Memory patterns

Completed

2005-11-30T16:41:00.000-05:00

You're welcome to browse. During the month of November, 2005, instead of jumping into NaNoWrMo, I just wrote 75 blog entries until I was finished with the topic--sewing memories, linking my patterns to photographs and sometimes fabric or the actual item. Along the way I discovered lots of vintage pattern and sewing sites, which I've linked to and will add as I find more. Several times I've suppressed the impulse to uncover my sewing machine and bring it up from the basement. It's been lots of fun going over the photographs and spotting things I thought I'd forgotten.

Update: September 2006. The statistics at this blog are running about 8-10 visits a day. I'm glad people are finding and enjoying it.

Update: January 2008: The stats are still about the same. Lots of people wanting old apron patterns it seems. Enjoy!

Coming to an end

2005-11-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

Although I'd planned to finish this memory blog in a month, I hadn't really thought about arranging the entires--and indeed, they aren't topical or chronological.

This photo isn't the last outfit I ever made, but it is close. I recall a few outfits in the 80s probably when I was between jobs. I started taking contract appointments in 1978 until I got a tenure track position in 1986 at Ohio State University Libraries. This photo was taken in 1979 at our church after I'd gone back to work, and my daughter was tall enough to borrow my clothes (she's wearing my skirt). I made the wool plaid skirt I'm wearing in the photo from the maxi-pattern I showed earlier. We were transitioning--shopping with friends would become a social event in my daughter's life; I would be too busy or too distracted to sew; the children's school demands would create a lot of conflict; and my husband was unhappy at work.

Sewing, which I never did particularly well, sort of fell by the way side until it disappeared from my life all together. When we bought our summer cottage in 1988 I had great plans to learn to slip-cover--even kept the sewing machine up there for a few years, but it never happened. Mother continued making things, moving more to crafts, and home furnishing and helped some of her grandchildren learn to sew.

Last week on a church bulletin board I saw a large display of photos of Sunday dresses for children of the Hilltop area where many of our members volunteer at Highland School. They were lovely--velvet and satin and ribbons and lace. Everything that a little girl could want in a fantasy dress. Thinking it might be a group sewing activity, I called for information--might even be an excuse to dust off the sewing machine. I was told they were all made by one woman.

Oh my.

Update: I called the woman who made the dresses--she'd made 24 dresses in sizes 4, 6 and 8 from her "stash" (she has a sewing businesses). A friend found little canvas bags at a sewing store and painted a design on the bag to match each dress, and her husband found hats to match. Now she is making pajamas--she's making 40 for the children. Update 2: Saw her this week and now she's made 61 dresses.

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sewing, 1970s, memoirs, vintage patterns

Heading off for college

2005-11-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

During the summer after high school I boarded a Greyhound Bus and took off for Fresno, California for Brethren Volunteer Service, summer unit. Meanwhile, Mom was back at the house on Hannah getting me ready for college (I had a knack for getting out of the work being busy doing other things). I don't have any patterns, and no photos taken at college, but I do have the actual blazer and jacket and some photos taken today. Both are still with me, although I don't wear them. Mom made Carol and me lined corduroy blazers, hers was brown and yellow stripe and mine was coral, black and gray. The photo I'd planned to post showed me in 1965 showing off my new piano, and I was going to include that story about buying the piano with my grad student stipend, but it won't load. So here it is hanging on the closet door, today. I think I may have worn this blazer a few times in in the 1980s, especially because it is sort of close to the Ohio State scarlet and gray theme.

I could wear this unconstructed jacket with a pleat at the shoulder on game days here in Columbus, Ohio where everyone wears scarlet and gray. It's 100% wool and just a bit scratchy, and over the years a few tiny moth holes have appeared, but other than that, it's like new. I think the idea was it would look like a "Pendleton shirt" which of course, I couldn't afford, but they were very popular then.

That summer Mother also made JoElla and me (friends since grade school) matching gray quilted bedspreads, reversable to pink with pink bed skirts for our dorm room twin beds (pink and gray were hot, hot, hot 1957 colors--even for the cars, kitchen appliances, typewriters, etc.). JoElla and I were terribly disappointed in our tiny room in Oakwood Hall at Manchester College, but we managed, using the window sill as a refrigerator. For second semester we were moved to something larger. I believe Mother had also made Carol and her roommate bedspreads and bedskirts, but I don't remember what they looked like.

Making a baby layette

2005-11-29T19:03:00.000-05:00

There's a word I haven't heard for awhile--layette. So I googled it: "A layette is a collection of clothes and bedding for a new baby. In the past, women would have hand-sewn everything the baby would need during pregnancy. Now we can buy everything." If you want to make something for a baby, learn to crochet or knit. Using a sewing machine is a lot of work for something outgrown in a few weeks and which is worn 5 minutes before all your hard work is covered in spit up or poop and thrown in the laundry.

I did make a few things during my first pregnancy, and still have two patterns, and one little nightgown. I may have made more, but apparently only kept one. My machine didn't overcast or zigzag which means seams had to be hand finished and the tiny sleeves hand hemmed, etc. I think I made some of these just to keep busy the summer of 1961. Even then, ready-mades (as we called them) were inexpensive and more practical.

When I opened this I found only the iron on embroidery patterns. I found one little smock, yellow flannel, in the baby clothes with embroidered flowers. It didn't look like it had ever been used.

From this pattern I found one white flannel nightie trimmed with a green and white seam binding and then I'd embroidered a little green design at the neck in a matching color.

We were living on the third floor of an apartment building on Third Street in Champaign. Most of the people I knew had graduated and left campus, but I did meet two women in the building, one who was also pregnant and the other, who was only 16, had a year old baby. There was a wringer washer in the basement that would run for 30 minutes for a quarter. Fortunately, I remembered watching my mother use one, and soon got pretty good at it.

The lime green pants suit

2005-11-29T14:33:00.000-05:00

This almost screams "the seventies," except from the size of my baby son, it was 1969. I can't find any photos where I'm wearing the complete outfit, but those lime green slacks really show up in a lot of pictures. This is the pattern.

And here we are in the spring of 1969 in front of that awful flowering quince. I was wearing this outfit in a February '69 photo, so I must have made it during the winter. The fabric was sort of a linen weave, heavy cotton, very nice texture which held its shape well.

Our high school age babysitter, Kristy Mellum, lived in the stucco house behind us. When my husband built a fence to help me with corraling the children, he included a gate so she (and later the neighborhood kids) could get into our yard.

Christmas 1971

2005-11-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

My sister came through big time for us this year--1971. She made my daughter and me matching long housecoats out of a purple and pink print cotton quilted fabric, mandarin collar with pink buttons, and then she also knitted us matching pink slippers. I wore my robe almost 20 years before I completely wore through the fabric, and I think I have photos of Christmas 1973 where the cuffs are almost up to my daughter's elbows. Of course, I don't have the pattern for this, but I've searched the internet, and I think this is it.

It's not like she didn't have anything else to do but sew for my family! She had four children, a big house, volunteered, taught piano and enjoyed a very busy life. I don't think I ever even hemmed a hanky for her. All she got was this blog.

The last prom dress

2005-11-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Except for the cummerbund, I think Mother just pieced this one together from two other patterns--a full skirt and a v-neck top. I seem to remember we went shopping for the material--the top was a dark forest green linen and the full skirt was a flocked nylon with little pink flowers and greenery. I wore the same pink shoes I'd worn for my sister's wedding. Mother made this for my senior prom, and then I wore it two years later for the I.F. Ball at the University of Illinois, and I don't remember what happened to it. Nor do I remember what I.F. stands for. Something . . . fraternity.

