“She hemmed them with lace or rick rack braid around them.” My grandmother’s voice said through the weary cassette tape from the 1970s. We sat at my new dining room table in my new house, side by side, my mother and me, to transcribe the middle-school interview my older sister had made for an assignment.
Fifty years later, I borrowed an old-school tape player and used my iPhone to record the playback. I was afraid the filament would break, so I didn’t dare stop or rewind it. I stood still in my New Jersey kitchen, listening and recording for the full 45 minutes. Once I had captured my grandmother’s voice, however crudely, I exhaled.
It would be years before the tedious job of transcription would be possible.
The audio was in terrible shape, and I had to learn how to filter out hissing and humming sounds and boost my grandmother’s voice. Since I was preparing to sell my home, build a new one and move, I was glad to have the copy on my phone for safekeeping.
What in the world is “rick rack?” I asked my mom. She has difficulty finding her words this summer, much more so than last summer. Information about rick rack, however, is front and center;
“You might find it on an apron, dress, or curtain— it is edge trim. It can be any color, match the dress exactly or contrasting color. It can be big or small, thick or thin….”
My mom and I have always connected over family history and stories. I felt partial to my mom’s hard-scrabble, lesser-known lineage I think partly because my paternal grandmother was an expert on her “pedigree”.
We marvel together at the sound of her mother’s voice and the playful way she offers answers to questions. She died over thirty years ago, and sitting next to me; mom is a year older than her mother was when she died. I’m pretty sure I knew what rick rack was anyway, but here, I am documenting my mother’s and her mother’s words. Pinch me.
Read more about my mom’s hard-scrabble, lesser-known lineage in these posts:
Do we need a reason to research our ancestors?
Family Linens: Discovering the Sentimental Stories Stitched with Love
Age, Loss, and Strength in the Numbers Game.
My mother’s great-uncle never remarried.
Is it ric rac or rick rack?
Dating back to the 1800s, rick rack trim (also spelled rickrack, ricrac, ric-rack and ric rac), was sometimes referred to as waved braid, snake braid or corrugated braid. Its zigzaggy appearance has long made it a favorite of home sewers looking for creative trimming options.
Find out more under Notions (section six of the sewing.org guidelines https://www.sewing.org/html/guidelines.html).
Leave a Reply