And sew on and sew on...

Arlington Upholstery and Drapery, Los Angeles, CA 1922

Grace 1922

We're not in Kansas anymore....

My mother was born in Kansas in1904... at age 16 she came alone to California to live with cousins who owned Arlington Upholstery and Drapery in Los Angeles... she enrolled in Los Angeles High School and graduated in 1922. At AU&D she became a master seamstress... and until she passed in 1989 was called upon by drapery professionals in southern California to consult with young seamstresses when they got stuck with the math calcs to execute perfect french pleats, beauti-pleats, swags and valances.

Mother was a *liberated woman* long before women understood the importance of being self-sufficient... she had my daddy build her a little sewing shop on the side of our garage and she took in extra work after hours and weekends.

When I was six, it was her mid-1940's industrial-strength Singer sewing machine that taught me about the relationship between that big push-plate on the floor, the positioning of your fingers while guiding the fabric and that SHARP needle that goes up and down.... my right index finger was ever so slightly mis-positioned... I was small and needed to stand on the pedal-plate.... and you can probably guess the rest... (that finger nail has never grown right since!)...

And sew began my sewing lessons...