Sewing for Sisters, pt. 5

Dropping back to about 1944, here's a photo which I think shows my sisters in matching dresses. At that age, Mom was making them coats and dresses the same, and then later made Carol and me dresses that were the same, but different colors and fabrics. As you can see, these little dresses were more plain and required less fabric than the little puff sleeve, gathered waist dresses I remember from the 40s. There were shortages of everything and certain items were rationed.

This photo is the all time family favorite and Mother snapped it to send to my father who was in the Marines. He was not drafted--but virtually every man under 40 in our little town had gone off to war, and so he volunteered. His brothers, brothers-in-law and cousins were already gone--Europe, Alaska, Korea, South Pacific. In those days, people had "victory gardens," and so there we are, pretending to be gardeners, standing beside our 1939 Ford. Later Mom would pack us all up in the car and drive the Lincoln Highway from northern Illinois to California, and our lives changed completely as we became suburbanites in Alameda.


In 2002 I used this photograph to paint an image of Dad in his uniform looking down over us and our house.



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Mt. Morris, Illinois