Have you ever donated, say a pair of pants that were too long, only to find out that magically a seamstress shop opens nearby?
That happened to me. I gave away a great cozy pair of pants that were mislabeled for someone the height of a giant on stilts.
I’ve also walked around with my favorite scarf that I bought while living in Sri Lanka, with a big hole in it. The scarf is so long that I doubt that anyone could even see the hole but with the new shop, Stitch Envy, in Lucerne, I took it there for repair.
Stitch Envy’s waiting room is a cozy place to speak with owner Robin Marsolek about what you need her to sew or fix. Next to the chair I sat on, was a large bowl of buttons.
I was immediately transported to my grandma’s place in downtown Detroit. She had tons of buttons in big round tins the size of Christmas cakes. They were in her bedroom and I would go in there and pull out the button boxes and look at all the buttons; round ones, jeweled ones, square ones, fancy and plain. It was crazy how many different ones there were. Being a kid, I never asked Grandma why she had so many, or if she ever used them.
One time while looking through them I found a treasure! A ring of silver filigree with a blue stone set in the center. A sapphire. It fit me and I wore it for years.
A visit to grandma’s house was a long bus ride into downtown Detroit. She lived in a four-family flat that always seemed dark. There was soot on the window sills but I didn’t care, I loved being there. Loved my grandma and those button boxes.
Another dig into the button boxes — I just loved the feeling of the buttons sliding around my fingers — I found a small gold ring with an eagle that had rubies for eyes, in a small leather, almost oval-shaped Tiffany box, that had a clasp to close it.
Another ring that grandma stashed among the buttons was my birthstone, a fire opal ring surrounded by 18 tiny pearls, set in gold.
Funny enough, grandma’s button boxes started my lifelong obsession, not with buttons, but with rings.
When I first walked into Stitch Envy and saw Robin’s bowl of buttons, I half expected to find a ring in there. No ring, but certainly the familiar feel of buttons sliding over my fingers. I was lost in the memories and almost forgot I was there to have my scarf mended.
Robin texted me several weeks later, after she’d finished making several wedding dresses. “I did the simplest fix on the scarf because I figured you didn’t want to spend $100 to have me reweave it or shorten it and re-tassel it. Once it’s draped around your neck no one will even notice. I also fixed three other small holes so they wouldn’t get any bigger.”
Brilliant! My favorite scarf is as beautiful as ever.
I have another project for Robin. I bought two very small pillows in Sri Lanka and had white silk pillow cases made for them by a local sewer down the main road from my house. It took the old guy a snap of his fingers to make the pillow cases.
The pillows have been my go-to props for my neck for over a decade and have become lumpy. I’m not sure they’re sanitary, even though I wash the pillows and cases frequently.
What’s a girl to do…call Stitch Envy to slot a time where Robin can stuff the pillows with new stuffing and sew them back up. And I can play with the bowl of buttons!
Contact Lucy, via email lucywgtd@gmail.com