The theme of the prom that year was "Mexican Promenade. The decorations were always provided by the junior class, and it was preceded by a banquet to which all juniors and seniors were invited. The "Mello-Tones," a group of 16 girls, provided the music (according to my high school annual). Looking at the annual photos, I see fewer strapless gowns, and also a number of the boys are in rented tuxedos--which I don't think was the case even 2 years earlier.

This photo must have been taken in a friend's room at McKinley Hall because I don't recognize the walls, but most of the furniture was certainly Spartan or possibly prison-issue style even for those days. We had no doors on the closets, only hanging curtains. But we did have a nice big window and a sink. I loved it there and made many wonderful friends.

Easter 1969

2005-11-29T12:30:00.000-05:00

All decked out in our Easter outfits, although I'm not sure we'd been to church. We are visiting friends, the Boyds, in this photo. I have on a print dress in brilliant colors printed on sort of a homespun weave cotton I'd made from this pattern. It was a polaroid and has faded over the 37 years since this was taken.

I remember telling Sandy that now we were four, and it felt like a "real family." She was also a librarian and had two little girls each just a few months older than my two. I think she later became an Episcopal priest, but I lost track of her years ago. So, Sandra Boyd, if you're out there, call home.

Time to climb back into the box

2005-11-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

Sue and Sammy prepare for the time capsule wearing clean clothes.

Cousin Amy's Big Girl Dresses

2005-11-29T09:38:00.000-05:00

Amy is 2.5 years older than my daughter and her mother is a fine seamstress who still makes craft items like purses, so we benefitted in the 1970s from her hand-me-down "big girl dresses." One of my all time favorites is the red dress with the print yoke and sleeves. We used this one on a Christmas card.

This dress was sort of a gray blue with a silver pattern. It had a straight body with a flaring ballerina type, below the waist skirt.

The children are doing one of their art projects, almost a constant activity in our home. We also took them to art shows, which was no fun for them, and neither have ever shown any interest in art as adults. Our son went through the airplanes, fantasy figures and cartoon phase in junior high, but that was about the last time I saw any art from his fingers. This shows our kitchen eating area before we replaced the metal casement windows, an "improvement" added in the post-war 1940s by previous owners.

This was the first day of kindergarten at Tremont School with Amy's little skirt, blouse and scarf, and we almost waited too long--another month and it would have been too short! I think it was a disappointing day for my daughter because it was just sort of an introduction and then everyone went home.

When I unpacked the baby clothes last week-end and didn't find these three dresses I decided I must have returned them, either for Amy's daughters, or for her sister Heather, who is three years younger than my daughter.

Packing up for another 30 years

2005-11-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

It's been fun looking through the dresses and dollies, but everything is washed and ironed now and it is time to go back into the bin and into the storage space. I don't know what the occasion would be to get these out again. I don't seem to have all the patterns, but do have some. The long sleeve yellow and the green dress with the collar have already appeared in photos here and here.

This outfit had matching shorts and slacks, and when it was too short to wear as a dress, it was a top. I made the square neck with the contrasting cap sleeves in the shorter dress length.

The ugliest tie

2005-11-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

Sewing men's ties was very popular in the 1970s--I don't know if it is still done, but it is very easy. The problem with this tie, as I mentioned earlier is that I made it from left over bedspread fabic. It must have been a bargain, because it was a king size bed, I made my daughter a dress and head scarf and my husband a tie.

Visiting Luther College in Iowa

2005-11-28T11:34:00.000-05:00

My high school boyfriend attended Luther College for one year, and invited me to Homecoming--can't remember if there was a dance--but Mother made me a new outfit. To get to Decorah, Iowa from my home town I had to take the train from Oregon, IL to Prairie du Chien Wisconsin, and then he had to borrow a car to pick me up there, about 100 miles round trip. Even by the late 1950s train travel was becoming less convenient, and that may have been my first trip on a train.

I don't have the pattern, and I'm not sure she used one, but it looked like this (copied from the internet). The top, which I wore without a blouse, was a navy and sky blue plaid with a silver thread and the skirt a plain darker blue in the same fabric which appears to be an orlon or acrylic:

When I unpacked the bin of baby clothes I found the doll clothes my mother made for my daughter, and this little hooded cape was the fabric of the vest. I probably only wore this outfit for a year or so because I put on weight in college. But what a pleasant surprise to find the fabric.

Sewing with knits

2005-11-28T10:58:00.000-05:00

Once I got the hang of it, sewing with knits was easy. I could do up a t-shirt for the kids in about 90 minutes. I remember making them matching t-shirts with the Pepsi logo and they wore them when we went to amusement parks so I could spot them quickly if we got separated. I don't seem to have a photo of them both wearing the shirt.

My daughter's wearing the Pepsi shirt, but my son had one too. They're sitting on their outgrown, but favorite toys, a big wheel and a hippity hop. My parents were probably visiting for Easter, because the horrid flowering quince (it will take over your yard and then the neighborhood) is blooming behind them. I can see a new stockade fence in the back, put up by the neighbors who had no children and assured us it was for a backdrop for their new landscaping. It just happened to keep all the neighborhood kids from cutting through. They only lived there about 18 months.

I also see two of the scruffiest cedar trees you've ever seen (about 30 years old) back there. We had to get permission from the city and the neighbors to cut one down so we could put a garage there where you can see the swing set.

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sewing, 1970s, vintage patterns

Unpacking baby clothes

2005-11-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

Some of us are fortunate--we know that when we save the physical objects, we will also save the soul and spirit of the time, place and people that are associated with them. Then there are a very select few who know that if those physical objects are clothing or made of cloth, they should be freshly laundered before packing them away for 30 years and then rechecked when repacked for moving. I was of the former group, but not the latter. So, before I can repack them, everything needs to be laundered.

Even so, the breath was knocked out of me this morning when I unpacked my children's clothing from two tall plastic tubs, dropped off here by my son-in-law. There were some items I was specifically anticipating, like the two baby quilts I blogged about here and here. And I found them. I was pretty sure I'd find the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls my friend Lynne brought with her on a visit when the kids were about 3 and 4, and I did. I had planned to give back to my niece two little dresses her mother had made for her which were later passed along to my daughter, but they weren't there, so I think I'd returned them when her own daughters were little.

In the intervening years, I'd forgotten how precious baby feet are! I not only found the little brown and white suit my son wore on his baptismal day, but the tiny shoes--probably not big enough to contain his big toe now. And the little white, lace up high tops my oldest son was wearing the day he died, as well as the pants and shirt and snow suit.

And the dollies! I didn't remember all those dolls, hair askew, and heads falling off, and eyeballs caved in. And surprise--some of them were not wearing the clothing they came with, but instead had outfits that my mother had made. Because of the zig-zag stitches and fabrics, I knew they were made specifically for my daughter's dolls and not mine. I had planned to write about a wonderful two piece outfit Mother had made for me in 1956, but had neither a pattern, a photograph or a scrap of material. And there was the blue fitted vest fabric with the silver thread, in a dolly cape with a hood. I almost cried remembering a Mother who could sew like that.

Aunt Martha's Quilts, pt. 2

2005-11-25T14:57:00.000-05:00

Here are two of Aunt Martha's finished quilts, now about 120 years old. It is almost beyond my comprehension that a woman who was probably making all the family's clothes, growing the produce they ate and preserving it, baking bread and churning butter, raising and slaughtering poultry, doing laundry on a washboard, bathing the family in water heated on a stove using corn cobs, watching two little boys, Nathan and Clarence, would still have time to sit by kerosene lamp and piece tiny bits of fabric together and then quilt them into something warm, practical and beautiful.

Feminists love to sing the praises of our pioneer farm women--their independence, interdependence and creativity. However, the work was so overwhelming, back breaking and never ending, I'm sure most of the them were thrilled to leave the farm for factory and office when the time came--just as the men did.

