{"product_id":"what-an-elders-hands-taught-me","title":"What an Elder's Hands Taught Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1990s, I traveled to Wagoner, Oklahoma, to the home of Cherokee elder Pearl Cole. I sat on her floor all day and watched as her hands brought yards of cotton fabric into a traditional tear dress. She taught me the most difficult part was the square gusset, and that patience was as much a part of the process as the fabric itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePearl later mailed me hand-typed instructions, hand-drawn pattern diagrams, and small cut fabric samples — treasures I tucked away for over thirty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe month I made this dress, I pulled Pearl's treasures of notes and diagrams from my sewing box and made this dress entirely from her directions — the same kind of cotton fabric, the same ribbon, the same torn edges she taught me to trust. The diamond cutouts and narrow satin ribbon are sewn in her honor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1990, Pearl saw a young mother who wanted to make dresses for her two daughters, and she gave me an entire day of her knowledge freely. I lost contact with her and she may have passed, but she is present in every seam of this dress.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HAS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43825595940923,"sku":null,"price":575.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0660\/1241\/4011\/files\/What_an_Elder_s_Hands_Taught_Me.jpg?v=1784656024","url":"https:\/\/gallery.visitcherokeenation.com\/products\/what-an-elders-hands-taught-me","provider":"Visit Cherokee Nation Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}