The Thread at Marshall Field's on State Street

As I created my latest bucket bag last week, this one from a roll of fabric I bought from an estate sale, I was looking for thread to match when I stumbled across a spool of thread I'd forgotten about, and one that would match the bag perfectly.

It was a spool my grandmother had bought me at Marshall Field's on State Street in Chicago, the was the one time my maternal grandmother took my older sister and me on an L ride (my first) into the city. My sister had gone with her before but this was the first time I got to go. I'm guessing I was around eight (making this the late 1970s) and there are several things I remember from this trip: the L ride itself (I couldn't get it in my head how it could go underground and then come back above ground), visiting Marshall Field's, and having a grilled cheese for lunch somewhere on State Street.

And I also realize that saying she bought me thread at Marshall Field's dates me: not only is Marshall Field's now Macys but department stores no longer sell sewing notions. 

My room was green, probably because my sister Karen's room was pink (and anyone who knows her is laughing at this). The spool of thread is stamped 35 cents and I'm sure my grandmother saw it as something small she could buy me. I can still remember getting to pick it out.

Somehow it landed on top of a large plastic bin filled with my thread, my mom's, my friend Fred's mother's thread, my friend Bonnie's, and some I bought at an estate sale. And somehow it has stayed with my mom or me all these years.

When I started to make the bucket bags about a month ago, I knew I would need a lot of patience and that would be a big part of my challenge. I got tired of not seeing what I wanted or liked, I wanted to make my own things with my own patterns. And I thought, if these people can sew this in a factory, why can't I do the same?

And so when I sit to sew, I have to relax and keep myself there. I think of my friend Bonnie who not just thought I didn't take enough time to do things but jokingly once told me that my job was getting in the way of our craft projects. And I think of my grandmother whose sewing skills I didn't know a lot about but of the hat and purse she made for my Raggedy Ann finger puppet when I left Raggedy Ann behind at their house once. And of the thread that left me inspired that day to use it finish the outside of my latest bucket bag. It's as if I included a piece of Grandma Zurawski in the bag.