Aunt Martha's Quilts

2005-11-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

My grandmother's sister, Martha Sanders, was old enough to be her mother, and died in childbirth in 1889. Grandma inherited a number of Martha's quilts, some of which she used until they were worn out, some she put back and gave her daughters, and two of which were passed on to me. I also have a box of the unused quilt blocks. I've looked at them over the years trying to decide what to do with them, but have decided they were not used for a reason. After piecing a number of blocks, I'm sure the housewife/artist selected the best for her finished quilt, and I can see from comparing the box of blocks with the quilts I have, that there is usually something wrong with the block--an angle not quite right, or a fabric pattern going the wrong way, or a mismatched color.

My own grandmother clipped many quilt patterns from newspapers and magazines, but I have no evidence that she ever quilted except the little learner's dolly quilt I blogged about. I used her quilt patterns (the verso) to track down her magazine subscriptions and used that information in an article about farm magazines. The patterns were traced onto cardboard, the pieces cut, and then neatly sewn together with tiny stitches and small seams. But I'm not sure how Martha got her patterns--perhaps by trading with other farm women in Lee County, Illinois, or perhaps she used some that her mother brought with her from Adams County, Pennsylvania.

Here are some pattern blocks from those saved by my grandmother.

Looking for the Chemise

2005-11-23T13:47:00.000-05:00

"[At the Main Library of Ohio State University, Deck 11] I found Mademoiselle, AP2.M18 v. 46 and carried it to a comfortable chair. I looked everywhere for the picture I'd referred my mother to in April 1958, and it just wasn't there. But it was a blast looking through the volume, and just as I suspected and commented on in my sewing blog, the late fifties were harbingers of style and shape changes--blousy and bouffant that would become more popular after 1960. So I decided to look at some other titles to see what they showed about that era--I love researching by class number (reading the shelves rather than the catalog) because of the thrill of discovery. But when I went back into the stacks, I discovered that AP2.M is the class and cutter scheme for literary journals that start with "M." I looked all over the section and couldn't find another fashion magazine. Not exactly the thrill I had in mind." Collecting My Thoughts

But I did look through it and photographed some pages I thought might be the chemise I had in mind. I certainly found nothing on p. 102 of April.

Wrap-and-Go Skirt

2005-11-21T12:23:00.000-05:00

This easy wrap skirt I made for my daughter probably after I made my wrap jumper. She looks about 11 years old in the photograph, and the garage was built in 1978. There is no copyright date on the pattern.

My son and I were talking the other day and I mentioned I'd never seen him and his sister in a physical fight (I used to watch the neighbor boy pound on his sister), but looking at this photo, I realize she was bigger than him until they entered high school. Cuts down on a lot of fighting.

Wrap-and-Go Jumper

2005-11-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

This was a very easy jumper to make and I loved it. I think I made it in 1975 or 1976, but I can't find a copyright date on the Butterick envelope. It was semi-fitted and flared, with a buttoned bib front, and attached straps that crossed in the back. I think I lengthened it a bit so it was just below the knee. I made it in a blue denim and I think I top stitched it in red.

The photo of this jumper shows me in California in 1976 sitting with my husband's brother who was being a gracious host and had taken our whole family to Disney Land. My husband's parents were divorced when he was about 2 years old so he had two families, one of which we rarely saw. This brother had visited us in 1961 in Champaign when he was about 12 years old, but we hadn't seen him again until this trip. The two brothers have spent more time together in recent years, and their father died this past Spring. Not only are they now close friends, but they share many traits. Whereas the brother my husband grew up with lives near by, but they have no common interests and very different lifestyles.
We lived in three different states, and you always think, "someday," but here are the four brothers and sisters together in 2003, the first time since 1952. But they are as bonded as any siblings I've ever met, and I love them all, especially the guy on the left. Maybe the parents couldn't get along, but their children do.

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sewing, 1970s, divorce, vintage patterns

Sewing for Sisters, pt. 5

2005-11-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

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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sewing
1940s
WWII
Mt. Morris, Illinois

Sewing for Sisters, pt. 4

2005-11-19T10:15:00.000-05:00

It was a busy Spring 1955 for Mother. My sister and I (front) are both wearing outfits she made for us; mine was a polished (shiny) navy blue cotton with a detachable linen pilgrim collar, white lacy buttons, fitted at the waist with a big flared skirt, and my sister's was a light-weight wool, lined navy suit with a short jacket, mandarin collar and bound button holes. I've looked through the vintage pattern sites, but can't find anything that resembles either her suit or my dress.

This is the only copy of this Olan Mills photo, the one the promotion promised for the low, low price in hopes you'd buy more to send to the relatives. It was taken in the old Kable Inn in Mt. Morris which even 50 years ago, had fallen on hard times (is now an apartment building). Apparently, our parents thought we didn't look very good, but after 50 years, I think it is adorable. It was an important milestone year. Carol was graduating from high school and going into Brethren Volunteer Service, Stan was graduating from grade school, my oldest sister would be getting married and leaving the nest in June, and I, well, I ended up with this picture because everyone else was busy.

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sewing
1950s

Sewing for Sisters, pt. 3

2005-11-18T11:37:00.000-05:00

Here are the photos of the attendants' dresses for the wedding of the previous entry. A third attendant made her own dress identical to mine. Carol's dress was yellow (on the left) and mine was pink (on the right) Krystalline. Pastel colored shoes were popular then, so our shoes matched the dresses. Mother also made our little hats which were pleated across a form. My dress went on to the prom the next year, and I assume Carol's went to college.

When standing between two other hoop skirts, you had to hold down the front

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sewing
1950s
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Krystalline

Sewing for Sisters, pt. 2

2005-11-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

When Mother decided to sew the wedding dress, the maid of honor dress and a bridesmaid dress for my oldest sister's wedding in 1955, it was probably the biggest sewing project of her life, at least until she decided to make all the drapes for the new three story Brethren church in 1956. As I mentioned earlier, she wasn't a terribly confident seamstress. In 1952 she had made my sister's formal (homecoming queen), and in 1954 she had made Carol and me prom dresses. So she was working up to a really big project.

She usually shopped in Dixon or Freeport for fabric, but went to Chicago for the lovely white satin and embroidered tulle net. For Carol's and my dresses, she selected a shimmery new fabric called, I think, Krystalline, also called crystal organza or crystalline. I was a dishwater blonde, pretty average looking, but Carol was dark with exotic features. My dress was a peppermint pink and Carol's was daffodil yellow, perfect for her complexion.

Many new synthetic fabrics were being developed in the 1950s, and I think it must have been an exciting time to be a home seamstress. Krystalline is used today in crinolines, but I don't think I've seen it in dresses in nearly 50 years. Probably because feminine elegance isn't very popular. (We had the Jackie O 60s; the funky 70s; the dress for success 80s; and the anything goes 90s.) Krystalline came in a wide range of colors, held it's shape and didn't wrinkle. I felt terribly glamorous (I was 15) wearing this dress which I later wore to the prom, and especially felt glamorous walking down the aisle with a 22 year old groomsmen.

Here is a pattern from the internet that I've shown my sister and she thinks it is THE dress, although the bodice was completely lined.

Below is my sister on the left, and then me on the right with the dress slightly altered and shortened 5 years later.

Update: Since writing this I've learned that the dress is safe and in perfect condition at my niece's home in Virginia. If she gets it out and looks at the careful stitches and tiny hand sewn pearls, I hope she remembers happy times with her grandmother.

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sewing
1950s
Vintage patterns
Weddings

The yellow chemise

2005-11-17T13:20:00.001-05:00

The only record I have of this dress is from old letters written from Manchester College. It is vaguely starting to come back to me, but I'm pretty sure there is no photo. The chemise was a fairly short lived style, but I think it eased us into thinking about a shape that wasn't fitted waist and bust. I think this dress had two pieces, a straight skirt and a blouson top to about mid-hip with a scoop neckline with a collar.

