mama
mama a nice word, a lovely word,....a word of life, a word that brought life , but for me mama is a vigorous life , vigorous by all its meanings.Mama means quickness...action...all her life she had been a fast actor anything you ask for is ready in a wink , till the minute she passed away she was energetic , even her soul passed away fast now she was sitting ,then she bent , and thats it .. life as a ribbon thats has to be cut somewhere it can be cut sharp and neat or it can be ripped while cutting no matter what the ribbon will be cut somehow ,someday
Since childhood i remember Mama sewing . I remember her sitting ather sewing machine ,or standingby the table cutting the fabrics, the measuring tape dangling around her neck, while the scissors is always handy within reach , well in fact she had 2 scissors and a zigzag one specially for anti- ripping .when. We moved to Rawshe the house was a big apartment compared to other one in sadat .here we have our own apartment a two bedroom apartment ,two bathrooms, living room , reception room and a long hall that was luxury for us . In the living room mama decided to put her sewing machine. She chose the most lit corner facing the balcony door ,she would sit facing thge hilly green field facing our building , { i dont want to face the wall , i want to view nice scenary and the blue sky } , iguess she knew she would be clenched to her sewing machineg when she set it . On the other corner stood a square table where mama kept her sewing stuff and she used the table surface for cutting . Over the table a stack of fashion journals , an agenda ,which was outdated diary, she jotted on it ladies' measurements and some dress styles and cuts , blue Prym pins and they sewingm chslk and thimbles scattered on the table the pin cushion was attached to the machime ,mama never looked for a pin or needle while she was sewing she would get. Another one in case she droped or lost it by accident ,pins were pinned to her dress , many times she hurts her hands from pins stuck in the machine, in the washing machine because she forgot to take them away from her dress . On tbe opposite wall of therom was a big couch and on the big dresser like china cupboard .that was the sewing room , no carpet, wel a carpet wouldnot be seen anyway. Fabric , fabric every where big pieces, small peices, long strips, short strips empty thread spools, pins this what you see in the sewinjg room . The handwheel on the machineg goes fbast now bevsuse mama attachetd a small motor to the machine , she doesnot use the treadle anymore.the motor is corded to a small fot pressure pedal , so easy ,S.I.N.G.E.R. Inscripted just above the treadle where we used to sit and play , we turn the big wheel pretending itis a car steering wheel .
mama needed to sew, and she liked to sew .She hated housework and these final touches. Om suleiman , a kurdish ,lady came over regularly to do the cleaning. Mama says house work is a waste of time , sprnding your life dusting and cleaning , it is nota fuitful work , Cooking was no fun for mom ,too. It goes down the drain in the end . However She cooked , she never spent more than one hour preparing the best meal , she was fast, quick i dont deny it , and everyone she is energetic ,but she never spent time on garnishing dishes or decorating cakes or setting the table , unless we have visitors for dinner or lunch.
We usually take the two cooking pots to the table, and the salad bowl, dishes, spoons and bag of bread , Mamawouild scoop fod for us and rice ,lunch is served.
Apples in a big bowl arte swiftly peeled and sliced and here is our fruit, oranges will do as wel or bananas , practical, that was mama as if we were in a boardingschol or may be because we were five in a five year span i was born in 1955 and my youngest brother in 1960 .
Everyday we had new food though ,with freshly cooked rice ,after we eat mom would directlydo the dishes and cleans the place and back to Sewing .
I never did housework at home , mama never asked me to, and besides we never wanted neither me nor my sister, mama also recals that she never did housework when she was our age .,all she wants us is to be good at school.
In the morning , mama would boil a big tea kettle, on the table she sets a bowl of olives black olives, a plate with cheese, a bag of bread, a stack of five teacups and 5 teaspoons, and of course a jar of sugar . we gather round the table , we crouch on the floor and mama and baba would sit on the couch , the table was barely 25 cms high from the ground , each kid will take his teacup, mama pours the tea we put sugar to tastebutnot more than 2 teaspoons , of course we all put two and we sneak a third spoon , sure she knew it , anyway before we stirr the sugar the table would be full of "Maide," what is Maide ? It is an arabic word for a small feast ,the Maide was bites of bread either with olives or with cheese we eat and sip tea by the spoon, it is too hot to be drunk directly .
These a mamas mOments in the kitchen , and she never regretted it ...
Sewing was her life .
I remember my aunt bringing in stacks of precut toddler outfits ready to be sewn .my aunts husband has a wholesale store in downtown beirut , bundles of cut fabrics come in the morning and leave as sets of toddler outfits al ironed and ready to be worn .
