butterfly dress

When we were growing up, our mom always made the best clothes for her five girls. I loved the dresses she sewed for me, but I also dreaded going to the school library because the volunteers there would ooh and ah whatever I was wearing, asking if my mom made it. Of course she did!. But I was shy and didn't want the attention my adorable clothes garnered.

I had a red cotton jumper that always felt very "swiss miss" to me because it had a clever vest closure trimmed with a woven floral ribbon. There was another beloved dress from first or second grade that included a puffed-sleeved white blouse, cobalt blue plaid skirt, and double-breasted blue velveteen vest.


Mom made most of my Sunday dresses and school clothes, but she was up to almost any challenge. During the whole designer jeans craze in junior high she sewed a pair of blue jeans for me. I remember two prom dresses, dresses based on my sketches and ideas, Halloween costumes, mini-skirts, and countless other projects. Mom made virtually whatever I wanted. I can only remember once when she said no to me, the day before my high school graduation when I decided I needed a yellow silk tank top and wrap skirt. It would have been really pretty, but the day before graduation and the party we were having? Not very considerate of me.

I had almost forgotten about this dress. My sister Sharri and I had matching butterfly dresses, made from some squares of printed silk that Grandma sent Mom. Each dress has a butterfly embroidered on its bodice, lovingly embellished by Mom.

This is the smaller of the two dresses. Dr. S loves it, and so do I. I probably shouldn't be letting her each ice cream in it or wear it for play, but she's a pretty neat kid and seems to respect her clothing so that she'll take care not to mess something if she knows it's special. And I can't stand to save it just for Sunday, since she'll outgrow it so quickly anyway.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have this dress. Once it's too small I'll probably display it on a hanger someplace, maybe in her bedroom. I hope that someday she'll be able to dress her daughter in the same dress and can tell her own stories about it.

And maybe she'll add one of the dresses I've made for her, and pass that along to her child as well.