This skirt was stitched by my mother on her hand cranked Singer.
The fabric is Portuguese, except perhaps for the pale pink. It is almost circular and swirls upto your thighs if you spin round and round, or just bend your knees and twist to make waves.
It was worn a lot. It helped me feel strong when I travelled alone on a French exchange.
I don't remember much about this jean jacket. It was made by a clown friend of my mother's. Doesn't everyone have a clown friend? I must have been 3-4 years old. I must turn this into a tradition and make one for Ruben.
My mother hand stitched this whilst on holiday in Ericeira, Portugal. Sitting sewing on the balcony, looking over the cliff edge down to the beach below. She could shout over the rail and call us back for lunch. This was originally a dress with shoulder straps. As I grew it got cut down to a skirt. It is maybe my favourite fabric ever. It reminds me of pumpkin soup and grilled sardines and freedom.
I hadn't quite realised how associated cloth and Portugal and my childhood were. Sewn into the fabric of my life. Soft memories for me to touch. It makes more sense that I went to live in Portugal as an adult and felt so comfortable there.
As a child my perception of myself was that I never had any new clothes. I was the third child, with older cousins. I thought I always got hand-me-downs. Now that image is challenged, and the tenderness and love that these clothes represent is helping me re-evaluate other preconceptions about my childhood.
More childhood clothes on my flickr.
6 comments:
beautiful words you have here...
que lindo, alix. fiquei com vontade de ir procurar as minhas.
This was great to read. Thanks for sharing. It puts some of my feelings into words that I could not find.
Jennifer
http://movinghands.wordpress.com
l like coming back to this post and reading it.
:)
have a great Thursday Alix**
Lots and lots of love in these clothes! I paricular remember a red dress my mother made for me with blue arms and for herself she made a blue one with red arms. When we wore our dresses we were twins she said. Pulling up a bag of old clothes must be pulling out strong feelings/memories as well. I LOVE attics for this reason, that they let you travel in time...
I would love to hear about all your childhood clothes too :-)
Olga - the red/blue and blue/red bit is perfect. I nearly made skirts like that for a friend and I recently. With a a bit of fabric from each, in the others. But time ran out because I was in South Africa and the plane wouldn't wait.*
And hello Jennifer - your kids are going to have a large box of happy clothes memories.
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