April 8, 1958 Dear Family, [other stuff about my sister Carol and me visiting at Easter] Mother: If you look on page 102 of the April Mademoiselle I think you'll find a good idea for the chemise pattern. I still need an outfit I can wear for school, but that combination would be darling for good. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - April 17, 1958 Dear Ones, I'm still waiting for my new sheath and chemise. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - April 21, 1958 Dear Ones, I received my package and really went wild. I love the yellow chemise. That material is wonderful for spring skirts. Mom, could you get some more for 2 or 3 straight skirts--brown or green?

So it appears from these letters, Mom could create a dress or find a pattern from a picture in a magazine, and that, being 18 years old, I was very bossy and impatient! In less than 2 weeks, she found the magazine, the style, the fabric, made it and shipped it to my college in Indiana. And before she can catch her breath, I'm asking for more! Teen-agers!

The patch work baby quilt

2005-11-16T14:25:00.000-05:00

When my son-in-law gets home from Louisiana where he's assessing hurricane damage, he will dig out the box of baby things from their crawl space. I want to take a peek at some of the fabrics, because I'm thinking I might recognize some of them.

"Of all the treasures I can boast
I love the patch-work quilt the most.
She pieced it in the long ago,
With patient stitches, fine and slow,
Each block devised of dark and light
Samll diamond pieces, looking quite
Like piled-up boxes, or like stairs
To lead you upwards unawares.

I almost hear her voice once more
And see the quaint old things she wore,
The dolman, and the Paisley shawl,
Myself a child again, and all
My childish faith and love surge up
To fill my worn heart's empty cup;
Of all the things she once possessed,
I love the patch-work quilt the best."

"The Patch-Work Quilt," by Eve Egleston Hoyt, 2nd and 6th verses, part of an article on patchwork quilts (clipped from a 1920s farm magazine by my grandmother, possibly The Farmer.

February 1969, patchwork baby quilt made by my mother

No longer needed to keep a baby warm and cozy, it now becomes a tablecloth for a tea party serving legos and bowling pins.

When girls had hope chests

2005-11-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

The date on my "Wonder Art Needlework Free Instruction Catalog Fall Season" is 1952, and this dresser scarf, embroidered by my oldest sister is pictured in it, as No. F599-52 "Priscilla". I would have been about 12 years old and she was 16, and preparing her "hope chest." That's what young ladies did in the 1950s. I think it was a custom going out of style, and was not taken seriously like an earlier era, because table linens, guest towels, doilies and dresser scarves were readily available in the stores, even in our little town. But because she was doing it, I started embroidering too, because I wanted to be grown up too. My dresser scarf, stitched about the same time and stored in the same bag (yard sale rejects) has very colorful parakeets. Neither of us finished our scarves, and I've tried several times to sell them in yard sales along with other embroidery items, like Coats & Clark's six strand floss labeled 5 cents. Often the 50 year old catalogs and accessories go for more than the actual pieces, but no one wanted these and they went back into the box, back into the basement. Her stitches are dainty and even.

Boy, do they smell ripe! Too many years in storage.

Singer Sewing Book Advice

2005-11-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

I own a Singer Sewing Book, rev. enl. ed., by Mary Brooks Picken (Singer Sewing Machine Co. c1953, 1954, rep. 1959). It is possible that I've used it for something arcane in the past 45 years, but as you've been able to tell from my stories and photos, sewing has never been my strength. However, I looked at it today and found some fascinating advice that I overlooked in the 60s and 70s when I was sewing.

"The psychiatrists say that ugly dresses have caused more complexes than have "prettier sisters" or "scolding mothers." Every child has the right to becoming, yes, pretty, clothes." p. 165 [What would we do without the advice of psychiatrists?]

"There is real advantage in teaching children to sew--boys and girls. No matter what they do with their hands later, whether they become artists or sculptors or electricians or radio or television repairmen--technicians of any kind--if the muscles of the fingers and the hands are trained to sew, this training can be beneficial." p. 166 [Now we have video games for eye-hand coordination.]

"Boys require only slightly less fabric than girls." p. 164 [Even in the days of poodle skirts?]

"When sewing for children, study color in relation to their skin color, eyes and hair." p. 163 [Years before Color me Beautiful!]

"Use both hands when you sew." p. 153 [I'd never thought of doing it any other way, did you?]

"Look your prettiest for this try-on [basted garment]. A dress in its fitting stage is no doubt passing through its one ugly hour." p. 50

"An itinerant tailor, Ebenezer Butterick, through the urging of his wife, Ellen, was the first to make patterns available in the United States to women who sew. He made patterns and rented them to customers. . ." p. 35 [Behind every good man . . .]

"There is no reason for anyone's not making a beautiful seam, because it takes so little time to learn to stitch straight and to "power" evenly." p. 5 [Is that possessive pronoun necessary in this sentence?]

Too Old to play with dolls, pt. 4

2005-11-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

It probably doesn't matter, but I have two versions of how this dolly came into existence. My mother was visiting us, maybe around 1974, and brought along some muslin and a paper pattern for a doll her mother had made for her in the 1920s (version 1). I found the old doll pattern while visiting my mother, started it, and she finished it while visiting me (version 2). Mother never stayed long, but it was long enough for her to make this sweet little doll, that has sat patiently waiting for 30 years for someone to play with her.

This pattern is drawn on the back of a letter from a real estate company, Tomahawk Land Company, in Wisconsin, dated October 5, 1922. Paper was never wasted in my grandparents' home, and the carbons of their business letters from the 1920s and 1930s are doubly interesting because of the advertising on the verso. Sort of the 1920s spam. So the shadows you see in the pattern is a neatly typed letter pleading with my grandmother ("Dear sir:") to come to Wisconsin to look at their cutover land farms with a sandy loam soil, at a comparatively low price. You may not know this, but the Depression which hit the country in 1929, had already started for farmers who had bought up huge amounts of acreage during the First World War, and then were left holding the bag when prices plummeted. Unfortunately, my grandparents fell for a few land schemes too--just in case you think the current real estate boom will last forever.

The pattern was traced with carbon paper onto the back of this letter, probably from a 1920s magazine, but it is entirely possible that using a piece of graph paper, it had been enlarged from a smaller template. Then in the 70s, my mother retraced it onto a piece of muslim, embroidered the face and shoes, and added the hair, but in a more contemporary style, rather than the 20s bobbed cut.

This entry actually covers three generations (skipping me), because the little quilt behind the dolly, was made by my grandmother when she was a little girl around 1883, and all girls were expected to know how to do this. They started with a dolly quilt. Each little triangle is pieced and it is quilted in a circular shape. The top which shows in this scan, is faded, but the verso is a bright rose with tiny red and white hearts. Then the original doll pattern was made for my mother in the 1920s, and then again in the 1970s for my daughter. The dolly sits in a wooden rocking cradle made for my mother by her brother Leslie who was 10 years older.

Sewing for Sisters, pt. 1

2005-11-14T10:46:00.000-05:00

My oldest sister is a very good seamstress, and over the years made many gifts for our family. For Christmas 1976 she made a Christmas tree skirt and a wreath from this pattern (copied from the internet). The skirt even has a little note about our cat, which was her first Christmas. She used to eat the artificial icicles from the tree leaving us interesting items in the litter box, and would run up and down the trunk of the tree.

We are still using both the wreath and the skirt. The wreath is at our Lake house where it cheers the neighbors as the winds blow across Lake Erie in December, and the tree skirt will get its 30th use this Christmas in our home. The skirt is reversable.

This photo is from Christmas 1985, which shows the skirt around a natural tree. I'm in the background wearing an outfit my sister made for me. The jacket had roll up sleeves and large pockets and then she purchased a cotton knit turtleneck in a matching color to go with it. It's possible it was new that year and I'd opened it early, or perhaps it was from an earlier Christmas. It was very cozy and comfortable.

