Fashion

Many of my earliest memories are of Omi at her sewing machine, me sitting on top of the sewing console, and an ashtray and Winston cigarettes nearby.   We were living in Quantico, so I must have been around six years old.  She taught me to knit, crochet, and sew.   I was able to knit my Barbie blankets, often filled with gaps and holes, and design and sew my Barbie clothes.  I remember the leftover yellow silk used to make my Barbie jumpsuit.  And yes, being six, it fit but, the legs were different lengths and one was thinner than the other, but we did it together.  I also remember commotion in the household because Omi was shortening Mom’s dresses – it was the sixties after all – and Mom wasn’t quite ready to roll with the times.  Omi, however, was.

Debbie