Honor Thy Mother-in-Law

07 Aug Honor Thy Mother-in-Law

For some reason my 89-year-old mother-in-law and I both own the same shirt.She loves her shirt and wears it throughout the summer. I certainly don’t want my mother-in-law to think I am copying her, so I decided to refashion my shirt.

  Though the cotton is extremely lightweight, I enjoy sleeveless tops during the hot sticky summer days and immediately cut off the sleeves. In retrospect short sleeves would have worked just as well, and the project would have been much easier. My last project, the orange peplum blouse, is one of my best fitting garments and inspired me to simulate a peplum.  By bringing together a fold of 1 ½  inches of fabric, then stitching on the top and bottom of the fold, I shortened the bodice length by 3 inches, and created a peplum look – definitely a win-win situation! I split the sleeves in half lengthwise, sewed the ends together and used them as ties.Last but not least…… because the blouse was oversized, removing the entire sleeve created a huge armscye.  The cuffs came to the rescue, filling in the space and finished the top. 

My mother-in-law and I need not worry any longer about showing up together in the same blouse.

It was quite the sacrifice, but what’s more important – respecting my mother in law’s Priscillaesque status in the family or competing with her?

“Behind many happy mother-in-laws are selfless daughter-in-laws“

21st century proverb