A favourite aunt

I'm joining in again with Melody's Tuesday Treasures.

This post is about my favourite aunt who was a real treasure. My dad had five sisters and was the baby of his family of eight, so by the time he started his own family, most of his nieces and nephews were grown up. My Aunt Isabel's (Belle) children had left home fairly early, so she sort of took us kids (I come from a family of 5 girls and 1 boy) under her wing.

The photo is of her as a young woman, which is not how I remember her of course. She was a talented dressmaker and always encouraged my early attempts at sewing. She sometimes tended to take over a bit if she thought I might wreck the material, but insisted that I pay as much attention to the inside finish of the garment as the outside. All of this when I was barely into my teens! Her teaching stood me in good stead over the years of sewing clothes for myself and my children and I suppose gave me the confidence to tackle my daughter's wedding dress when the time came. I was always sorry my children didn't get to know her as she died in her mid-seventies and they were too young. It is especially sad because her sisters all lived well into their nineties (one even made it to 100).

After she died, my sisters and I were able to choose something from her estate to remember her by. This plaster wall plaque was always on her wall in whatever house she lived in.

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