Mary Elizabeth Stevenson

Editor's Note: Everyone who sews recognizes the extraordinary work -- and love -- that goes into "heirloom sewing". More than half of the substantial pattern collection donated by Mary Elizabeth Stevenson's husband are heirloom sewing patterns -- and speak to how much of herself and her love went into her stitching.

From her husband, Robert D. Stevenson, BG, USA, Retired:

Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Stevenson was an expert seamstress. She loved to sew and create exquisite clothing for her granddaughters, as well as household items such as tablecloths, draperies, aprons, etc. She personalized items with appliques and machine embroidery.

These patterns accumulated during her lifetime -- shortened by cancer -- which she battled for fourteen arduous years, even enduring a bone-marrow transplant. Yet, she continued her love of sewing throughout her life. For this reason, these patterns are being donated to Pattern Rescue in memory and honor of Mary Elizabeth Stevenson, with sincere hopes that they might bring her love of sewing into other lives.

  Maria J. Pazoles

Editor's Note: Maria sounds like the kind of person we all aspire to be. We're grateful to her son for passing on the patterns that made up an important part of her life, and for letting us get to know a bit about her.

Maria's son, Bill, says it all:

Our mom was an amazing woman. I can never remember when sewing (or cooking for that matter), wasn't a huge part of her life. She began in the late '50's as a milliner when hat-wearing was in vogue. In her early 40's as a single parent, she earned a dental assisting degree and worked for several years. Longing to rekindle her creative talents, she went into the floral business, owning and operating 3 shops at its peak. When that challenge ended 15+ years later, she began her own gift basket business.

All the while, sewing was a part of it: whether making clothes for the grandkids, relatives or friends, making bridal veils or doing alterations for countless people. Her final labor of love for the past 9 years has been organizing and running an annual Quilt-a-Thon through our church. Hundreds of quilts are made on one day, for children and infants in hospitals and foster care who have been affected by drugs, HIV or have other needs. This year's event has been dedicated to her memory.

Her spirit, warm heart and endless philanthropy will live on in all of her friends and family.

  Wilma Jean Beyersdorfer

Editor's Note: Sometimes there isn't anything to add. Wilma Jean's daughter Amy expressed things perfectly.

Amy remembers her mother, who passed away in late 2009:

Mom grew up on a farm. She learned to sew from her mother and her participaton in 4H. She made clothes for me and my older brother from the time we were born until she just couldn't see well enough to continue sewing. She even made her own patterns out of newspaper. She had patterns that had fallen apart from us, so she made copies out of newsprint.

My Mom was such a talented seamstress. A perfectionist in everything she did.

I miss her so. Thanks Mom.

Not everyone who requests a tribute has a lot to say

  Mamie Adkins from her friend, Mona:

Mamie is a great lady who sewed for her children and grandchildren. She no longer sews and she gave me all her patterns so I could use them for my granddaughters. There were just ttttooooo many, so I wanted someone else to enjoy/use them.

My mother, Jean Sturges, was a wonderful seamstress and craft-a-holic. She made her own patterns and saved everything. I hope these are useful to someone else as I did not inherit the sewing gene.

Editor's Note: Carolyn sent us some patterns that had belonged to her daughter -- in tribute to her mother. It was truly a fitting honor to her mother's memory -- Carolyn's daughter had learned to sew because of a grandmother she never had a chance to meet.

Carolyn explains:

My precious Mother left us in 1976, when I was 30 years old. When my siblings and I were growing up, we were tall, and it was hard to find things long enough then because there was no such thing as tall sizes. My Mom made a lot of our clothes and taught me how to sew.... After I had my own daughter, who is 5'11", I taught her to sew. She has since given it up because the industry realized that there are tall people in this world! But we had many hours of mom/daughter time, coming up with a few unique outfits and even a Halloween costume. The patterns I am sending you ... are mostly patterns that my daughter bought. Sadly, she never knew her Grandmother.

Those mother-daughter moments recalled many happy memories from Carolyn's own childhood:

Once when I was about 12, (Mom) and her sister sat up all night long struggling with a slippery, hard-to-manage material so that I could have a new dress for Easter. The neighborhood always looked to Mom to make outfits for the elementary school functions.... After she taught me to sew, my favorite gift at Christmas or birthday was some nice yardage of material! After Mom passed, there were many times when I would make a new outfit for a special occasion... This is good therapy. I loved finding your site. God Bless.

Bless you too, Carolyn. And thank you for sharing your story.

Editor's Note: The family of Rosemary Rozum-Yirka was kind enough to donate her entire pattern collection to Pattern Rescue. After a lifetime of sewing, that amounted to more than 1200 patterns! What a lucky family -- and how kind of them to share Rosemary's treasures with us!

Rosemary Rozum-Yirka's family wanted us to know this about her:

It was her act of love to sew clothes for her family. She truly had a zest for life and filled it to the fullest. Rosemary had a talent for gardening, ceramics, crocheting, quilting and other crafts. She had champagne taste on a beer budget, but that didn't stop her from giving her family a beautiful wardrobe.

