If you live in the U.S. of A., then you will be celebrating Labor Day this Monday. Surprisingly, the holiday has been around longer than your probable hunch. Older than both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it was implemented in 1882, and since then, there’s one major thing that’s changed – the very nature of labor. As written by Peter McGuire, one of the founders of the American Federation of Labor, the holiday was meant to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” We Americans don’t do much carving or delving anymore, unless it’s into a McDonald’s cheeseburger. On that same note, labor isn’t as rude as it once was. Let’s be real, Labor Day today is simply a respite for everyone with a Monday job, and for us sewers, an extra day to stitch up what’s been on the backburners (UFOs!).
For me, Labor Day is the line between summer and that in-between season that loiters just before autumn and winter breeze in. It’s not a semi-colon like Christmas or Thanksgiving – we don’t put our lives on pause for a week or two to celebrate. More like a comma, we pass it in a short breadth with no preparation, which I like. So, while the motive behind the holiday has changed, the holiday has taken all its full meaning, a day without labor. Good or bad? Who knows? That question may be too much to cogitate.
I’ll end on a positive note and say that if you’re in America, I hope you enjoy the day as I am – sewing!
And Lauren, be on the lookout for your care package (pictured above), which I put in the mail this week. No pressure, but I hope it makes a beautiful bra one day!