Nature or Nurture - Is your mom crafty too?

So, is it nature or nurture?

I ask because people ask me how/why I am crafty.

My mother, Lisa, has always been pretty crafty.

Growing up, Lisa had a business making specialty window coverings, bedding, and general decor.  She was always sewing on these fabulous, just the right height and width tables.

BTW, mom- where are those tables?? Because I think I would like them.

Anyways, she had gorgeous fabrics and sergers and sewing machines all in a dedicated large room.  It was fabulous.  She even had found this old sewing machine with a treadle that you operated with your feet.  That machine was fun.  I learned a lot on that 1921 beast!  When I was really really little she would let us make barbie doll clothes out of tissue on that old machine... Now, having my own machines, I understand why she let us do it on that one. Then as we got older, we figured out what was truly scraps and we would make our doll dresses out of the extras.

When I was about 8 I ask my mom to make a new dress for me. 

She took me to the store and we picked out a pattern, fabric and notions. 

I can't believe, now, that I chose a knit fabric...

We got home and I was ready to "help" her.  She handed me the pattern and said, you know how to read, follow the instructions. If you need help, I will help you figure it out. 

And that was the first dress I did on my own.  I wish I had it.  It was purple and teal color-blocked.

I am SO thankful she had the foresight to see that I could do it on my own!

Well, several months ago, I was in serious need of a sewing machine that functioned properly.  We got to talking about what a disaster the current, now previous, machine had turned out.  And it was supposed to be top of the line.  Yeah... Anyways, I always loved how her machine worked. It was a dream.  She told me she was always happy with her Pfaffs.  I was surprised her say Pfaffs -plural.  I didn't remember multiples. She related a few stories of how she would come home from school, sorry mom -in the 50's, and a couch or chair would be stripped of its fabric and her father would be reupholstering it [professionally] with his Pfaff!

I NEVER in a million years would have imagined her father and a sewing machine!

He was an engineer, not a sewer!

I was stunned. 

But I guess that is the reason both my mother and my aunt Shelley are avid sewers and crafters!

So, I think, at the moment, I have to say craftiness is nature. 

But at the same time, being around people who do all of this crafting, how could one not be crafty??

So, it could very well be nurture.

Lets split the difference and call it both.

So, my mom emailed me some photos of a handbag she made yesterday.

Excellent job, mom! Can't wait to see it in person!

Even if the downstairs looks like a fabric factory exploded.