Behind my son you'll see my grandmother's 8 gallon "Superior Sanitary Churn" (sort of looks like a small cement mixer) in a wooden cradle patented in 1910. It would make 5 lbs of butter, my mother said, and they'd use that much in a week for cooking. It had a wheel that could be connected to the belt of the generator that provided the home with electricity. Grandma was a thoroughly modern housewife.

Baptismal Dresses

2005-11-14T09:34:00.000-05:00

Because I was raised in the Church of the Brethren which does not baptize infants, I knew very little about baptismal dresses, and there weren't any in my family to pass along. So when we were to have our daughter baptized at First Community Church (Church of Christ/Congregational) in June 1968, I decided to make us matching dresses. Sort of. I bought a very pretty white flocked organdy, sort of like a dotted swiss, but with big dots. I think her dress is packed away in the box of baby things stored in my daughter's basement. I gave her the box when we moved to the condo, thinking it might produce a grandchild, but apparently keeping baby clothes in the crawl space isn't how that's done. I think I made a number of little dresses from this pattern--blue, yellow, red--but don't seem to have the pattern.

My dress wasn't worn often. I think I wore it to the baptismal service, and changed clothes to have our photos taken. It was a wrap around style, just above the knees and had cut back armholes, nor did I find a belt I liked. But I still have the dress. This morning I went into the "vintage" closet and dug it out. Doesn't show up too well in this photo. I need to read the instructions on a manual setting for the digital so it doesn't over expose.

In 1976 we joined Upper Arlington Lutheran Church where she was confirmed and married.

Welcome Martha Pullen Readers

2005-11-14T05:08:00.000-05:00

Someone on a Martha Pullen Forum mentioned this blog as a good place for memories, and I got about 40 hits from that referral. Since I don't sew much (actually never) anymore, I had no idea who this Martha is. So I looked Martha up and found out she has a TV program on PBS and a very loyal following with lots of interesting stuff on her web site.

"Since 1993, Martha has hosted her own television series. Martha's Sewing Room is an inspirational and informative program which teaches various sewing techniques. Each show contains segments on heirloom sewing, hand embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, doll dressing, crafts, and occasionally some home decorating projects. Martha's Sewing Room can be seen in 49 of the 50 states on your local PBS station."

She has a "Martha's Attic" that is quite popular with her followers, but I doubt if my little stash would qualify. What fun!

The Slacks Pattern

2005-11-13T17:07:00.000-05:00

My mother saved my letters and I'd periodically retrieve them.

I made a black skirt a week ago, and it didn't turn out too bad. Everyone I saw in the stores was $50. With my courage up, I decided to try a pair of slacks. When I tried them on, I couldn't get them past my knees, so I had [daughter] try them, since she wears a 9 in slacks, and she couldn't get them up either. So, either there was something terrible wrong with the pattern, or I really goofed. The whole thing, pattern and left overs, went into the trash. I was so disgusted.

However, I seem to have the skirt pattern, although no photo of my wearing it, nor do I remember this skirt. Pattern view A, flared and on the bias, was cut.

Grandmother Susan's spool holder

2005-11-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

Actually, I don't know what this is called, but my Great grandfather David made it for my great grandmother probably in the 1850s for her sewing.

All the thread spools are in view and you can pull a thread to use and never remove the spool from the container. Each layer can be removed for refilling. There is a pin cushion on top and it sits on little feet. I doubt that he had a pattern, but I have no idea if it was his own design or if it was something every housewife had in those days. In Pennsylvania he'd been a teamster working with his father hauling produce and goods into the towns from rural Adams County, Pennsylvania. He was also a carpenter and came through Illinois on his way to the California gold rush in 1850. The plans went awry when his companion died, so he went to work in Rockford, saved his money, and bought farm land between Ashton and Franklin Grove, Illinois. In Lee County, Illinois, that top soil is black gold.

Sewing Gifts

2005-11-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

When I pulled this pattern out of the drawer, the first thing I thought of was Christmas 1960, my first year as a member of my husband's family. I must have been a bit homesick, so I made adorable gingham checked hostess aprons for his aunts, grandmother and my mother-in-law, each in a different color. I think Aunt Babe in turn, gave us a picture she'd made with macaroni pieces and ribbon, a craft that was quite popular in the 60s. Everyone smoked (no one in my family did) and talked about how awful it was not to have Jean, my sister-in-law (whom I'd never met), with them at Christmas. Not a single relative was impressed by having a "new" daughter/niece/granddaughter. I was having a real pity party and it was all about me!

We had a tiny little tree with no lights for our first Christmas in our 3 room apartment at 1311 Rural in Indianapolis (it's been so long, neither of us remembers if it was Ave. or St., north or south). My father-in-law had cut a fresh tree for us in Brown County, and we set it up on a table in the living room so it would look a bit taller. My husband worked for Ayrshire Collieries, a coal company, as a draftsman, and I think I'd recently quit my job as a secretary for General Mold and Engineering. I had a lot of time on my hands, didn't know anyone except my in-laws, so I made these Christmas gifts to pass the time and took a night class at a local college. I missed my family, so I caught a train to Chicago, and then missed the train to Oregon, waiting about 12 hours for the next one. I had no money to even buy food. Truly, a Christmas to remember for all the wrong reasons.

When I opened the pattern envelope, I discovered that not a single piece had been cut--not even the apron. The pieces had been refolded rather carelessly. I thought surely the cumberbund was the pattern Mom used for my senior prom dress, but it hadn't been cut either. The package has obviously been opened many times, and is in poor condition. It's possible that once I looked at it, I just used the yardage to figure what I needed.

One of the hat styles is designed to accomodate a pony-tail, so I'm figuring the copyright is late 1950s. Once hair teasing became popular to create a fuller look, no one wore hats.

Baby Quilts

2005-11-13T05:33:00.000-05:00

Mother must have been very, very busy the summer of 1961. She had three grandchildren all due the end of September, beginning of October. She made two baby quilts for me, and I think probably did the same for Carol, because Cindy would also have been her first. It's possible she had made a quilt in the 50s used by grandchildren Julie and David.

One quilt was embroidered squares, pieced with a border fabric, and then hand quilted. It is packed away with the other baby items and I don't have access to it. However, here is the pattern, which I still have--or is it?

Simplicity 4044
Here's how it looks with a baby boy, in 1969, but it doesn't seem to match the little animals on the Simplicity envelope.

So I go back to the pattern drawer and pull it out for a second look. Inside that pattern envelope, I find this pattern group.

This cross stitch pattern for 9 inch squares and 3 inch strips between the rows of blocks to make a 37 x 51 baby quilt seems to match mine. But the pattern looks much older than 1961, perhaps from the 1940s. It is an Aunt Martha's Numo Hot Iron Transfer C8539 in a brown precancel envelope.

The Aunt Martha cross stitch transfers are on regular paper, not tissue, and some have become brittle--although if they are over 60 years old, they're in better shape than I am. Most of the Simplicity transfers have been used, but with a pencil and piece of carbon paper. It's possible they were used on bibs and pockets or little dresses. It's a mystery I'll never solve because Mom, the busy stitcher, died in 2000.

She stitches with ghosts

2005-11-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

Stitch Wraith.

"I can feel them close to me each time I gather my flosses, fabric, and needles...

Their love surrounds me... gives me encouragement and hope...

I stitch with ghosts..."

Sewing for sons, pt. 3

2005-11-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

Then when he was a little older I made him this robe.

Here he is one Christmas morning with his Dad (I purchased his) about age 10 I think. The photo doesn't show the color, but it was a deep blue velour. When sewing for little boys, it's best to choose something that doesn't need careful fitting, because in my experience, they are usually running and when you catch them, they are hot and sweaty.

