“Stiches of Love”
I come from a family that rarely said ‘I love you’ with words, but nonetheless, I always felt loved to bits. My family showed their affection with handmade sandals, jumpers, dresses, skirts.
I wore them with joy, and they witnessed my climbing the trees, eating cherries in the yard, jumping over fences and sometimes bruising my knees. Now, years into adulthood and motherhood, I know how much love my grandparents and my mother put into stitches that held together my clothes because I do the same with my children’s things.
One morning my daughter walked next to me, focused on the day she was going to have, thinking about her kindergartens activities.
In her mind she was still singing, most likely. Earlier, when we were leaving home she was dancing to her tune; this fantastic daughter of mine. That morning she had decided to put on the pants I sewed for her. Every single stitch of these pants contained my unconditional love for her. I do tell my daughter that I love her, but somehow the magic of my handmade clothes cast a spell of love on her. The motherly spell of all the wishes I have for her. The clothes selected and made only for her, individualized, crafted for her particular needs.
Last month my mother came to visit me in California. She came all the way from Poland, and it had been almost two years since our goodbye before I had left to come the States. We miss each other like crazy, yet we always avoid public displays of affection and neither of us are chatterboxes.
Such a period cannot be easily covered with words, so we took out a sewing machine. I made pants for my younger daughter, and she cast her spell of love into the stitches of a skirt that she sewed for me. I am an adult, but my mom’s love is such that she will make a skirt for me. The prettiest skirt ever.
My daughter dressed her doll into a dress she hand-sewn for her. And then my daughter made her first attempt to sew something. I could see how deep the love goes, and how life through sewing made a full circle despite distance. Here was this 5-year-old daughter of mine sewing before she was able to write.
Just like me, my mom, my granny, and many other women in my family before us, we were all sewing affections into the net of life before our ABCs started to matter.
Love can be expressed in various ways, in my family we do it with stitches, there is no denying it, it is sewn deep in our veins.
How do you say your “I love yous?”
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Agnieszka, an expat wife from Poland living in California and mother to four children aged 10, 8, 5, and almost 1. By education she is a linguist in love with everything related to words in various languages. Currently, she is a stay-at-home-mom dedicating her time to raise good, loving, and smiling human beings. Being a stay-at-home-mom is a luxury she appreciates a lot and every day. Her family decided to move from Poland in 2008 to experience an adventure and see the different ways in which people live.
California is the second foreign place they have lived as a family so far. Agnieszka is a huge fan of sustainability; she loves upcycling, so whenever she can, she sews, knits, and recycles old clothes. The whole family is crazy about books and travel, except for their cat who cannot understand their passions, with the exception of their passion for yarn. She tangles every bit of any skein that gets into her claws!
She blogs in Polish about the family expat life, motherhood adventure, and her own third culture kids at http://silvallirion.blox.pl/html.
Sarah Hughes
Sarah grew up in New York and now calls New Jersey home. A mother of two, Derek (5) and Hayley (2), Sarah spends her days working at a University and nights playing with her children. In her “free” time Sarah is a Shot@Life Champion and a volunteer walk coordinator for the Preeclampsia Foundation. Sarah enjoys reading, knitting, sewing, shopping and coffee. Visit Sarah at her own blog Finnegan and The Hughes, where she writes about parenting, kid friendly adventures and Social Good issues. Sarah is also an editor, here, at World Moms Blog!
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That’s lovely!
Unfortunately I never learnt to sew and am not good at making things. I show love by hugging and kissing and telling and writing poems. 🙂
Simona, it does not matter how, what matters is IF 🙂 This is a universal language and the same message gets translated into so many various gestures, words, and actions.
This is truly beautiful! What a lovely expression of love, reading your post makes me want to learn to sew!
I have an honor and pleasure to be part of this familly. I am Agnieszka’s younger sister (cousin, but this word doesn’t sound as soulmately as sister,so since I remember, she’s my beloved sis). When I was a little girl she was for me and my dolls more than Coco Chanel 🙂 she was making for my Barbies awesome dresses, jeans and jumpers. Once she did even small jeans backpack with tiny tiny pockets. Uuuh that moment when I saw this backpack – one of happiests moments of my childchood. This gifts from her… love is in every stich. For sure. 🙂
What a great way to express love! The extent of my sewing is a button that popped out. My way of expressing love (besides the hugs and kisses that i give freely) is through food :-). I cook, and nothing makes me happier than when my family sits around the table, eat and enjoy the food that I lovingly prepared for them.
Great post – and welcome to WMB!
@Maman Aya – food in our family is exequo with sewing 🙂
What a lovely post! It made me think about how my grandmother used to teach me to embroider at a very young age. I never got anywhere near as good as her, but I have fond memories of those times – just sitting with her and learning. Thank you for sharing Sarah!