Saturday, January 2, 2010

Playing Dress Up

My mom is kind of an amazing seamstress. She pretty much popped out of the womb stitching her own blessing dress. She made all her prom dresses, her wedding dress, her sisters' wedding dresses, her daughters dresses, my Grad dress, my sister's wedding dress, her grand daughters' dresses... (She made more than dresses, though... like my peach and black leopard-print spandex 2nd-grade gym outfit. I'd post a picture, but I think I destroyed them all... I hope). Anyway, my mom was a fashion major at BYU and she always had the most cutting-edge, stylish clothing. Ever since I grew into my mom's teenage body-type, I loved opening the old truck of mom's funky clothing and trying on her dresses and sweet yellow bell bottoms.

This Christmas Eve, we got stuck again going back through the old trunk and trying on dress after dress. Do girls ever really grow out of playing dress up? I certainly haven't. This time, though, I saw these clothes in a different light. Vintage is so in these days, and there were a few dresses that were just too great to pass up. After all, my mom was a hot commodity. What's the female equivalent of a chick-magnet? Dude-magnet? That doesn't sound right. Anyway, perhaps what worked for her will work for me too! So, thanks mom, for letting me take the following three dresses.

The first was a dress she made in college. I call it the "It's a Small World" dress because I feel like a small South American doll in it. The second was the one my mom wore outside the temple the day she got married, and the third one was designed in one of her college classes. It had a cool blousey top with it, but I'm only taking the heavy velvet frock.

I actually wore the middle one (my favorite) to church today, and boy was it a hit. I had people I had never met stopping me in the hallway to find out where I got this amazing dress. Nice work, mom. Your masterpieces are timeless... or perhaps reoccurring every 30 to 40 years.

2 comments:

David and Mary Walton said...

That was one of my favorite parts of the Christmas holiday! So fun to have them fit you perfectly, and brings back great memories for me.

Lisa said...

I like that middle one too! Glad you are the perfect size to fit them. Love your journaling... you crack me up. And yes, Mom, your sewing is amazing.