Rosemary was precision oriented and everything in her home had a place and use. Every Saturday she would spend the day listening to the Metropolitan Opera, doing the laundry, and sewing clothes for her four children, husband and herself. It was this mix of family, classical music, beautiful fabric, and challenging patterns that kept her sewing day after day. Rosemary later took up sewing for her seven grandchildren. Every holiday or special occasion was cause for spending hours at the craft store selecting fabric and patterns.

It would bring her great joy to know that you will be continuing her legacy of love with your sewing projects.

Editor's Note: You know someone truly has the sewing "bug" when they can not only identify the occasion of old family snapshots, but also the patterns used to sew the outfits they were wearing! Kay attributes her great sewing memories to her mother, whose influence remains strong with her daughters and continues to bring comfort to others.

Pattern Rescue member Kay not only donated hundreds of patterns from her stash and some of her mother's collection, she also dug out photos to share. The top left photo shows them on the day Kay was sworn into the U.S. Navy. (Mom looks both proud and apprehensive, don't you think?) The right hand photo is Kay in the last dress her Mom made for her (Simplicity 2575 from Easter 1959). Another Easter a few years later found Kay and Nicky posing in the dresses they'd each sewn for themselves, shown at bottom left. Kay continues the story:

Mom died unexpectedly in September 2006, at age 93 and 7 months (exactly), after a brief illness. She'd been in great health most of her life, but hated slowing down....we always saw her as much younger than her years, game for just about anything. Thankfully, Mom's mental facilities did not diminish! And, though her apparel sewing days were behind her at the end, she still enjoyed sewing quilts for Project Linus....my sisters would give her pre-cut fabric that she sewed together to make what we affectionately called "Nicky quilts" that were then donated to children in stressful and traumatic situations at local hospitals, shelters, etc.

Sewing was a lifelong passion for Nicky that she passed on to her daughters and the community:

What a mom! She certainly inspired me to sew, and my sisters, too.....the three of us are now heavily into sewing quilts for PROJECT LINUS, more so than creating clothing for ourselves....though my youngest sister sews costumes for a local Children's Theatre group.

Thanks, Mom, for turning loose the sewing "bug" on me....from the time I started sewing doll clothes by hand (around age 8), to mastering Grandma's treadle machine, to all the hours I spent on my own clothes in school and beyond.

Editor's Note: Project Linus has local chapters throughout the United States. For more information, start at their website at www.projectlinus.org.

Editor's Note: Many thanks to the Lindberg family for introducing us to their amazing mother - and selecting us to receive her collection. Dr. Lindberg's patterns will be the first of many Special Collections featured in the Trade area (beginning late January 2009).

In the words of her daughter, Nora:

Charisma Madson Lindberg, whose patterns her children have passed on to Pattern Rescue, was a Great-Grandma, a sewer, PhD., teacher, gardener, and Norwegian who lived one heck of a life for 81 years. She raised 5 children, and had 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Born in Savage, Montana, in 1926, Cherry grew up in Montana and Aneta, ND, was a licensed private airplane pilot, an Ohio State University PhD, granddaughter of a circuit-riding pastor, a world-class opera singer, and a breast cancer survivor. She taught at Ohio State University and at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina; she was an Elementary Schools Psychologist in NC, and the Child Victim Assistance Coordinator for the Buncombe Co. (NC) District Attorney.

We remember Mom making our matching polka-dot outfits back in the 1950s from iron-strong cotton; we passed those outfits on to friends! Mom made our Easter dresses, her own clothes, our Dad's clerical stoles, our cowboy costumes, and 1 sister's wedding dress. In later years, she sewed hundreds of little bears to give to children she met through the court system in Asheville where they endured their families going to court. And that's just the beginning: Mom spun wool and made it into wall hangings; she made Halloween costumes for friends, and with some kid-friends made prize-winning gingerbread houses that were displayed at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. May her spirit live on through her many precious things!

Editor's Note: It's always a pleasure to know that we've played a small part in reminding a mother and daughter of a special moment -- especially when it gives the daughter a chance to say "thank you" for something that she really couldn't appreciate at the time...

Pattern Rescue member Laura was delighted to spot this Butterick petal dress pattern on the Trade pages last year, and wrote:

After a little prompting, Laura sent us a photo from that long-ago school event (despite her misgivings about the hair-do). The pattern arrived in time for Mother's Day, when she traveled to visit her Mom. Laura was good enough to fill us in later:

O my mom was just delighted! I asked her if she had the pattern to make that dress... She couldn't remember but agrees that she probably just saw it and then made it using another pattern with a simple bodice and gathered skirt design then added the petals. Money was almost non-existent and for me to have been chosen to march in the school royalty must have been bitter-sweet. I looked as good as anyone else there and thought I was just the "cat's pajamas" !! My mom.... an amazing lady :)