Mom's chalk pencil.

I get asked a lot if my mom was a crack seamstress who taught me everything she knows. Not exactly--I remember her teaching me the basics when I was in junior high, but I had zero patience. I started a dress for some 7th grade dance or other and she had to finish it for me. She mostly sewed simple things--my doll clothes, curtains, her own maternity tops. But she did pass on to me a handful of sewing tools that have stayed in my life for years, through many shifts and changes (including four cross-country moves and an apartment fire). This little chalk pencil, worn to a nub, is my treasure. It is perfect. It marks darts like a dream, traces patterns with precision. It's an old pro. It's definitely older than me. You can get a chalk pencil at any fabric store, but the tips always break, they're too waxy, they just plain don't work as well as this one. I ration it, these days, since I truly don't know what I'll do when it's gone. Can you get emotionally attached to a pencil? Yes. Yes you can.