I Sewed for Myself

Armida sitting in front of a track sewing machine, in interview format.

Armida: But I do, like this whole outfit that I’m wearing today, except for the jacket, I sewed for myself. The jeans and the shirt were made by me, and I have a slew of other shirts that I’ve made that I love and I wear all the time and I need to replace soon ’cause I wear them so much. So I’m really hoping to get back into that me time.

There’s this amazing like institution, I guess, I don’t know what to call it, but it’s called The Reuse Center and they’re at different sites at municipal waste sites and it’s basically people bring stuff that are still perfectly usable and for other people to come in and like shop, right? And it’s all free, so it’s all exchanged and through, like, I don’t need this, you need it, you take it, I take this, right? And so that’s where everything goes, that’s where all the clothing goes, and if it doesn’t go there, then it goes to The Hub.

I think what making clothes- the way that it impacts- my size is what impacts my cultural identity more than anything else. So I started sewing because I didn’t find clothing that fit me, but I’ve also- I’ve attempted to make skirts that are also culturally important to my Mexican heritage. They’re called double volume, double circle skirts, and they’re used in a Mexican folkloric dancing. And the kids do that, they do the dancing.