Sewing for sons, pt. 2

2005-11-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

The vintage pattern sites are full of patterns for robes for boys and men, and an occasional shirt, but little else. When I went through my pattern drawer, I found two almost identical patterns. In fact, except for a price increase and and number change, I can't see much different.

Both are size two, so I'm assuming I got the older one perhaps from borrowing some patterns for infants and toddlers from my sister, but forgot, and purchased one. I did make my son an olive colored velour type robe with no buttons and a tie belt.

Although you can't tell much from this photo, my son had a subdural hematoma developing from a fall, which eventually almost closed his eyes from the collecting fluid. We realized why he'd been crying so much when I happened to touch his head and it was "squishy." His mop of curly blond hair had completely hidden the injury. After the swelling was absorbed, he got his first haircut.

Prom dresses, pt.1

2005-11-12T06:32:00.000-05:00

My eyes are practically crossed from reading through so many vintage pattern sites. The Cupid and the Swan has lovely vintage formal wear for the 1950s, but none of my three prom dresses made by my mother, nor the other three I remember seeing for my sisters. I've also looked through the Rusty Zipper , So Vintage, and the Vintage Cat and various vintage clothing sites that call e-Bay home and have a few patterns.

In the Spring of 1954, Mother made formals for both Carol and me. Carol was a junior that year, and the "Junior Prom" also included a banquet to which everyone came, regardless of whether they were going to the dance. Carol's dress was a lovely orchid/lilac taffeta covered with tulle net.
Mine was a mint green cotton organdy with a small white floral print, over green taffeta. Organdy is crisp and bouffant, but wrinkles easily. In my opinion, there is nothing prettier on a young lady in the Spring than an organdy dress. We each had crinolines to give the dress the proper fullness. To go with the dress, we each had a white pinwale stole lined in the taffeta fabric to take the chill off the May night.

Although Carol and I were not the same size, coloring, or body shape, Mother used the same style pattern which looked good on both of us and had mother's trademark--plenty of coverage. No one in our family ever wore one of those fluffy, puffy, full circle, strapless look alike dresses so popular at 50's proms.

Typical 50s prom dresses

Our dresses were halter style, with a high fitted waist piece, and semi-full skirt. These photos were taken in 1955 when I attended the prom. I had attended in 1954 with a junior, but don't seem to have any photos. It's a bit hard to see the detail, but you can see I'm carrying the stole (and apparently flash bulbs for the camera). This is one of the few photos of me wearing earrings (I had no ear lobes and never pierced my ears). They matched the dress and were made of rick-rack and tiny pearls.

Learning to sew

2005-11-11T10:20:00.000-05:00

Although it's possible Mother put together a few pieces of fabric for me to stitch on her sewing machine, I think she was smart to turn me over to the 4-H leader, Mrs. Bechtold, when I was in 7th grade, and have her show me. My first project was a green cotton skirt with a small black heart print, with an elastic band inside a casing. I would actually go to Mrs. Bechtold's house for private instruction. That kept things much calmer at home, because I had to rip a lot out. Mrs. Bechtold taught many girls in our community how to sew and show items at the county fair.

Before that, Mother had taught me a few embroidery stitches and a little bit about crochet. Mother made crocheted coverings for the arms and backs of our furniture, and she also made rugs out of our old clothes, with what looked like a simple crochet stitch making long strips which were then stitched together. We could sit on the rugs and identify our old clothing. Everyone else's mother did the same thing, so I doubt if we ever thought it was anything artistic or exceptional. Thinking back, it was a lot of work. The old clothes were cut on the bias a certain width, and then that was turned and hem stitched. Then the strips were rolled into a big ball, and at night, Mother would start crocheting the stips into long chains.

So when my daughter seemed old enough--maybe 10 years old--I decided to teach her embroidery, although I'd never been very good at it myself, rarely completing a project. We actually used these projects (tea towels and pillow cases), but if I'd been smart I would have put them away. This is a pattern my daughter used for a tea towel or two.

According to the sticker, it was purchased at G.C. Murphy's on Lane Ave. in Upper Arlington, probably in the mid-70s. This variety store closed and the building was remodeled sort of as an interior mall with boutique type stores. Then it became a computer store in the 80s, and now is a Wild Oats natural food store.

This Vogue pattern for Christmas projects was used to make a few items, and after poking around in the linens, I found a pillow case, which fortunately I'd put away before it was completely worn out.

I made a serious mistake with this "mother-daughter-bonding" project. I used an old pillow case instead of a new one. It is now very fragile.

Sewing for Sons

2005-11-11T09:21:00.000-05:00

Today is Veterans' Day 2005 so I'm going to show some photos of my brother dressed in outfits my mother made from my father's Marine uniforms. As I recall, she made a little sailor outfit from his dress whites, and little coveralls from his camouflage fatigues. I may have to dig a little to find extras of the photos, because this album of photographs was given to a nephew.

This was taken in front of our house in Alameda.

This is back home in Illinois, after we got our house back in 1945. She may have made the sailor hat too.
At an earlier entry I mentioned that Mother made mittens for us. She used the wool from Dad's uniforms to line them. Waste not, want not.

The Graduation Dress

2005-11-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

This is another dress for which I can't find a pattern at the vintage sewing sites. It was made by my mother for high school graduation in a polished cotton with a moss green and yellow rose print.

It was closely fitted with a straight skirt and a band of self fabric under under the bust, and open straight neck, and a short bolero jacket. The first photo shows me and my sisters at my graduation party in my sister's trailer, which was in my parents' back yard.

In the fall, Carol would be returning to Goshen College in Indiana where she was studying nursing, and I'd be starting Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana. To make this trip in a time of no super highways, Dad bought us a 1949 Packard that looked and drove like a tank, but could contain all the belongings of two college women.

The next photo was taken in Fresno, California where I spent the summer of 1957 in Brethren Volunteer Service. I traveled there and back on a Greyhound bus. Met some really nice people. This photo shows the short jacket. I also have a photo of it in May 1959, but nothing after that. I'd gained a lot of weight at Illinois.

I think this was one of the prettiest dresses my mother made for me.

Another dress for work

2005-11-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

When I first reviewed this pattern, I had no recollection of the dress, and I was pretty sure I hadn't made it. Look at those pleats and cuffs on the sleeves. Just didn't look like something I would tackle. Nor was my mother making my clothes in the mid-1960s. I think I paid a classmate in library school to make this one. It was a very nice soft wool and the skirt was lined in the same color.

I looked through my albums twice and finally located it as Christmas 1969.

The Christmas tree was in the dining room that year so I could put up the baby gate and keep the babies away from the tree (our TV was in the living room). At another time I'll write about the Christmas tree skirt, which doesn't show in this photo because we didn't get it until 1976. Near the top of the photo I see a little Santa Claus favor from our First Community Church couples' circle Christmas party. I think I still have it.

Keep your eye on Grandpa

2005-11-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

My son seems to be keeping an eye on Grandpa in this photo, who was well known for snitching ice cream from the bowls of helpless children. In this photo you see an example of my really crummy drapes. At one point these drapes had a ball fringe in green, but I must have added that later.

Same kitchen about 25 years later at my son's wedding brunch in 1999. By this time, the sewing machine only came out of the closet for special events, and I'd cut these ready-mades in half and sewed a casing for the rods. A carpenter had replaced the windows in the mid-70s. I'm not my mother.

About 80 people came for brunch. The meal was served from the dining room, and the weather cooperated. The wedding cake was set up in the kitchen and the kids changed into their wedding attire for a photo op.

