A Dress from Half a Lifetime Ago

I love sewing. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I made outfits for myself and all my friends back in high school, and was a prolific costume designer for the theatre in college. I ALWAYS make my own Halloween costume, and to me there's nothing more fun than fabric shopping.

I started sewing when I was twelve, and by thirteen I was already developing my own personal style. I LOVE dresses. I love dressing up. And the brighter the colors, the better. Over the years, however, my style has developed and grown, and I unfortunately got rid of a number of my previous favorite clothes in one of my crazy "makeover extravaganzas" (or on moving days).

There are a few items that have survived through the past decade+, however, and one of them was this lovely blue summer dress I made when I was 13 or 14. I don't know why, but for some reason I packed it with my clothes when I moved down to Louisiana 2 years ago. I knew I'd never fit into it again since it started growing tight on me early in College, so when I pulled it out of the suitcase I thought "Huh?". I don't know what I was thinking when I included it -- it might has well have gone into LONG-LONG term storage to await the day when my possible daughters of the future might enjoy it.

But then I joined SP and through the motivation, encouragement, and QUINTESSENTIAL tools
available, I started losing weight like I never thought I would. And one day a few months ago I tried on that blue dress, and guess what -- IT ZIPPED UP ALMOST ALL THE WAY.

So it became a benchmark of sorts (along with a couple other dresses I never thought would fit me). And whenever I was feeling frisky, I'd pull them all out and have a mini dress-up party to see how my new body was shaping up.

Well, the other day that 11 or 12 year old dress fit GREAT. It was such an excitement for me I wore it out shopping all afternoon -- with a light jacket it was perfect for the warm Louisiana Spring.

So here's a photo that I couldn't resist snapping. It still amazes me how much of an exhibitionist I was as a teenager: there's so much skin!! I had reached my full height by the time I was thirteen, so I certainly can't blame that much leg on a growth spurt. The light jacket I wore was perfect to keep me warm in a cool breeze and to protect my womanly modesty. Gracious me.



But it felt goooooood.