Mama quickly opens the bundles and sorts them and rearranges them on the table.these are the sleeves, here the backs, there the right front side this will have a pocket, here are the collars here the pants , now off to the machine .First she usuallygrabsv the sleeves first, the edges are hemmed, then inside seams ,nowthte pockets are aplied then the shoulder seams then ...the top is ready , next the pants which are way easier with elastic waists . The machine is off ,it is time for hand work , every thread coming out from the garment is cut, she shakes it to mske sure no more extra threads ,then comes the crewel embroidery bag . She embroiders a small design on the pocket , in ahurry she stitches a bunny with floppy ears snd a carrot, or a circle with two triangular ears and a long tail ,six whiskers thats a mighty cat , or the circle with one trisngular beak and its a chick ,at last comes ironing ,folding and slipping each set in a bag ready to be picked up before 4 oclck in the afternoon .she used to finidh a dozen or two depending on the demand , and in seasons she would work till late . One lira per set is not bad , mama would say i am staying home with the kids and working .i remember sometimes when my sister was young and sick or somthing she would sit on thefloor and stretches her legs and puts apillow so she rocks mysister while the hand sewing work in her hands and my book wil be by herside to recite for my science or history lessons . This was mama .
mama waas a great seamstress, she learned at Fuad Atwe, in Hamra when she fi ished her elementary school.it was a loss she wasted her time in sewing these todler outfits ,it is only a machine work, no creativity, no crafting do she and baba took a step forward .baba would tell his customers in the store that mama is a seamstress if they areinterested she can also shorten pants or dresses or change a zipper , and that was the start . Most of residents in Rawshe in the sixties were foreigners canadian, american, english, french ,austrian, from eadt europe were many also ... And so were mom's customers ... A mix ,mom needed my help to translate for english speakers and she did well in french , for theg others specially russian sign language mixed with englidh and arabic .
Marene, a canadian from montreal ,used to b,ring her dog along, but once we were home and when we saw thedog we all screamedand shouted scaringly, but the poor ladythought we wanted to play with thedog so she took inside to our room and the sreaming increased and mama hurried following her telling her to retrieve , they are afraidand frightened .later Marene would keep thedog out if we arehome .
Mama seemed contented in her new sewing , she can show off her art in sewing , any dress a lady chooses from the fashion journal she makes, she gazes well in the style then draws the front and back for the ladytelling her all the cuts in the dress ,and whether the zipper is in the back or it is a side zipper ,then she jots down measurments near the style ,of course the name goes on top . Her agenda had many names from marene to zendara to mrs. Bluff etc .. Strange names for us .
Mama found life in her work ,but we hated sewing , it took mama away, and this dzdzdzdz of the sewing wheel , the messy floor ,although we are at school but we feel and smell sewing . Mama daily before we return home she sweeps the room with a fine broom,and collects all the trash ,she sorts the fabric piecesand throws the small ones then she gets a magnet to pick ip all pins and thimbles then sends the dust to the dust pan then to trash .
Mama would charge 15 l.l. For a dress but she charged the maids less 8 or 10, they work hard and left their families maybe they cannot afford ,georgette came all the way from yaroon to wotk here, and kadija came from kfarhette ,no i will not charge them the same as others .besides , she believed that. Alah will bless this money , moreover sewing cost nothing , to her , she has the machine this the onlyinvestment ihavenothingto loose even if i charged one lira for a dress it is all profit ... Very true ,
Beloved mama , she passed away and her dream that i become a seamstress for people like her but i didnot. I like to sew and i do sew for mychildren and grandchildren ,i sewd everything for my kids when we were short on cashand while they were in the university . I love sewing .
It seems weird that things youdidnot like about your parents,turns out you do them and you like them when you are older.
Mama sewed al my dresses butialways wanted ready made dresses when i was young ,they lookbeautiful in the front windows but Mama would say thry very expensive ,while the cheap ones arenot properly sewn , the dress may shrink, i may rip, low quality fabric so i never bought a ready dress till i was in the states and i really found the difference .
Mama would ask me to chose any style i want from the window or from the journal, and she buys good fabric and suitable matching designs, complimentary trims and accessories my dress is ready and i rarelygotno comments how nice mydress was .
Mama visits Antoine bookshop every season to buy latest fashion journals, she keeps still the special edition ones !
Patient mams , i was a nager ,i realized now how pretty those dresses are , how practical mama was.
When i married she sewed everything for me and for the house from curtains to bedspreads and sheets ,bath robes , nighties and a whole array of dresses , a coat and a jacket ,and of course my wedding dress , she made it with wide inside seams incase i got a little fatter , they usually do after marriage, then i can widen it, she also suggested long sleeves so i can wear it when i return from pilgrimmage
Mama sewed all her life .. Of course she stopped sewing for people but for family she never stopped.
In her last 5 years she would buy cheap fabrics or discontinued prints and makes them prayer clothes and gives them as gifts or donations , or for the needy , it costs nothing to help others, sewing is cheap and valuable , very true .she died and a stack of sewing was on the machine .sewing was a must for girls her age back then but someg people excelled others just managed, a girl would prosper her living or she would buy precious jewelery بتستر حالها او بتتقل خلخالها .
Mama sewed al my daughters wedding dresses ,she excelled .
Now sewing isnot comon any more , but i sew .
The last dress sewn by mama was a mermaid style dress for Bayan, my youngest daughter, black with knit like fabric , five days later mama passed away ,in a hurry , nothing was wrong she was sitting on the couch and ....
The funny thing is that bayan told her grandma the dress is very nice inchala you dress like it ,mama grinned and shook her head n if saying noway now but bayan continued i mean in jannah in heaven ........ That was her last sewen dress ...
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