I am ten years old in this picture. I love those freckles! I have a story about this dress. My mother made all of my clothing...beautiful things. Always original. She never followed a pattern for anything. I could draw her what I wanted and pick out the fabrics and she would work her magic on them and turn out something beautiful just for me. For some reason, I wanted a dress from the store. This dress is the first one I remember getting from a store. I loved the color, the velvet belt and the rhinestones on the collar and down the front. The seams itched me so bad that I came to appreciate the home made clothes! A photographer came to the house and took a few pictures of my brother and I in our living room. He had a backdrop, and seated us on the piano bench. My hair was past my waist. I did have a little natural curl, but mom rolled it up in those metal rollers, and dried it with the vacuum cleaner!!! That's right...she laid the canister vacuum on it's side on the couch and I sat on the floor. It had an opening on the bottom that was about 1 1/2 ins across where hot air blew out the bottom. So it became a makeshift hair dryer.
