If there's a sewing gene, I got it from her

Photo explanation (to respond to some confusion in the comments):  these 6 young women are my grandmother (second from left) and 5 of her sisters.  The picture dates from sometime in the 1920s.  The oldest sister is on the far right (born 1888) and the youngest on the far left (born 1910).

My mother's mother (second from left) and her sisters sewed.  It was a practical necessity but my grandmother made much more of it.  She made many of her own and her 5 children's clothes.  For my mother and aunt, she made play clothes, school clothes, suits and beautiful prom dresses.

To the right, she's captured in a happy moment with my grandfather in the year before they married.  She was 24, wearing a coat of (perhaps) her own design with fur cuffed sleeves and a matching fur muff.  I would kill for those shoes!

To the left is a picture of my mother (taken when she was in her teens), wearing a gorgeous strapless dress that my grandmother made for her.

I never saw that one in real life, but clearly remember the fairy-princess white strapless ballerina-length prom dress that my mom would sometimes let me try on.  It had a  heavy satin "crumb-catcher" bodice with basque waist, a boned under-bodice with crumpled tulle scattered with rhinestones and seed pearls at the upper centre, and multiple layers of frothy tulle skirt.

It must be a gene that I inherited, because we never lived near my grandparents so she couldn't teach me to sew.

But my non-sewing mother did what she could (thanks Mom!) to encourage me and nurture what I seem to have inherited.

From my grandmother, aside from the sewing gene, I have souvenirs.

Her well used featherweight which replaced the treadle that may have been just like mine.

A length of celadon green silk brocade.

A gorgeous beaded sweater.  Taking it out of its annual summer storage yesterday made me think about my elegant and talented grandmother.