Close to Nowhere

Coincidences are funny things ­ sometimes amazing, sometimes just mundane.

My most recent coincidence is of the mundane variety to everyone except me.

I collect old, vintage patterns, among other things. I love them. I bought a batch off the internet a while back ­ 12 patterns for little girl clothes. I'm sure they must have made patterns for little boys, way back when, but I rarely see one.

One of the patterns I bought is a little Shirley Temple-looking dress ­ the kind she wore in all her little girl movies.

I'm making the dress for great-granddaughter Sissie (Ruby June, who's about 18 months old now). It's the strangest pattern. There is nothing printed on the tissue, just holes poked for markings and holes poked in the shape of letters to tell you which piece it is. The pattern just assumes you know enough to make the dress without really good instructions (I'm used to Simplicity and McCall's, with a Vogue thrown in now and again). You also have to guess about the bias binding for the collar and sleeves. Fortunately for me, I've sewn long enough to figure it out.

The pattern is called Advance; and printed and sold by J.S. Penney. I'd never heard of that kind, so naturally, I had to Google it. The patterns were made from the early 1930s to the early '60s. My pattern was printed in 1947.

After I read that, I had to dig my Singer Featherweight sewing machine out to look it up again. The year 1947 was ringing all kinds of bells.

Turns out, as I remembered, my Featherweight was manufactured in 1947, to be exact, April 22, 1947, in Elizabthport, New Jersey. There were 20,000 made in that "batch."

I also have my mother's Singer sewing machine. I learned to sew on it. Her machine used to be a treadle machine, but she had it electrified when I was a toddler. My youngest brother spent countless hours sitting on the treadle, with the wheel in hand, sailing ships, flying planes, etc.

I intended to look her machine up and see when and where it was made, but I can't find the serial number. There's a website, Feather weights.com, that dates Singers, but you have to have the serial number.

I also have a copy of Singer's instructions on how to prepare to sew: Do your hair and make-up, put on a nice dress, make sure the house is clean and dishes are done, make

sure you stop sewing and clean up your mess in time to make

supper for the hubby, and so on in that style.

I've printed a copy of those instructions and keep it with my Featherweight. I need a good laugh every now and again.