Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The dressmaker

Growing up, I have always thought that my classmates had custom made school uniforms like we did. My mom, before the start of the school year, would take our measurements and start working away at the sewing machine.

Ma is so underrated.

On my first day back, my mum brought me to the textile shop and told me to "zhao bu zhuo yi" (look for fabric to make clothes). I selected two, one which had a great colour for summer and the other, perfect for a cosy pair of pants. Altogether, it cost $22 for eight meter lengths.


This reminds me of a story my mum told us as kids.

Pregnant with her third child, my mum once used a 50 cents bus fare to buy ice-cream for her two children, knowing that she would have to walk in the heat and humidity for about an hour while taking care of the two little ones.

The sacrifices that she made to bring joys to her children is irreplaceable.



   

I did feel guilty that ma was spending hours at the sewing machine yesterday to make the clothes in time for my flight back to Perth this evening. Sewing is a lot of hard work. It takes bucket loads of patience, creativity, motivation, extreme precision and skills. 

But ma reassured me that as long as I like the clothes that she makes, it is all worth the effort.

And I LOVE the clothes!



Fit for all occassions.

And she inspired me to make my own creations too. While she was sewing, I made a headband out of yellow and black buttons. Ma helped to sew the two ends of the headband together.

The headband as modeled by my lil niece Tuu Tuu...

 ... who is undeniably and effortlessly THE cutest baby

Ma is making yet another top for me (the last one). Sewing time is also a great family get-together chit-chat time so I best be going.

Here's to mothers who sew.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Mon, I see you've mastered macro shooting already :D I'm really impressed with your mother's clothes making.. love the tops AND that photo of you with Angele is so cool!!

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  2. Macro shooting is super cool!!

    Thanks, I looove the tops too!

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