Gretchen Alexander
"The "She Says..." Hat"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
My “She Says…” hat is covered with the sayings of the wise women who have nurtured, befriended, taught, and loved me as a friend, relative, and “a work in progress.” My Sou’wester, a salute to my Nova Scotia heritage, is made of cotton batik featuring maple leaves, and lined with pieces of some of the handkerchiefs inherited from my mother, grandmother and aunts. The Sou’wester is embellished with silk ribbon embroidered of a lilac blossom in memory of Sophia Beck who brought lilac bushes with her when she married in 1834, and trailing arbutus, or May Flowers, the Nova Scotia official flower which my mother sent me every spring. Additional embellishments include my mother’s Canadian Girl Guide and my Girl Scout pins, crinoids fossils collected along Lake Michigan, an agate from a graduate school field trip, and a pin of Nova Scotia’s famous sailing ship, the Bluenose.
The real delights of the She Says… hat are the words of the “wise women” in my life written on the hat. I sent requests for wise words to my wise women daughters, granddaughters, cousins, friends, neighbors, co-workers, church members. The wise words sent back to me were from mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, mentors, teachers and favorite poets. Some are family sayings such as, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows wear,” represented by the tiny purse that could have been a pigs ear in a former life. The women’s names written in green on the binding are those women who have been most influential in my life. The ear flaps are covered with the loving messages at the close of letters – just the kind of messages you would want to have in your ears at all times. Enjoy my She Says… hat.