Treasures from Grandma's Attic Read Online Free PDF Page B

me to do something.”
    “You win, Mabel.” Ma laughed. “I’ll get the patterns out after dinner and see if I have something easy to start on.”
    As soon as the dishes were cleared away, Ma brought her pattern box to the table.
    “Here, I like this,” I said.
    “I don’t think you should try pleats,” she protested. “You don’t want anything with little tucks, either. They’re awfully hard to make even.”
    “How about gathers? I could do that, couldn’t I?”
    Ma looked doubtful, but after going over all the patterns, she sighed. “That seems to be our only choice. I guess there’s not a whole lot you could do wrong to a gathered skirt.”
    Sarah Jane was skeptical when I told her that I was making my dress for the ice-cream social.
    “You don’t have enough patience, Mabel. You know how you hate to take things out and do them over. You’ll get tired of that the first day.”
    “What makes you think I’ll have to take anything out?” I protested. “I could have it just right the first time, you know.”
    “I suppose you could,” Sarah Jane conceded. “But you’ll have to admit it isn’t very likely.”
    She was right, of course. I had a habit of finishing things in a hurry and then finding mistakes. Ma was concerned about that too.
    “Let me check each step before you go on to the next, Mabel,” she said. “If you have to take something out, it will be easier before the whole dress is put together.”
    “No one has any confidence in me,” I grumbled. “Why do you all assume I’ll get things wrong?”
    “We have nothing but past experience to go on,” Ma replied. “But don’t be discouraged. We learn by our mistakes.”
    “If I’d learned from every mistake I’ve made, I’d be twice as intelligent as I am.”
    Ma laughed and went back to her work. Later, when the dress was cut out, I began by putting the skirt together. Straight seams were not difficult, and when I showed them to Ma, she nodded.
    “That’s fine. Now pin the bodice together and baste it. We’ll see if it needs tucks anywhere.”
    “Pin, baste, and sew,” I muttered. “You don’t do all that when you make a dress.”
    “Neither will you when you’ve put several hundred of them together,” Ma replied. “Believe me, you’ll save time in the long run.”
    The top of the dress was more complicated. After I had pinned the two sections of the back to the front, an extra long piece of material hung at the bottom.
    “These parts don’t match,” I called to Ma. “You must have cut them wrong.”
    She came to look. “They aren’t cut wrong. You didn’t put the darts in the front.”
    I unpinned the pieces and placed the darts where they belonged.
    “Aren’t you glad you didn’t just sew those together?” Ma asked me. “Pins are easier to remove than stitches.” Ma was right, but I was in no mood to agree. I was already tired of the dress.
    Finally I had the bodice basted together, and I put it on for Ma to check. But when I went to find her, she had gone out to work in the garden.
    “I can’t go out there in nothing but my underskirt and a dress top,” I complained to myself. “And who knows how long before she’ll be back.”
    I went back to Ma’s bedroom to look in the mirror. The dress certainly looked perfect to me. Why waste time when it was all ready to sew? Ma might be out there for another half hour. I’ll just go ahead and sew it up, I decided, and surprise her.
    Sarah Jane appeared at the door just as I finished the last seam.
    “I thought I’d come and see how you’re doing on your dress,” she said. “Is it all done?”
    “Don’t be silly,” I replied. “I’ve just started. But I do have the sides of the skirt sewed up, and I just finished putting the top together.” I whipped it off the sewing machine and held it up for Sarah Jane to see. “Doesn’t it look nice?”
    There was a silence as she took the piece and stared at it oddly. “Hmm. But, Mabel, aren’t you