Going to the Expert

 Love and Comfort will be rolling out baby sleep sacks with sleeves this week, thanks to the expertise of Linda Bandy.

Linda, now retired, has been sewing since she was six years old.  She was the designer for a jean company and used to have her own company making children’s pyjamas.   

What would have taken me several hours and hair pulling, took Linda about 30 second.  She looked at my pattern, not measuring, just eye-balled it.  Then she quickly took a pen and drew up a sleeve pattern for the smallest size in the sleep sack line up.  From there, I was able to do the other sizes.

Linda and I met years ago in a poignant twist of life and friendship.  Through my previous work, I’d come to know Irene in her late 80s who lived in a seniors’ home.   I then met Irene’s adult daughter, Laurel, in her last days with cancer.  The first time I came to Laurel’s home, Linda was sitting beside her, quilting.  Every day she kept Laurel company and tended to her until her dying neighbour went into hospice.  Both Laurel and Irene now reside in heaven, and while Linda and I both miss them, I’m glad they introduced us. 

Linda sent me home with a large bag of fabric and notions.  A day later, I was passing on other fabric from my own stash to a younger woman.  “Can I pay you for this?”, she asked.   Of course not.   Through the generations among those who sew, remains the custom of passing on  both fabric and expertise.   

Linda designs with a pair of scissors.  This beautiful scene of the foothills and Rocky Mountains where we live was created by Linda over six months through the careful choosing of fabric and the layering of fabric to create hills, mountains, rocks, water and wildlife.