Mother's Day

This is my mother circa 1950 on the California beach. How glamorous!  My mother was a huge influence on my creativity and she did it all while raising children, working and going to school for advanced degrees.  She did some very clever things while I was growing up for myself and my two sisters:

1.  She made virtually all of our clothes growing up, our dressy clothes and play wear.  There was no Target and therefore, no easily accessible and affordable cute clothes.  One summer she made us "track shorts" with the contrasting trim and elastic waist by the dozens!

2.  She always decorated our rooms herself.  Her most creative venture was using sheets as wallpaper in my sister's room.  Genius!  She used sheets a lot for comforters, curtains and tablecloths.  There just wasn't cute fabric available in the 70's and she loved the extra width.

3.  When she wallpapered my sister's and my room, she didn't want us sticking nails or tape on the wall, so she found pieces of cork board 7 feet by 2 feet, trimmed it in the leftover wallpaper and we each had our own jumbo bulletin board.  This was in 1973- way before Pottery Barn!

4.  She made all our formal dance dresses, many of them based on pictures we found in magazines.

5.  She learned to reupholster furniture from a book out of desperation- the local upholsterer retired.  My favorite upholstery project is the old wingback chairs she reupholstered for me.  She used a striped fabric that she made match everywhere and this was in an un-air conditioned house in July in Missouri!

She taught me to try anything (creatively, that is) and most of it you can make work.  So Happy Mother's Day to my creative Mother!

Comments

[Miss Sassy]

I love your mom. She sounds fun, smart, and ingenious.