Pink!

In July of 1993 our daughter announced that she was getting married. They set a September date. That gave us two months to organize, assemble, and pay for the beautiful wedding she envisioned! At the time, I was working full-time, my husband was a full-time college student, plus we had 4 other kids at home, so time and money were hard to come by. The pressure was on!

We lived in Roswell, NM where craft supplies were limited at best and expensive at most. So my husband and I drove to Albuquerque. With approximately $150 in our pockets, we shopped the bargain bins at all of the craft/fabric stores in the city. Pink was what she wanted — pink was what she got! I grabbed every pink silk flower in those bins. We found gorgeous roses and lilies and peonies. Even dogwood blossoms found their way into the cart! Never mind the negative connotation attached to dogwood — hey, they’re pink, right?

Along with the flowers, I found satin fabric remnants, spools of lace and ribbon, and several whitewashed baskets. All of that was used to make traditional wedding necessities and miscellaneous decorations. Once home, we set up a craft station/assembly line in the dining room. The whole family was involved in gluing, cutting, wrapping, arranging, and decorating while I worked at the sewing machine.

pink Collagebridemaid dress 2My mother-in-law, a professional seamstress, provided the wedding dress. She’d been commissioned to make a dress for another wedding the year before. However, the bride had refused delivery, so she altered it to perfectly fit my daughter. I made the other two dresses — one each for the bridesmaid and flower girl. In the clearance bin at JoAnn Fabrics, I had found an entire bolt (20 yards) of pink cotton/poly fabric discounted by 90%. What luck! The fabric was rather plain, but the dresses had to be smashing. So I dug out a purchased dress that I’d worn in my sister’s wedding years before. I took it apart and used its fabric for the sleeves and overlay skirts. Beautiful!

Some of the remaining yardage was used to make bunting. It, along with hand-made satin fans and embellished baskets full of flowers, was placed on the stone bridge in a Roswell city park. Gorgeous setting, beautiful day!

DSCN1513The fabric was also used to make a tablecloth and decorations for the reception in our home. During the reception, my daughter presented a single rose to me. She had made it in secret during the hubbub of the previous weeks. The inscription on the ribbon says, “Mothers like you help dreams come true.” Makes a sentimental mom cry happy tears!

quilt CollageSo to tie this into my work here at Mo Sews Memories, much later — as our grandkids were born—those decorations, that pink fabric, was cut into quilt pieces. Guess it’s a good thing most of the babies in our family are girls! In 2012, I made the quilt on the bottom left for the newborn granddaughter of the ’93 bride and groom! The memories were passed on to a new generation.

 

It’s been nice chatting with you all for a few minutes, and I look forward to hearing from you soon—Over the Back Fence. Tell me your ideas about turning your memories into keepsakes. I’d love to help!

~Mona~

 

3 thoughts on “Pink!”

  1. So cool to have three generations share the fabric/memories.
    Your dress at my wedding.
    Heather’s dress at Audrie’s wedding.
    Audrie’s daughter’s baby blanket.
    Who knows, maybe Audrie’s daughter will pass that blanket on as a wall hanging or shadow box background to her daughter?

    Reply

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