80 and 67

This week marked my mother’s 80th birthday. Since she went out for a big lunch on her birthday (Wednesday), we waited until last night to have a dinner celebration.

When people ask her what she does to stay so young-looking, she says she sleeps in the fridge.

And the “67” of the title?

When my mother was 13, she went by herself to downtown Cleveland and bought her very first clothing item using her own earned money – this cotton jacket, now 67 years old:

She gave it to me more years ago than I remember, but I’m guessing at least 30. I love the style; the little buckled straps at each side of the waist make for a very flattering fit. The the very pale yellow is one of the few yellows I can wear well. For all these years, it has served as my gardening jacket. The weight is just right for working outside on a cool spring or fall day. I got it out last weekend and have been wearing it in the yard while doing my spring cleanup and planting.

Unfortunately, it suffers from some severe age spotting on the one side of the torso (which is why I only wore it for gardening), and the cuff of one sleeve is more than threadbare – one layer of fabric is completely worn through.

For years I’ve thought about trying to get some coordinating fabric and making new cuffs – maybe a cute print would be fun. But alas, my sewing skills are pretty basic, and I’d most likely make a mess of it. I’m probably better off leaving it alone, especially since with the staining on it, I probably wouldn’t wear it in public anyway.

Now if I had my mother’s sewing skills, I’d probably just whip up a new one, using this one as a pattern template. It would be like EZ’s Green Sweater, only it would be BP’s Yellow Jacket.