Happy Valentines' Day

  

I don't often use spray starch

for my sewing projects.

It came in pretty handy, though, when making this
Valentines' Day wallhanging

from an old chambray jumper.

The fabric was stretchy and the starch made it
quite a bit easier to work with.

 

 

 

The 'aroma' of starch,
brings back lots of memories for me.

When I was in Jr. HS in the mid-sixties,

my dad was, in essence, a traveling salesman.

He would leave the house on Monday mornings

and not return until suppertime Friday nights.

Because he had to wear a suit every day,

my job was to launder and press his white dress shirts

and hankies.

He liked lots of starch!

 

I took the obligatory home economics,
a half year of sewing, a half year of cooking.

I didn't care much for the cooking portion of home ec.

We made biscuits one time

and they tasted like a monkey house smells.

It scarred me for life!

 

I loved working on the sewing machine, however,

so he bought me one.

An old singer cabinet model.

Basically, this is when I learned to sew.

We didn't have a lot of money,

so when the collars on his shirts became worn and tattered,

I'd unpick them,

turn them around,

and restitch them onto the shirt,

something, I think, he saw his mom do during the depression.

 

He made a deal with me - for every skirt I made,

he'd buy me a coordinating blouse or sweater.

(This was back in the days

when you weren't allowed to wear pants to school.)

 

I took him for his word,

and a love affair with the sewing machine

was born.

Another olfactory trigger is Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum.
My mom always had a pack in her pocketbook.



What scents trigger your memories?

Have a very Happy Valentines' Day!!

~karen