4th of July Flashback

A week before the Fourth, my kids were all looking for their Stars and Stripes outfits.  Our neighborhood hosts a kids’ parade–complete with bike/wagon decorating competition and bake-off–and they wanted to be appropriately dressed.  This year, I didn’t need to do any sewing, because everything we needed was already in the closet.

For my 8yo, she knew exactly what she wanted to wear: a dress that my mother made for my younger sister almost 20 years ago.  My oldest wore it a dozen years ago, when she was 8, and now the next girl in line was excited to match her wagon with stars and stripes.

I’m pretty sure this is a Robert Kaufman print from way back.  The collar is a woven gingham.  The bodice is lined and the skirt is extra long, which she loves.

There’s something really special about handing down a dress year after year after year.  This one is a reminder that if you use cheap fabric, all you end up with is a cheap dress–but if you work with the best materials you can, a dress can be worn and worn and worn again, then saved and worn some more and still look like new.  We were in too much of a rush to even run an iron over this dress, but outside of a few wrinkles, it looks fresh as a daisy.

When I talk to women who sew for their children, this is the story I hear behind their words each and every time.  Many of them wore dresses their own mothers had sewn for them in their childhood, and now they want to offer those memories to their own kids.  I treasure that I have the opportunity to do the same–by passing along things my mother has made, and by making more memories every time I sit down at my sewing machine.

A perfect way to celebrate Independence Day!  Hope you all had a happy Fourth!