I am lucky to say that my mother and I have a great relationship. She raised me in a world quite different from most. I grew up in an antique shop. As a baby I slept in beautiful antique, lacy baby gowns, laying in a lovely antique bassinet in my mother's shop. Customers were often surprised to see me stir, thinking I was a doll.
As I grew, most days were spent playing with scraps of lace or curled up with a book in a nest of satin quilts underneath a lovely antique table while my mother worked. Weekends were exciting expeditions to thrift shops, estate sales, auctions and the like, in search of treasure. My sister and I could spot a valuable antique from a mile away, and there were finders fees to be had. It was, and still is, my favorite game, hunting treasure.
Sewing was a big part of this. My barbies were the best dressed you ever saw, sporting real silk lined mink coats fashioned by my mother with scraps. Many of my clothes were hand sewn (though I never appreciated the work, or the originality of my wardrobe until years later when I tried to sew my first dress and thought,
How the hell did my mother manage this?)
My tastes always leaned towards the vintage dresses I had played dress-up in (who else had slightly tattered 1950's prom dresses, a real fur coat, and rhinestone covered everything in their dress-up box?)
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| I'm the little one in the massive hat. |
Naturally, my antiqued, gilded, dusty and bejeweled upbringing has everything to do with my passions today. I wear vintage, I sew vintage, I hunt vintage, I blog and breathe vintage.
So it's only natural that my mother and I should still be in business together today. I'm web savvy and she has the know-all from 30 years of running an antique business. My sister and I both helped her start on eBay when it started up, and now Mom has two shops online,
one on Etsy.com specializing in vintage sewing, clothing, jewelry, and accessories overseen by me and
one on Rubylane.com focusing on rare antiques.
She is my first sponsor for the blog (I'm over-payed in vintage couture, who could complain?) and I asked her to share a bit about herself. The story is great, and goes to show that following one's passions can lead to a life well lived, and on the glittering, lacy terms one chooses.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my mother:
