Día de las Madres en Guatemala! & the story of why I like sewing.

Today is Mother's Day in Guatemala and I think all Central America. So I did call my mom early today and I am about to call my grandma as well. She will be 85 this year and still tends to her little farm in the mountains in El Salvador. She is an amazing woman, raised 11 kids and doesn't seem to get old, just wiser, I love her.

So, it is thanks to my mother that I like to sew.  Back when I was probably 2 or 3 or maybe earlier than that, my mom received her own sewing machine as a Mother's Day present from my dad. It was a Singer, manual, with a little yellow box that had yellow screw drivers, bobbins, oil, and I can't remember what else. My mom loved that machine so much, she kept it clean and shiny, it always looked new. She went to sewing school every afternoon, I remember that because I had to stay with my brothers and sometimes my older brother didn't want to watch us so he tied us to the post in the corridor.
My mom made so many dresses for me, she learned to make patterns in brown paper and I always had a new dress to wear. She will find this cute dresses on newspapers with instructions on how to make them and she will make them for me. I loved all of them and I do remember most of them, especially one that she made for me for church. It had a white blouse with ruffled red sleeves. The skirt was red and white checkers and had ruffles as well, I loved that dress. I was a little older when she made me that one.
When I was 14  she told me that I should go to sewing school with her. She registered in an embroidery class. I took sewing lessons for the next year. I made some nice outfits and my teacher was always so nice and patient with me. I made my mom a green dress, but the sleeves were to tight, I never like using patterns  which I think is a bad habit.
So that's how it began, I did not go back to sewing school because I wanted to do other things that teenagers like to do instead of being stuck one hour every night sewing things. That is why I never learned all the good stuff about sewing until now that I picked it up again. Although, I did make my best friend her dress for her sister's wedding and it was quite cute and it fit her perfectly, even though I did not use a pattern. I was always fixing and remodeling my outfits.

When I came to this country my sister in law let me use her sewing machine, which was a new thing for me because it was electric and portable, I was amazed by it, so I set myself into making all kinds of dresses. I made my graduation dress. It was white and the blouse was a little too small, I had to use a shawl because it showed too much!! I didn't use a pattern, I just cut it out using one of my other dresses and didn't measure quite right.

 I also made a red dress. I tried to use a pattern with this one but then I gave up and just made my own thing. I loved that dress. But after a while I thought it needed new life.

I turned it into a little dress for my daughter for her first birthday. Pretty cute don't you think? I did use a pattern for this one, but it came out too big. Still cute on her.

I remodeled a white dress that my sister in law had given me. It became the dress I used for my wedding at the LDS Temple, I only used it inside so I don't have any pictures with it on. That one dress made me hate sewing for a while!!! It was mighty hard. The fabric was just to fragile and nice, I was not used to sewing something so delicate.
After my first daughter's first birthday I didn't touch my sewing machine for about two years. Then I decided to make them some Easter dresses, but I didn't finish them, until  this year for  Easter, he he he! I love sewing, I am always looking into learning more.
My mom still sews and remodels her clothes, her last creation was some clothes she made for the girls' dolls out of socks!! they are not very fancy or even cute, but my girls love them! and I thought my mom was so clever.
So, thank you mamá for instilling in me the art of creating beautiful things with fabric and tread. It all started with a Singer Manual Sewing Machine!!