textiles
My Mamaw (paternal grandmother) is a seamstress, and taught me to sew by letting me rummage through her scraps of fabric to make doll clothes and quilts when I was a kid. Later, when I was a teenager, she helped me pick out old patterns she had from the ’70s so I could make my own clothes.
My Nanny (maternal grandmother) taught me to knit when I was 8. She also taught me needlepoint & cross-stitch.
I learned to crochet while working a very slow office job in ‘95 when I was pregnant with my son. It served two very handy purposes : it helped me stay awake on the job and to furnish my first baby with a full set of handmade clothes and blankets.
The sweater pictured above was made for my son in 1998. He has long since outgrown it, but it remains the project I’m proudest of. At the time, it was the most challenging thing I’d ever attempted with yarn (it had cables!). I found the pattern in an old Bernat pattern book from the ’60s and thought it would look great in some dark olive green Wool-Ease. I learned alot from that sweater. One really cool thing I learned was that I love making cables.
Most of my sewing, knitting, and crocheting are still done for my kids and my family, but I’m beginning to take it elsewhere.