The puppy to do list

2005-11-09T11:29:00.000-05:00

This group of tea towel transfers come from Laura Wheeler Designs via the Detroit Times. I have a vague recollection of embroidering "Wednesday" on a bleached feed sack muslim towel. So when I looked inside the envelope I see Wednesday is the only one missing. Women used this before "Flylady" to keep track of their jobs. They could also use the Mulberry Bush nursery rhyme if they forgot what to do (caution: bad music).

Aunt Martha's Hot Iron Transfers

2005-11-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

There's a hand written note on the outside of this mailing envelope that simply says, "BIBS." These are so primitive and the paper so thin and fragile, I'm a bit suspicious they are from WWII. There is a precancel number on the envelope, Sec. 562, P.L.& R. and using Google to look that up I find there are collectors of precancel envelopes! Who knew!

The company is "Aunt Martha's Numo Hot Iron Transfers" and the pattern number is C8607. Some of the little critters were used so often, they have fallen apart--the dog and the monkey.

They lied

2005-11-09T09:53:00.000-05:00

The current women's movement lied about a lot of things, but especially they lied that you could make a pair of slacks that would fit! Women who didn't get into the "movement" and burn their bras, apparently went to the fabric store and stocked up on funky fashion fabric. This a 1971 4 page instruction sheet on how to make--pants. Flares, gauchos, knickers, jumpsuits and "city shorts," which I think later were called "hot pants." At that time, my right thigh measured the same as my waist. Now, I don't care how you adjust the pattern, or how many inches you add to that crotch depth, something looks very strange. And jumpsuits! You might as well just be sawed in half and save yourself the trouble the first time you try to sit down.

More about aprons

2005-11-09T08:12:00.000-05:00

This is a Laura Wheeler pattern--she's like Betty Crocker--just a name on a household product, I think. The pattern appeared in the Rockford Morning Star and was mailed in a brown manila envelope from New York, and the postage was one cent. The label was in my mother's handwriting on a piece of notebook paper glued to the envelope. There are no markings on the tissue for piece names or seam allowances. I think this was one step from making up your own design. However, the pot holder and the pockets were iron on transfers. Only the pot holder was cut out, and I have no recollection of Mom wearing an apron with fruit shaped pockets, so she probably skipped that.

Nor do I remember why I have this pattern, but I think I know how. Whenever I'd visit my parents Mom and I would sit at the dining room table and talk and talk. Sometimes about family things, like her mother's china or old books. Eventually to stretch my legs I'd wander down the hall and open the sewing closet and stand there like I was in front of the refrigerator. "Hey, Mom, mind if I borrow this?" My ambition was bigger than my ability.

This apron looks a little more typical--a floral/fruit print with possibly a scalloped front. Young ladies, please notice the scarf around my mother's head. In the 1950s, we did not have hair dryers, so you had to plan ahead. You washed your hair early in the day, or at night, in a sink using a glass or cup to pour the water over your head while bending over. Then after toweling, you used bobby pins to make the curls. One big improvement in the 50s was the manufacturer adding plastic tips to the end so you didn't scratch your scalp. If you were really expert, you could hold the curl with just one pin. Some women used small metal rollers with little clips, but they were sort of old fashioned and made your hair fuzzy. Then you tied a scarf around your head while it dried. Saved on electric bills. We were environmentally sound and didn't even know it!

Boxes under the bed--what I found

2005-11-09T07:53:00.000-05:00

My sewing machine instructions! Who knew! The Singer Spartan is what they called a "portable" in 1960. But if you drove over it and rolled this machine out, you'd have enough metal for a small storage shed, or possibly a garage. It weighs a ton. And I paid $50 for it when my weekly salary was $65 a week.

This machine had a short in the foot feed from the get go. If I'd been using it for 10 or 15 minutes, it would start to gurgle, pop and hiss. So I'd stop, let it cool down, and start in again.

Will I ever thread a bobbin again?

Maternity outfits

2005-11-09T06:42:00.000-05:00

When my sister and parents drove to Champaign for my graduation, she brought along a wonderful surprise--matching maternity outfits. This was her third and my first, so I hadn't worn any special clothing to that point and was still wearing street clothes. She was a much better seamstress than I and made many outfits for her daughters, and for me and my daughter over the years.

I'm pretty sure I made this maternity outfit shown here with my mother in her back yard in 1964. There are a couple of clues--puckered seams and a badly done hem. I just hated to mess with seam binding, and sometimes just turned the fabric under, making a bulky and unprofessional looking hem. I have no recollection of the fabric or color. Patrick's death was my third loss, and I think I packed all the maternity clothes up and gave them away. Except for the next photo.

This smock was a pink and rose print as I recall, and for many years I used it as a paint smock or a cover up if I was doing something messy. It may even be around the house somewhere. But 30 years later, it was sort of snug, so it may have gone to Good Will. The photo was taken in my in-laws backyard on Mitchner in Indianapolis the summer of 1964.

I don't own this pattern, but made the long sleeve, peter-pan collar version.

Boxes under the beds documentation project

2005-11-09T04:56:00.000-05:00

Under the beds, on the shelves of closets, stacked in the basement. You're not going to believe me when I say I'm not much of a collector, because here I am writing about old patterns stuffed in a drawer, and I haven't sewed clothing in probably 25 years. But today I actually found on the internet an inventory sheet to record quilt findings, "BOXES UNDER THE BED QUILT HISTORY DOCUMENTATION PROJECT." Here is the PDF for the form, which can also be printed in Word. If you are interested in this historical project, go to http://www.centerforthequilt.org/boxes/boxes.

I do have my grandmother's quilt blocks in a box under a bed, and I think it also contains fabric from the clothes I made for my daughter, which I'd planned to make into a patchwork quilt, but never finished. I'm going to dig it out today and print out this sheet. I also have a good sized box of Grandma's quilt patterns, and this online quilt project also includes documenting those. What a find. Don't you love the Internet?

Too old to play with dolls, pt. 3

2005-11-08T14:18:00.000-05:00

Remember my story about my dolls, Sue and Sam, which pattern I used to make dolls for my own children. Although I don't know where the dolls are (probably in a box at my daughter's home), I did find a photo of our cat, Mystery, wearing Sue's little out fit, so that at least provides the color scheme.

Mystery was a bicentennial baby, so that would place this photo in 1976, because she is still a traumatized kitten desperately trying to escape my children in this photo.
My husband and daughter brought Mystery (so named because she was so young we didn't know her sex) home from an Indian Princess camp out at Camp Akita. They found these little kittens at a near-by farm and they all ran away, except the little black one who was too sick to run. That's the one they brought home. She lived for almost 18 years, and when she could no longer see to jump up on my lap, I carried her to the vet and said good-bye.

The children are apparently playing dress-ups, because my son is wearing the jacket of one of my suits from the 60s, and has one of my belts around his neck. So they dressed up the cat too.

Young ladies of the 50s had clothing choices, pt. 2

2005-11-08T12:04:00.000-05:00

Five years after the photo at the kitchen table studying sophomore literature, I was studying Russian and Spanish at the University of Illinois. As I noted in a different blog, the housemother of McKinley Hall didn't know that Brazilians spoke Portuguese so when I said I'd like an international roommate who spoke Spanish, she matched me up with Dora, who was from mainland China via Brazil and a private Catholic school in Indiana where she'd learned English. But it was a most fortunate mistake, because she was delightful and we are still in touch. Today she is a well known Boston artist. I have a scrapbook of her Christmas cards.

Dora and I are sitting on the lawn and I'm wearing a moss green calico print skirt in what I've chosen to call the "pioneer" design. It had one large ruffle below the knee. Something makes me think that Dora had graduated and was back for a visit with her grad student sister when this was taken.
Here we are in 1988 in Boston at the Art Museum when I was attending the Medical Libraries Association Meeting. It was like not a day had passed. The days of big hair and big shoulder pads.

