Old is New Again

Last time I went home, Mama was like “Oh, I found this the other day in the hutch”, and she pulled out this little black and white dress she made for me when I was in high school. I can’t remember how old I was, but not more than 16. And I thought it was so sweet that she had it, and was going to take it for sentimental reasons, but she wanted me to try it on. I thought, Oh my gosh, there is no way. NO WAY. Because I was a size 2 in high school. On a fat day. But she said she had let it out a bit last time I was a size 4, and to try it, and you know what?



It fit. I really should have taken pictures without the cardigan but I just forgot, the seaming on the bust is just the most amazing flattering cut ever. I actually wonder if she still has the pattern. I used to pick the most obnoxiously hard patterns when we went to the store. I loved VOUGE patterns, and she used to just cringe when she saw them because they were such a pain in the behind. But she made them anyway, because she’s a Mama, and that’s what Mama’s do.



I remember a big tug of war over the hemline on this. My mom recognized early on that my legs were just long, and they made everything look short. She was the one who taught me to wear black tights to make things seem more modest. But we still fought over hemlines. I wanted it shorter than this, and she wanted it longer. So this length is the shortest I was allowed to wear*.



I am really pretty impressed with the way the dress has held up for being what? 17 years old? I found one place that was coming loose and stitched it up, but overall, it still looks really good.

I used to choose some really offbeat fabrics. This one is portraits of little girls in black and white. I still think it’s very pretty.



And I think these ankle boots have just the right vintage look to them.



They actually look like shoes the girls in the pictures might be wearing.

*Except for this one dress that she altered for me once, from Contempo Casual, and she made some sort of mistake, rendering it scandalously short, but by the time she was done she was so over that dress she just told me to wear tights with it and be careful how I sat. I LOVED that dress, BTW.

Dress, Handmade by Mama
Sweater, Forever XXI
Tights, Target
Shoes, Target