A couple posts lately have me thinking about this. What are your most treasured sewing heirlooms from your Mom, Grandma, Aunt, Friend or someone else special?


I have the dress my Mom made for my first birthday in well, lets just say the mid 1960's. :) My dd wore it for her first birthday.

My Mom recently gifted me my Grandmother's and Great grandmother's dressmakers shears, used to cut out my Mom's and my baby clothes.

I will have my Grandma's sewing machine when I have a good place to put it.

Its nice to think about the history and tradition wrapped in our sewing items and to imagine passing them along to the next generation someday.

Anyone else?

Mine is big: I have a Singer sewing machine from the 30's? 40's? in it's original cabinet with the treadle and it has *not* been electrified. I :heart: it. When my grandmother died, it was the only thing I wanted and my grandfather was kind enough to oblige me.

honestly... the only thing I can think of, but isn't material... is my gift and love of sewing. I don't have anything that was really given to me, or any old clothing that was made... but my grandmother taught me to sew and I love her for it :)

Oh wait, I do have baby quilts that my mom and my aunt made me when I was baby that Chloe is using right now :)

I have several dresses that my mom made me and my sister when we were little. A couple of them are matchy dresses and will fit my girls this summer. :)

I also have a bunch of boys clothes that she made for my brothers that my son wears.

I have a small set of drawers that were my step-grandfather's mothers. When my grandpa died, my grandma was getting rid of some things and I mentioned that I'd really like the drawers and she told me that she really needed to give them to one of my aunts/uncles because they had belonged to Grandma Frances. It really hurt my feelings because I was close to Grandma Frances my whole childhood...blood wasn't important. After a week or so, she reconsidered and apologized, then gave me the the drawers. I looove them. I'm not making good use of them at the moment, but they sit on my filing cabinet and make me smile every time I see them. They remind me of Grandma Frances, and of my grandfather because I got them right after he died, and of my grandmother because she is the one that gave them to me. I'm the only one in the family who sews, so it seems fitting that I should have them (even though I didn't sew when she gave them to me)

j

I have that pin cushion that's on the board right now, of course. :heart: I also have an older machine that I actually know very little about... It belonged to my great grandfather (on the other side of the family). He was a tailor and this was his personal machine.

Eventually we will be inheriting 3 quilts made by my dh's great great grandmother. I love looking at all the tiny stitches on them and they were all sewn by hand. One of them is made from old feed sacks. My mil still has them. She also has the old pedal style machine that I think is 100 years old and been in her family the whole time. That will be ours someday too.

Both my grandmas sewed but neither one of them seemed to save anything. My one grandma used to make me and my sister lots of matching stuff when we were little. My mom gave me the matching Strawberry Shortcake aprons to my girls last year that were me and my sisters. She didn't think she'd saved anything else though.

I have lots of doll clothes (for Cabbage Patch Kids) that my mom made for me that my girls play with now. :heart: And a quilt that my uncle made for his firstborn son that my aunt gave to me when our oldest daughter was born (with lots of hand embroidery! No wonder he only made the one, lol!!). :heart: And a doll my grandma and grandpa made for me when I was younger, and a king-sized quilt my grandma & aunt made as a wedding gift. :) And a queen-sized and baby-sized quilt dh's grandma made for us and our oldest daughter before she died. And a quilt dh's other grandma made for our 2nd daughter. There are lots of sewing-creative folks on all sides of our family. :D

A love of sewing.

I also have a quilt my mom made me for my double bed when I was 11. She hand embroidered cats on all the squares.

My mom has a collection of quilts from her grandmother and great grandmother that will be mine someday. A couple of them are handsewn from bits of old clothing and some of the clothes she can identify.

I have lots and lots of buttons. My Grammie saved every button she ever saw. LOL Many of them are in bad shape, but some are still usable. And some are so old, they're bone, wood, or glass.

I use some of them for my projects and it warms my heart every time. I know my Grammie would be thrilled that I used some of her old saved buttons.

I also have my Grammie's old pin cushion. I use it all the time.

My Grammie wasn't much of a seamstress, but she loved to crochet. I have lots of stuff she made me when I was a kid. When I taught myself to crochet this past fall, I felt so close to her. I think that's one of the reasons I love knitting and crocheting so much. I miss her terribly.

What a fun thread! I also have quite a heritage of sewing. My mom tells me all the time how proud my paternal grandma and maternal great grandma would be of my sewing. Grandma sewed all her own clothes, which is what I'm aiming for (though she did it out of necessity, I do it for fun, creativity, and a better fit). She taught me how to hand sew as a child, but passed away before sewing became my passion. I have some flour sack dish towels she hand embroidered.

Great Grandma could quilt like no tomorrow! I have a precious twin size log cabin quilt she made for me when I was born, and she embroidered her name and mine on the back with the date (by hand of course!), and that is so special to me. I was born in '73, so it's fun to see some of those retro prints in it. I also use one of the pincushions she made. I took a photo since we're all talking pincushions lately!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y261/SewSarahSew/pincushion.jpg

And my mom made lots of things for us kids when we were little, but now she only sews a project a year or so. She made Daniel pjs once, and a fleece blanket, and I have all the doll clothes she made for my Mandy doll. Do you remember those?

Ahhh... good memories! Thanks for reminding me!

My great grandma died a couple days before Jac was born. She had lots of stuff, but some of it my grandma (her daughter) kept.

I did get the quilt she made in the 1920's for her hope chest. It's hanging in my room. Oh, and I have her buttonhole scissors. I also have several jars of buttons that she and my grandma saved over the years.

Nothing really :0( I hope to inherit my grandma's old treadle singer with cabinet too (she had 11 children and sewed all of their clothing). Right now the sewing machine is in LA...used as a decorative piece by my uncle. Hopefully it will return to Fresno someday!

