Substantial.

How many times over the past few weeks have I used that word when describing fabric and then adding, “That’s the word my mom would have used to describe it.”

She would have turned 88 today, hard to believe since she’s been gone more than ten years now. Between her birthday today and the inundation of commercials for Mother’s Day over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what I would say if I were chosen to reflect on her for a television commercial (like one I saw recently).

Mom comes up so often when I’m creating Chelle Summer- as far back as the inspiration. I think of the time she held the coolest piece of fabric in her hand, something from the 60s, leftover from a top she had created, not sure what to do with it. This was in a period of my life where I wasn’t sewing at all and it didn’t occur to me to just keep it. She gave it away as she did with the dress she wore at my first birthday party, the blue and green fabric print that haunts me and I will one day recreate in Chelle Summer style.

Mom is there when I talk to people at events, whether the conversation be about the nice weight (substantial!) of the fabric or the person telling me about his/her mom which reminds me of my mom.

In the more recent years I’ve been estate sale-ing, mostly the ten years since my mom died, I have begun to understand more about her after seeing what other women keep in their bedroom closets, linen, closets, and kitchen cabinets. There is almost always one vintage dress in the closet. It might have a coffee stain or a cigarette burn, but it also had a memory attached to it. That dress told a story for her and she kept it to remember.

My mom had several of these, too. I have some of them (although not the one I wish I had!) and a couple of coats. In ways I never could have imagined, she taught me how to tell stories through the objects and textiles of our lives. And perhaps those items that sit in the back of my mind were let go to help me create something new, something still inspired by Mom, yet uniquely mine, uniquely Chelle Summer.