Another Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day has come and gone, my second without the mother. I'd spent Friday and Saturday feeling poorly, so opted to begin my day slowly, seems to be my regular routine on Sunday anyway. I had been wanting to cut some fabric to sew a new t-shirt. I finally cleared all the old family photos off the sewing machine where they'd been since my return from Colorado. I flipped through a few of the mother and then set them aside so I could locate the pattern and the proper piece of fabric. Something nice, but not so nice that if the project failed utterly I wouldn't be bummed at ruining a piece of fabric I really liked. I choose a piece she had marked for a nightgown.

I traced the pattern onto pattern tissue paper and pinned it to the project fabric. So far, so good. Last time I tried to start a similar project I burst into tears and was unable to continue. That was around Christmas time. Time for a little background: My mother loved fabric and all things relating to sewing. Fabric was her vice, if it could be called a vice. She belonged to a number of fabric co-ops where roll ends would be purchased at fantastically low prices and those savings would be passed on to the co-op members. She regaled in telling me about the $30/yd wools that she bought for less than $5/yd! And she bought vast quantities! I'm sure she had countless projects in mind for herself, my brother, and me, and then there were the pieces she bought because they were lovely and the price was great with no idea what so ever what it would be used for. When I helped her move from California to Colorado there were no less than 30 plastic totes filled with fabric. After she passed I looked through all the carefully prewashed and folded fabric (she would prewash each piece as soon as it arrived, fold it and place it on the shelves) recognizing some pieces that were purchased with me in mind. Some of which gave me pause, what *was* she thinking?!? Five yards of pink denim and five yards of pink and white striped denim? Now I like pink, don't get me wrong, but what did she have in mind for 10 yards of pink denim?

And now back to our story ... I got the fabric cut, selected the nearest approximation regarding thread color because I didn't have a proper match, and read the instructions through two or three times. It was time to begin assembly. Sewed the shoulder seams, no problem. Attach the sleeves, no problem. Sew up the sides/armpits, hmm, not sure this was in the correct order, but no visible problems. The collar looks challenging, I think I'll hem the sleeves and bottom, no problem. Now, all that's left is the collar. Harumph. I re-read the instructions, wondered how it could possibly work. I finally pinned it into place and stitched it on. I ended up hand stitching the collar at the base of the v-neck.

It fits better than I expected, I was quite pleased. I had cut the sleeves a couple inches longer than the pattern called for, that worked well. The shirt length and fit around were good. Next time I'll have a couple new tricks for the collar and I plan to make the sleeves a bit larger around; these were not too tight, but I'd still like them to be a little bit larger. I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day than doing a sewing project in homage to the mother.