My wardrobe grew considerably in the last week, without buying a thing!  My grandmother and I resurrected some clothes that had been sitting in my closet for over a year with tears, missing buttons, stains, etc.  We've done mending together before but I paid closer attention this time...still, I mostly reattached buttons while she undertook complicated repairs.  She and my mom had the brilliant idea of using the cuffs of a beautiful embroidered blouse as cap sleeves when the stains and rips on the long sleeves couldn't be fixed, thereby saving it from the trash.  It will be a great new summer shirt.

My grandmother is an accomplished seamstress: she made clothes for three kids and a husband in the 50s and 60s, my mom's wedding dress in '69, baby clothes and dress-ups for me and my sister in the 80s.  I think her latest big project was re-lining my black winter coat - an enormous and painful job that allowed me to get an additional year or two out of a beloved style.  She double-lined the pockets so my keys wouldn't shred through and attached a label that says "specially fashioned by grandmother."  Way better than a designer label.  She became so good at sewing because they couldn't afford store-bought clothes back in the day; she noted how today a spool of thread costs $3 and I suspect the black satin for the coat wasn't very cheap either - it's cheaper now not to sew.

I dream about sewing for myself because I admire my mom and grandmother so much in this regard.  It's a totally romantic and nostalgic notion, even more so because I lack the basic patience required and my interest is largely theoretical.  Still, I tried to learn as much as I could in this recent session: my grandmother showed me some tricks and above all encouraged me to get a machine so I can do some bigger repairs on my own.  Once I got over the disappointment that I couldn't learn to sew in a long weekend, I decided to listen to her advice and cut myself some slack.  I already have the skills to do little things, simply from years of watching her and my mom, I just can't let it pile up so much.  And I might be able to develop a sewing imagination, the kind that makes cap sleeves out of cuffs, but it's going to take a lot longer than I want it to.  Now, if I can cultivate the patience...!