It's in The Stars...

...and in the wind. The words that is, to pluck out and put down.
This is one of those posts where I start with no exact idea, no images and then somehow it coalesces and appears on this page.

I was just visiting with my dear friend Paula tonight who has graced the posts of this blog for years now. She is one of the most singularly talented people I know, and for sure, in fashion. These days we seem to be coming to some of the same conclusions about "just doing it."

Today I taught my friend Laura how to hand sew. No one has ever asked me to do that before. To me it's like knowing how to speak or read or walk. How do you teach that? My brain was at a loss for a moment and then I thought about being maybe 5 or so and how I might have learned. (see picture above in making mode) With anything, hands awkward at first and then it just starts flowing, one stitch after another.

Paula and I talked about the gift of being able to make things no matter what. No matter how awful we feel, how anxious or scared. We just keep making things. She told me a story of staying up nights, mending clothes because she was worried about her Grandmother and it seemed like the thing to do.

We all have stories like that in this community of makers. What I seem to be focusing on more and more these days is the passing down of the gift. I was so lucky to have the parents I had who taught me everything I know about making things. My New England heritage is very much about that simplicity of purpose. You make a dress because you need a dress.

I learned to take my brothers' old oxford cloth shirts with the frayed collars and turn those collars to the un-worn side. You pick out all the tiny stitches of the collar from the band and then you turn it upside down and stitch is all right back in place. I did it because you couldn't find things like that for girls when I was 16.

A purpose filled life is a happy life. You can take the girl out of New England but you can't take the New England out of the girl.
"Dyed in the wool" as we say.
A favorite phrase, still.