta Da!