4-H, sewing, and waistlines

Do you know what the 4-H's stand for?
I do.  :)

My mom taught me how to sew.  I was 9 years old and in the 4th grade.  We lived in Price, Utah, in the second to last house on the way out of town on the way to Wellington.  While this provided lots of rural space to run around, ride ponies, and raise rabbits in, it did not provide much in the way of friends.  So we occupied much of our free time with 4-H. If you don't know what 4-H is, no worries, you're in the majority.  I didn't realize until MANY years later how few people have ever heard of 4-H.  FYI:  It's a rural thing.

My ribbons looked like this one.

I was involved in several clubs: sewing, entomology, cooking, horses, bicycling, gardening, crocheting, knitting and Tri-Chem painting.  Sewing was the first as well as the last.  I guess it's the one that stuck.  I came just shy of completing 4 years of sewing, losing steam before sewing a lined jacket. I did eventually make a wedding dress though.  Funny how I still don't really consider myself a seamstress.  I even won blue ribbons every year.

My first sewing project was a pair of elastic-waist pants.  They were Sweeeet!!!  The fabric I chose was a beauuuuuutiful print of patchwork denim print with random yellow bananas on it.  They were happenin'!  In a way, I wish I still had those pants because they were so incredibly, unbelievable ugly.  What was I thinking???  And besides being freaking ugly, the waist to crotch measurement was WAY tooo looooong.  I had to fold down the waitband to make them comfortable.  But wait, there's more.  This was in the days that pants normally sat a little above the belly button.  But to fold them down made them too short.  Nevertheless, I was so proud of them that I actually did wear them to school one day, but only once.  Due to the waist/length problem, I wore them at the bra line (which I did not know what that was at that point.  I was a loooong way off from needing to wear one of those contraptions.)  With my shirt untucked, nobody noticed.  Well, at least I think they didn't.  Nobody ever said anything.  But then again, who would???  "Hey, why are you wearing your pants up by your armpits???"  Nope.  Nobody said anything.  Let me tell you...I looked goooood!  No wonder I didn't have any friends!  Just kidding.  I did.  They just lived too far away to hang out with much.  Those pants sat in my drawer for probably 3 years.  I WANTED to wear them.  I must've put them on 2 dozen times... and then put them back.  They were just so dang uncomfortable.  And loud.  Man, were they LOUD.  I can pretty safely say that they are by far, the loudest pants I have ever owned.  Perhaps it scarred me and that's why I stick with denim, tan, or black nowadays.  Or perhaps I got some fashion sense?  I prefer the later.  Oh, and did I mention how stiff they were?

These are not the pants.
These are a lovely pair I found on the internet that might
BEGIN to give you an idea of my beauties.
But mine were LOUDER.

More about making those pants.  I remember my mom making me do every.single.step.  And when I messed up, she made me unpick it and re-do it.  I don't remember being bothered by this.  I must've started being a perfectionist early in life.  Why didn't someone give me the heads up then, "Lori, this will drive.you.crazy... let it go!"  But my mom is an excellent seamstress and I wanted to be like her.  So, I worked and worked at making those pants pretty darn near perfect.  Well, except for the crotch problem, length problem, LOUD problem, and stiff problem.  Okay, so the stitching was perfect.

I learned a lot by the unpicking and re-doing, so I didn't mind it much.  And after the actual learning, when my projects were dictated by the 4-H program, I ended up sewing clothes for my little sisters mostly.  I didn't ever make much for me.  However, I did sew my 9th grade graduation dress.  I was very proud of that beauty.  It was a Gunne Sax brand, which was all the rage, which meant it had lots of ribbon and lace.  There were 6 rows of ribbon down the bodice and I carefully topstitched on both sides of that ribbon very meticulously.  I thought it was beautiful.  And I felt so beautiful in it.  It as the most fitted thing I had ever worn.

My sister Louise and I.
Frizz was in too... in case you were wondering.

Man, was I delirious!  You'll notice how high the waist is.  Yeah, the style was your-waist-is-pretty-much up-past-the-belly-button for quite a few years of my growing up.  But I did solve the length, LOUD, and stiff problems.

Thanks to my mom for teaching me to sew.  

Happy Birthday!

What did your mom teach you?