Wednesday, May 12, 2010

From the pages of "The Seamstress"



"Even the dullest, roughest muslin could be dyed, cut, and shaped into a fine dress if the right choices were made. Similar choices could turn the loveliest silk into a dimpled, snagged catastrophe. But individual fabrics, like people, had unique limitations and benefits. Some were tissue thin, lovely but fragile, undone by the smallest snag. Some were so closely woven that you could not see the fibers. Others were course, thick, and scratchy. There was no changing the character of the cloth. It could be cut, ripped, sewn into dresses or trousers or table settings, but no matter the form it took, a cloth always remained the same. Its true nature was fixed. Any good seamstress knew this."




From "The Seamstress" by Frances de Pontes Peebles. The novel follows two sisters and the different choices they make as coming-of-age women in Brazil from the late 1920's to the mid 1930's. A wonderful read.

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