More Sunday Rounds

Suburban Chicago, October 1962. Dad catches Mom again before she heads out to the hospitals.

After we pick, we pit.

Door County, Wisconsin, July 1980. It's the second part of the job.

Ha! I remember how much I loved those curtains when Mom sewed them in the 1970s. The fabric featured a Japanese-inspired motif.

"We're as busy as bees!"

Sacred Heart School, Melrose Park, Illinois, Spring 1967. This is my third-grade teacher. She was the subject of the "class crush."

I love the crisp, cotton, shirt dress, its Peter Pan collar, and the pintuck pleats. Doesn't the dress make you think "starch"?

The Performance

Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois, July 1992. The size of the festival's audience catches Mr. Irene's attention.

(Hey! I sewed Mr. Irene's folk costume.)

A Saturday Visit to the Waiting Room

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Suburban Chicago, December 1972. I don't recall why we visited Mom's office that day. Perhaps Dad wanted to hang some more photos in the waiting room (where, like in most doctors' offices, the magazines were plentiful and outdated).

Notice the $2.00 charges for non-business-hours telephone consultations. I worked in that office as a receptionist during the summers; here I am sewing that blouse.

The Life Box (Part 28)

I used to sew many of clothes. It seemed like everyone sewed in the 1970s. It was easy to find fashionable patterns, and there was a fabric store in nearly every shopping mall. Mom and I sewed the ensembles we wore during our European vacation, and I later sewed the garments I packed for my trip to Stuttgart. I think I sewed every bridesmaid gown I wore. Oh golly, I once even sewed a swimsuit.

I saved many of the sewing patterns I used. I was looking today for the pattern for my senior-prom dress, but I could not find it. It was a wraparound halter dress that I made in a silver fabric. I intended to show the pattern to Mom because I wondered if she'd now think the dress was too risqué. It didn't seem daring in 1975 or 1976. (This is not the pattern, but it is very close to it.)

I did find several other patterns from that era, so I wonder if I didn't lend the wraparound halter-dress pattern to someone. I recall I went through a "Cossack phase" during which I sewed many billowy blouses and dresses. I still have those patterns. Here's one:

I made a grey blouse out of the pattern, and I sewed a pink and grey bias-plaid, A-line skirt to match.

I even wore that outfit to a school dance:

Suburban Chicago, January 1975. Dad catches me before the party.

Reluctant

Suburban Chicago, Autumn 1965. I probably resisted being photographed that day because of my chapped lips.

The Traveling Coat

Unknown Location, Germany, Autumn 1944. Mom doesn't recall why she packed two coats when she fled Lithuania in mid-summer. She took only one dress. By the time she and Jake settled in the Displaced Persons camp, the dress was threadbare, and Mom struggled to darn the worn fabric.

Recognizable

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1961. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana's friend wrote, "Do you recognize the fabric?" We sent fabrics to relatives living behind the Iron Curtain.

Washing Dishes

Door County, Wisconsin, July 1976. I'm wearing the buzzing bees blouse. I sewed that blouse, and used to wear it often.

There's a shot of Mom at this same spot in this post.

Departure

O'Hare International Airport, August 1985. Mom (and Dad) accompany me to the gate as I prepare for another trip overseas.

A Downtown Day

Chicago, Illinois, June 1972. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, visits the Art Institute.

Independence Day

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. The older girls sing during an Independence-Day minejimas. (The younger children waited in the audience until it was our turn to take the stage.)

That's my friend Ron at the piano. My friend Kris stands second from left. The braided trim on Kris's folkdress and mine were identical because our Mom's worked together to sew the blouses and aprons.

Snow Stitching

Verona, Wisconsin, February 2014. The deer have a plan.

Lighting the candles.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, January 1961. My Dad's twin sister, Jonė, lights the candles of my Toronto Cousin's birthday cake.

It looks like Jonė and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, shopped together for fabric.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

Viewer

Suburban Chicago, January 1962. My Toronto Cousin watches television during her holiday visit. The White sewing machine and the ironing board still stand in the Rec Room.

November 25

Suburban Chicago, Summer 1972. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, was born 117 years ago today. More on her birthday here, here, here, and here.

(Tatjana is mending a pair of jeans in this photo.)

Work on the focus.

Suburban Chicago, 1967. I'm still learning to use the new camera; focusing isn't easy when one has bad eyesight.

Mom sits at her sewing machine. The shelves on the left store Mom's medical books. On the left are many of Dad's historical books; he rarely read fiction (that's something else he and I have in common). I see two books that influenced me: (1) Zoë Oldenbourg's The Crusades; and (2) Stanley Loomis's Paris in the Terror.

A Sunday Table

Suburban Chicago, 1967. My Mom sits with Jadzė D and Jadzė D's husband. Mom sewed her dress; it was crafted from yellow, Shantung silk (covered buttons!). Jadzė D knitted her dress.

Focused

Suburban Chicago, January 1975. I recall Dad was working on an article that winter.

Dad often wore vests. Although Dad usually favored knitted vests, here he wears one—in olive-green, Ultrasuede fabric—that Mom sewed.