Hemming

I wrote earlier about sewing as a frequent activity in my childhood household. My Mom and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, certainly made clothes because they were thrifty. But they sewed primarily because they were crafty.

Tatjana measured the evenness of my Mom's skirt lengths carefully. Hemming is an art. The wearer must step into the very shoes she plans to wear with the skirt, and then she must stand perfectly still as the hemmer moves around the skirt.

My Mom usually wore her skirts at a length of about one-half-inch below the knee. This skirt looks a tad longer than that.

Suburban Chicago, April 1963. Mom and Tatjana are in the gray-era living room. Tatjana had very long hair. She usually twisted her braid—which reached to her waist—into a matronly bun.