Continuity

This post is really just for me.  It's a way for me to remember my grandparents and how they have influenced my sewing life.  And how tendencies trickle down through the family lines.

My grandfather was Fred Jepson.  He was born in Bombay, (Mumbai) India in 1881 to a military family.   When he was 18 years old he joined Queen Victoria's Lifeguards but after 8 years, he'd had enough.  He once told me that he did not enjoy the regimented life.  By the 1911 census, Fred and his two brothers were living in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. 

They bought a store which they called Jepson Bros.  It was listed as a stationery store, but sold so much more - including sewing machines which you can see in the window on the right.  And the young woman standing to the right is my grandmother, Neita Walker, who worked in the store - and married the boss!

Neita was born in Victoria, BC, Canada in 1893 and moved to Nanaimo with her family in 1899.  She was an expert seamstress and seems to have come by it naturally.  When researching her family, I found an Ontario census document for 1891 which showed no less than 3 of her aunts were dressmakers.

Machinery was in Grandpa's blood.  His grandfather was listed on a birth record as a mechanic in a cloth-making mill - there's that fabric link again!  Grandpa was the Singer representative in Nanaimo and my father told how during the Depression, Grandpa would pack his bags with sewing machine pieces and together with his bicycle and a sewing machine, would travel on the train to the end of the line on Vancouver Island and then make his way back down again by bicycle.  He'd repair sewing machines and sell the machine he had with him as he journeyed back home.  He ran the Singer store in Nanaimo until his retirement - that was back when Singer Sewing Machines were made to last!

Grandpa used to bring assignments back from the store for Grandma to complete.  She'd cover buttons and buckles for customers.  I can still smell the odour of hot adhesive as Grandma worked the machinery to cover them.  Grandma made loose covers for the furniture, embroidered lovely tablecloths and of course, sewed beautiful clothes.

Grandma made a lot of my clothes and I well remember by graduation dance dress and clutch purse that she made - no pattern - but a beautiful full length dress made from gold brocade complete with a handmade flower at the back of the waist.  Another memory is the stack of aprons that she made every year for the Church Bazaar.  Each one was an individual - from frilly cocktail creations to sturdy work aprons, each one had its own identity.  What a pleasure it was to go through them one by one and marvel at her inventiveness!  All of her grandchildren got handmade dolls.  Mine was a beauty I called Belinda.  From her yarn hair to her shoe-clad feet, she was dressed to the nines in clothes made by Grandma.  Bonnet, coat, dress, underwear, shoes - all made by Grandma.

And as for me - I thoroughly disliked the sewing I learned in school which consisted of making a plain white apron with my name embroidered on the bodice, and left the class as soon as it became optional.  Years later when I left school, I took it up again, taking sewing classes in night school and learned so much more.  A wedding gift of a sewing machine from my grandparents started me on my way back into the family occupation.

When I look back on our long-gone relatives, I'm struck by how occupational tendencies run in a family.  On my grandfather's side, his grandfather was a mechanic and Grandpa repaired and sold sewing machines.  On my grandmother's side, there was a long line of coopers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carriage builders, etc.  Just about anything to do with machinery.  And so many of my modern-day relatives love to tinker with machinery, with a number of them (including my father) earning their living through machinery.

And then there's the sewing.  Both of my aunts were accomplished seamstresses and several of my cousins as well.  I am so grateful to my grandparents for nudging me along this path of sewing which has brought me so much enjoyment and made it possible for me to meet so many wonderful people through it.