Elizabeth Mini
"Not My Mother's Shift"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
Knowing how to sew before leaving home was a part of the culture of a girl’s education in Honduras, C.A. where I was born and raised.
Fortunately for me, my mothers, grandmother, and countless aunts were part of that world as it kept me in many beautiful dresses.
For festive occasions, my mother could whip up a “shift” in no time.
As for me, even at the risk of “partytime” approaching, I was always implementing my own design elements, and lots of imagination to the shift.
Whenever I incorporate yoyos as a decorative detail, I establish my connection to my grandmother and my mother. From a quilting viewpoint, it was the only pattern I related to them growing up.
They never used store patterns, as back then, newspapers or fabric scraps were their blackboards.
In constructing my shift, I became the mannequin. Using no pattern, but cutting from scraps and paper, many hours of beading, 105 hand-sewed yoyos, and 14 different fabrics were incorporated to produce this garment.
Certainly, “Not My Mother’s Shift”…