It seems odd that we use the very same word to describe both a deep purple silk floor length dress with a hand tatted lace collar, and the flimsy garb you try to cover yourself with for pre-op. Having made a few dozen face masks, me and every woman in my quilting facebook group, I am moving on to hospital gowns.
A doctor I trust gave specifics... neck to shin, velcro in back, elastic wrists on long sleeves. At first I pawed through my stash which is admittedly generous but ninety per cent of the fabric is a yard or less. Quilting is the sport in which you take small pieces and stitch them together. For a full length gown you need four yards.
Then I realized. Sheets.
I pulled out the twins, (the linen, not my girls) and started chopping. After three finished garments I paused to take a picture and get a snack.
When I create a commissioned quilt, I will confess there are worries that pester me. Imperfect points, miters that are bulky, sides that are an inch different in length all needle me while I am needling them.
"What if she doesn't like it?"
"Will she notice that the binding gets thinner on one side?"
But sewing for sick people I'll never meet whose eyes will mostly be shut eliminates all of that. I do make the effort to provide comfort, such as putting the abrasive side of the velcro facing away from their back rather than towards it. If a feverish woman is struggling in bed and it comes apart, I do not want her hot skin to be scratched as well.
A fitted flannel sheet covered with cardinals was on the bottom shelf of the hall closet. I pulled it out and remembered. These were my mother's. She loved cardinals and my sister bought them for her. The fabric was worn but the red birds are still cheerful enough to make me smile. There have been half a dozen real ones flitting outside my window this week, chirping as if nothing is wrong.
Things are coming apart at a rapid pace. Plans go haywire and emotions fluctuate without warning. There are tough decisions in the works with far reaching implications for the foreseeable future.
Yet maybe.... and I say this with only the soft side of the velcro... the birds are right.
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? -Matthew 6
