Thursday, November 03, 2005

Accessories made by Mom

Mother must have had a lot of time on her hands. In addition to our school clothes and prom dresses, she also sewed our underwear and headscarves and mittens. Wearing homemade underpants is novel, but they weren't particularly comfortable. Itchy. I think she only tried it a few times. I have no photos of my homemade panties and slips.

But here is an interesting photo of my sisters and me wearing homemade headscarves. Mom would buy a remnant of silky like fabric, cut it in the shape of a square, run a stitch about an inch from the edge and then we'd fringe it. They were usually in plain colors as I recall, and weren't from remnants of fabrics she'd already used--that would be too obvious.

This photo is taken at my grandparents' farm in Franklin Grove, IL which is still in the family. In the late 1960s, my mother bought out her siblings' shares in the property and remodeled the house and used it as a church retreat and family reunion center. For a number of years, the property looked like an elegant park. People slept on ironed sheets, and were served dinner on linen tablecloths. I think it was the happiest time of her life.

Black arrows point to head scarves worn by my sisters and me

2 comments:

Feed Fido said...

I thought I had finally figured out the pointy bras: homemade...but alas they were manufactured and people bought them! Yikes

Norma said...

Well, at our house they were modified so they wouldn't be so pointy. Mother used to make an extra seam across the front.