Like Father Like Daughter

Most boys as kids were excited by the idea of playing with dinosaurs or G.I. Joe figurines. Chris Gennaro, however, loved playing with his sister’s Barbie Dolls and creating new clothing statements for them. He would not only create clothes for the dolls, but he would also use scissors to cut up old shoe boxes and make furnishings for his pet rats. His passion for fashion never faltered, leading him in Middle school to approach his Youth Pastor about his sewing gift. He loved to sew and make clothes and wanted to use his gift to serve God. He was not quite satisfied with the answer he gave him, which was to make clothes for missionaries. He knew he could do more. Dad was always one to help others and he knew there was something out there for him where he could really make a difference. In college he met my mom, got married and even made her wedding dress. He majored in Graphic design to utilize the skills most closely he had curated from childhood. For his final project, he made dresses for the women in his family including his mom, wife, and sister-in-law. The dress he made for his sister-in-law was put on display and his wife and mom modeled the dresses in person that were made for them. He was working towards something big in his life.

Once out of college, he worked and managed a high-end fabric shop where he had access to all sorts of buttons, fancy materials, sewing machinery, and numerous amounts of Fiskars scissors. It was behind that shop that he opened his own business where he made alterations and created gowns and dresses mainly for special occasions. As his family grew, having four kids at home, he moved his sewing studio into the living room, where he continued his work making gowns and wedding dresses. An iconic look that he had made was a wedding dress for a friend who was having an eco-friendly style wedding, where she wanted to repurpose and reuse materials as much as possible. He ended up making her dress out of a shower curtain of all things! It was beautiful and showed off his amazing talent of making anything into a beautiful piece of art.

The most memorable thing that all us kids and Mom remember the most about his work was his love and protection of his Fiskars scissors. He had many pairs all for different uses, but the one thing they all had in common was they were off limits to everyone in the family but him. They were labeled “DAD” and “NO PAPER” and even “DO NOT TOUCH.” If there was one thing, we all knew, it was not to touch Dad’s scissors. Fiskars was his favorite brand and the only ones he had such territory over. He had 6 kids and wanted to make sure everyone knew they were not for them to use.

He knew his calling in life but knew there had to be more he could do to help those in need. Our family had taken multiple trips to Africa to help build houses for Watoto Orphanage Villages and had even decided to adopt two little boys from Uganda. He had always thought about doing missionary work, so my family applied for an organization to move to Africa and do missionary work. They pick assignments for families based on what their gifts were and how they could be of the most service to the communities. My dad was matched with becoming a sewing teacher in a rural village in Lesotho, so we all packed up and moved to Africa. A memorable moment my mom talks about a lot was packing up Dad’s sewing supplies, carefully wrapping each individual pair of scissors in newspaper, to be packed in its own box. They were his prized possessions, his most important tools of his trade, used to create the highest quality of his craft, and they had a long journey ahead of them.

The first thing that Dad had to do once in Lesotho was to learn the language. He had to be able to communicate with the locals to be the most efficient at teaching. Once he had a grasp on the language, he was able to start teaching at the vocational school. His job was to teach the local women how to sew and craft. They would use these skills to create and sell goods to make a living. He also taught them how to be resourceful with other skills they did have. They could make a loaf of bread to trade for fabric to make dresses to sell. They could also use the sacks from potatoes as fabric for their projects. The skills he was teaching would be lifelong tools for the women to be more independent and live off what they already have. It was about two years he was able to continue his work before God had other plans for him.

He got sick suddenly and it was not even a month before he passed away and we were forced to say goodbye. He left behind a wife and 6 kids all under the age of 20 and it was hard on all of us. He also left behind sewing machines, hundreds of buttons, fabric scraps, all his scissors that he cherished so closely. Most of it ended up in storage once he passed, as we were over seas and continued to live in Africa after he was gone. We moved around so much that we never really got the opportunity to go through all his things. Our house was in San Diego and that is where most of his things ended up after he passed. Before I moved away, I wanted to go through his things and see if there was anything that I would want to keep. Most of these things had not been gone through in almost 7 years and it was like having him in the room all over again. I had always loved buttons and had my own collection going, so when I found his button collection, I knew that it was something I needed to hang onto. I also took his favorite pair of Fiskars scissors with “DAD” inscribed on the handle.

I was unsure of what I wanted to do with the supplies I had gotten from my dad, but I knew it had to be something special. After a month or so of holding onto the buttons waiting for an inspiration, it came to me. There was no way I was going to use all the buttons on separate things, the only way to use them all would be to make a collage with all the buttons together. So that is exactly what I did. I went to the craft store and purchased a large embroidery hoop, and some linen fabric, that was all I needed since I had everything else from my dad. I got home and got to work. I used Dad’s favorite scissors and cut the material just so. I stretched the linen in the hoop, threaded my needle and started sewing, button by button, bead by bead. Stitches went by, I kept snipping the thread with dad’s Fiskars and threading the needle. After weeks of work, I stitched the last button. I secured the back of the hoop. With every stitch I could feel Dad watching over me and my project. Throughout my whole life I have always wondered what my dad would have thought of my decisions, life choices, etc. With this work though, I knew he was with me, and I knew he was supporting me from wherever he was. Thousands of stitches later I have a button collage that displays my dad’s buttons – a piece of art, no longer a collection kept hidden away in storage.