To all the wonderful sewists that follow this blog, this is DD3 writing this post. Sadly, Tia Dia passed away on March 21st, 2021 after a 1.5-year fight with cancer. It’s taken this long to write this post because well, losing a parent is extremely difficult, especially when that parent is as amazing as my mum. I confess I have no idea what I should write here but I figure word vomit is better than nothing.
I am going to start by talking a bit about my mom; my mom has been a seamstress since she was about 9. She made most of her clothes and was determined to live as if her life was a Vogue magazine; this was in a way passed on to us 3 daughters but sadly none of us have her talent. She was a walking encyclopedia of fabric and stitching, and yet she always thought she never knew enough. She always wanted to fly to Paris and take an embroidery course, then visit the Outer Hebrides and bring back a suitcase of tweed for coats. She wanted to take a tailoring course and learn how to make jackets better than Chanel. I hope that wherever she gets to do all that; I’m sure the angels would love handmade Chanel tweed coats haha.
My sister and I were scrolling through her previous blog posts a few days ago and we both remarked just how invisible our mum’s stitches were. I would kill to be as meticulous as she was. It pains me to know that she gave away most of her sewing projects, but at the same time, it makes me happy that someone has really wonderfully made clothing. Each item my mom made had a story. The story made up of: where she picked the fabric, who it was made for, the creative process of frankenpatterning, the frustration with small seams, the endless amount of thread mess on the floor, and how proud she was of each and every project. They all brought her so much joy, and it hurts when I come home and remember I’ll never see her at the sewing machine or the ironing board again. The mountains of fabric that were for a specific project will never achieve their potential, and we won’t get to say “Thank you my mum made it” when a stranger compliments our outfits.
My mum is my hero. She was one of the kindest people I know, she raised 3 daughters in not the easiest circumstances and she made the world a little prettier with each garment. I will dearly miss her and her shenanigans (she had the best dry sense of humor). The world is a little poorer without her and with that we say SCREW CANCER at the top of our lungs.
I just wanted to let all of you know why she hadn’t posted anything in a while, as well as, say that this blog will stay here forever in memorial of her amazing sewing skills.
I know some of you may ask what you can do or if there is anything that she wanted to happen after she died, and yes there is. In the place of flowers she asked that we make a lump sum donation to L’Arche Canada.
L’Arche Canada is the ”umbrella” organization for L’Arche in Canada, and is focused on supporting all of our communities from coast to coast. In L’Arche, people who have intellectual disabilities and those who come to assist, share life and daytime activities together in family-like settings that are integrated into local neighbourhoods. L’Arche is a global network of people with and without intellectual disabilities who collectively live, work and learn together, creating communities of belonging.
The link to the fundraiser is here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/4440691769279193/
We hope that you will chip in a little in remembrance of her.
I just wanted to let all of you know why she hadn’t posted anything in a while, as well as say that this blog will stay here forever in memorial of her amazing sewing skills. Much love and blessings to you all!! I remember how much my mom loved following all of you and your sewing endeavors. Your comments always brought a huge grin to her face 🙂
I hope you all stay safe throughout the remaining days? Weeks? Months? of the pandemic.
DD3 (or Bella)