All of my mom's sewing stuff was thrown out long ago...we never saved any of her handmade items either...except for Halloween costumes (but then she loaned them out to numerous people who never returned them).

I don't have a lot of sewn heirlooms but I have a stripey afghan my grandma made for my high school graduation. I have a quilt she helped me make when I was 13, it's horrible but I love it--double knit polyester in all the lovely colors. It will last forever. My dad just told me he has the fancy satin and velvet crazy quilt she made and that one day it will be mine. I also have some doilies crocheted by my great-grandmother and some hankies with crocheted edging but I'm not sure who did it.

On my mom's side--my great grandmother quilted and I hope to have a quilt she made someday. I have a few pictures of quilts she made and I think I'll make a copy of at least one of them someday.

And then, maybe not an heirloom yet, but my wedding dress (that I made) is pretty special to me too.

:)
Vicki

My mom has her grandmother's Singer Treadle machine with the wood/iron stand that will one day come to live at my house. It still works like butta' !
Dh has a cloth picture/activity book his late mom made for him when he was little. it has hand embroidered animals, numbers, letters, a page with buttons and zippers and velcro to fasten etc.. it's very cute and ds likes it too.

What a wonderful thread!

I have a lot of treasures!

I have "baby dresses" (they are simple white cotton with lace edging) that were made by my great-great-grandmother for her granddaughter's first baby (my Dad!). The baby dresses have been worn by my Dad, by both his children (my brother and me) and by each of my children (and my brother's children), at least long enough for photos. I also have a pair of hand knitted booties made by that same great-great-grandmother.

I have a silk baby bonnet made by my grandmother for my mother when she was a baby.

I have a quilt made especially for me by my grandmother. She was not a quilter, so this project took her many years. I well remember the stack of quilt squares in her house, over a long long period of time, that eventually became my quilt. What I didn't realize until later, was she made enough extra squares to make a baby quilt for me...which she gave to me when I was expecting my first child. This grandmother passed away ago one year and five months ago. :wah: I named my five month old baby after her (Margaret). :heart:

I have a needlepoint pillow that my mother made me when I was a child.

I have the crib bedding set my mother made for my first child, from fabrics I chose myself.

Someday I hope to inherit my mother's Singer Featherweight that she loves so much.

I have a framed needlepoint wall-hanging that commemorates my wedding date, made by my maid-of-honor's mother who was very special to me, and who has since passed away.

I have a number of handmade receiving blankets with beautiful crocheted edging, made by my great-aunt, especially for my children. She made these blankets for all family members over the years, and she made a bunch for me when I was pregnant with my first child. She made extra for me, to last, because her eyesight was failing and she knew she wouldn't be able to make them for much longer. :eyes:

I have a woven label from the clothing line named after me, from my father's children's apparel business that he had when I was a child in the 70's. The line was called "Anna Banana" and I have one label left. It is soooo cute. The letters are created out of bananas (yellow with green trim on a white background). I have been thinking of having it reproduced so I can use it on the clothes I make for my kids. I also have FEW (very few) of the actual garments from this clothing line. Woven dresses with frilly accents. Cute, in a VERY retro way! LOL

Baby crying....gotta run

I have my mom's old sewing machine that she bought when she first got married over 30yrs ago. It sewed a LOT of things for my sister and I over the years.

I also have some dresses and stuff my mom had made my sister and I as babies, and a couple that my mom even wore (grandma made). I also have a crocheted bonnet my great-grandma made for my mom as a baby.

My sewing scissors is my maternal grandmother's (a really nice heavy "Marks" brand), also a ton of her buttons. She was a natural declutterer, though, and also extremely generous, so stuff didn't really stay around her sewing room much. She was a "utility" sewer, cranked out lots of stuff when there was a need. It came from her generousity rather than her creativity.

My paternal grandmother was a continual fountain of creativity until she succumbed to Altzheimer's. Name a craft and she was there. I don't have any of her wonderful quilts (my aunt auctioned them off :wah: ), but I *do* have a needlepoint picture of a Vermeer, the quilt she made me as a girl with a ton of personalized embroidery (sadly, this quilt is falling apart), and some tree ornaments that were lavishly embellished. My aunt, her only daughter, does tell me all the time that "Grossmama would be proud of your sewing", so that makes me :hbeat: .

Oohhh let me see? I don't have this in my possession, but I consider it mine because I am the only one in my family that has a love for sewing. One day it will find its way home to me, but for now it is my mom's spare bedroom:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ekortering/detail?.dir=9642&.dnm=e676.jpg&.src=ph

I also have a lovely pair of pinking shears that belonged to my grandmother. They are made by Craftsman so that will tell you they are OLD.

My other grandmother made several quilts using scraps from all my dad's and uncle's clothing. I hope one day to inherit one of them because I inherited my love for quilting from looking at these quilts when I was a child.

I have a sewing chest that was my great aunts. Also, my mom saved these Strawberry Shortcake ornaments she sewed for me for our Christmas tree when I was little.

When me and my 2 bros were little my mom sewed each of us our own little animals pillow panel, they weren't huge but we LOVED them cuz we could bring them anywhere. Anyways, my oldest bro had this blue bear and he used to put a red cape on it and he named it "Super Boobie" lol so I found someone selling the same exact panel on eBay and snagged it right away and plan to make it for my bro. lol He will LOVE it lol I'm even gonna add the red cape lol :D My mom still has her old sewing machine and doesn't use it anymore so it's mine whenever I decide to take it. It's a built in one. I can remember when I was little going in to the cabinet for thread and scrap fabric when I was little lol :)

This thread has been wonderful to read.

Thank you for sharing. :)