Young ladies of the 50s had clothing choices, pt. 1

2005-11-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

Young ladies of the 50s usually had four wardrobes. School. Sunday. Leisure/casual. Party/prom/dance. Our styles had flare and balance. Darts and starch. If you had a nice figure it would show; if you didn't you could cover it. You could sit down and not see London or France. You could twirl and swish, or run the bases in a softball game.

Today, young women have jeans, t-shirts, and slacks which they wear interchangeably for any occasion and often show their butt cracks. If it is a dressy occasion, they add some bling and 4" mules, but often it is hard to tell. Sometimes at church I can't tell if the teens have just returned from an overnite camping event, or if they just rolled out of bed. Their clothes either hang on them because they are 2 lbs shy of anorexia, or their thighs look like sausage links in jeans two sizes too small.

I wore six styles of home sewn skirts through high school and college: three tier cotton print, dark background with contrast blouse; gathered cotton print; pioneer style cotton print (one big ruffle); button down the front cotton print; inverted front pleat, usually a wool or corduroy, and back pleat, usually corduroy. These patterns are from a vintage pattern site, The Vintage Cat. I never had a full circle skirt or a poodle skirt, items that are often shown as typical of the era.

My mother often didn't use a pattern for the skirts--either she'd made so many for my older sisters, she knew the ropes, or they'd just worn out. For blazers, blouses, vests, boleros, jackets, coats and formals, she always used a pattern. She never felt she was a confident seamstress, and she told me once that when she first cut into the satin for my sister's wedding dress (which I also wore five years later) her hands trembled. For Saturdays or hanging out with friends I wore jeans or capri pants, but I probably owned one or two pair of slacks. I rarely wore shorts, but did own some.

This skirt was a beige, brown and white floral, button down the front style with a wide waist band. About a year later mother remodeled the kitchen, so these are probably the original ca. 1912 cabinets. Note the phone. Our number was 59-L and it was a party line. I seem to still have a summer tan in this photo and a pony tail, so I think it is Fall 1954. I'm sitting on one of the dining room chairs I mentioned in this entry, before it was painted. I believe by 1954 Mother had cut the legs down on the beautiful oak table to create a coffee table, bought a new dining room set, and used the old chairs in the kitchen. I'll have to check with the sibs on that.

Too old to play with dolls, pt. 2

2005-11-08T07:49:00.000-05:00

This school photo shows me in a pink cotton print dress identical to the one on my doll in the earlier pt. 1. So I know exactly the color and fabric, because there is a miniature version sitting in my guest room. Mother often made doll clothes from the scraps of fabric of the dresses she made for us. This one however, being a larger doll, was probably planned this way.

I was never particularly sensitive about the gap between my front teeth, but in 1977 my dentist referred me to an oral surgeon who changed that. Maybe he didn't like it? The procedure is called a frenulectomy (frenectomy or frenotomy) and removes the piece of muscle or skin that prevents the teeth from moving together. After that, all my teeth simply shifted into place. But criminy! It's painful.

The apron that started it all

2005-11-08T05:31:00.000-05:00

Looking at a vintage apron pattern at another blog is what inspired me to start this blog. I knew I had the pattern, the apron and photos. Last night I found another photo of that apron when it was still getting heavy use for carving a turkey while wearing an ivory sweater and broomstick skirt, so popular in the early 90s.

The copyright date on the pattern is 1966 and it is suitable for cottons, sailcloth, gingham, denim, linen, blends, poplin, etc.
We bought this house in February 1968 and probably redecorated within a year. I'm guessing that Mother made this apron as a present for Christmas 1968, and that she knew the colors of the dining room and kitchen. The dishes on the table also have the color scheme, but I think it is an accident that I was wearing summer slacks, lime green (will appear in another story), because the photo was taken in February 1969. The coffee cups are full, so someone had stopped by to see me and the babies, because my husband doesn't drink coffee.

In this bottom photograph I seem to be cleaning up the kitchen at night because the clock says it's about 8 p.m. I wouldn't have waited that long to put meat away if it were Thanksgiving, so I'm thinking this was an evening meal trifecta--two birthdays and Thanksgiving combined. We were probably planning to drive to Indianapolis to do the holiday with my husband's family, so we had our own celebration before. The children's birthdays are one year and 3 days apart and always fall Thanksgiving week. The china was already in the dishwasher, because it usually was next to the stove.

Those are the original 1939 carpenter-built cabinets, but I had had them resurfaced in 1978. They weren't standard sizes like we have today. We lived there 34 years, and if you stay in a house long enough you'll go through several color schemes and remodelings. This is the fourth color scheme and wall paper grouping.

The watercolor on the wall of two small children fishing off a pier reminds me that I painted in the mid-70s and then quit for 25 years because I didn't get any better. Once I retired, I didn't care about that and took up painting again.

The new owners knocked out walls and made a huge professional kitchen, spending I'm guessing $50,000, and then got a divorce and sold the house. The three signs of a marriage in trouble are 1) a new sports car for the husband, 2) an expensive get-away vacation, and 3) a ridiculous remodeling project for the wife.

When we dressed up for work

2005-11-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

My first professional job after getting my MLS at the University of Illinois was as a Slavic cataloger in the same building and same floor where I went to my classes. We had no computers and it was a long walk in high heels to the shelf list and main catalog. So we got a lot more exercise than today's librarians. But it was an elegant building (once you left the cataloging room). We used LC paper copy and NUC bound volumes to speed up our work. (That's librarian talk, and the young ones don't even know what that means.) We would remove cards from the catalog and replace them with little pink slips, and then carefully put them back when we were finished.

In those days, we librarians dressed up to go to work. This pattern was made in a lovely wool in a hounds tooth check in teal and brown, and brown leather buttons on the jacket. I bought a teal sleeveless turtleneck to go with it.

View 2 looks pretty close
I could only find one photo of me wearing this suit, and it looks like I took off the jacket. I'm in the back on the right. This is a photo of Christmas dinner 1966 in my parents' basement on Lincoln Street. Mother would place the table cloths over the pool table so we had room for everyone. This house had no dining room. My grandfather, 92, who is sitting on the left next to Mother, lived next door. Grandma had died in 1963. My husband is not in the picture, so he's probably holding the camera.

That is certainly an interesting collection of chairs around the pool table! On the left I see two of my sisters' dining room chairs. At one time they had been my parents when we lived in Forreston. Sort of hand me down chairs, I guess. Down at the end next to my father is the chair I was sitting in for the entry on my favorite dress. My niece Amy is sitting in the wooden high chair, and Greg is in the youth chair. The brown folding chairs are from the old Brethren Church on Seminary Avenue, which were probably sold after the new church was built.

Party like it's 1965

2005-11-07T12:31:00.000-05:00

This snappy red wool dress was made for ringing in the New Year 1965. As I recall, the ruffle was a bit tricky. I can't remember what party we went to, but dinner was served at midnight and there was dancing with a live band. It was probably at a hotel.

We had an interesting island in our kitchen designed by my husband in the White Street duplex. On the tall side I could cut out the fabric, and on the other side where we sat to eat, I'd have the sewing machine. There were two very large windows too, so I had good light, and there was room to set up the ironing board.

I made version C (right) in a light weight red wool

After a few years, a ruffled party dress wasn't too practical with two small children, so I removed the ruffle and wore it a number of years as a jumper. I still have the dress hanging in my "vintage clothing" closet.

Birthdays 1969

Vintage patterns on the web

2005-11-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

If this site has piqued your interest in old patterns, you're going to love Rusty Zipper Vintage Clothing. One section is just patterns--3,075 of them. Most are 60s and 70s, with a few 40s, 50s and 80s. On the one hand, I was disappointed not to find some that I was looking for--wondering if they've gone to that big sewing machine in the sky, but on the other, I've only looked at 720 of them. At this site, they are selling for $6-9.00 a pop. I definitely sold too low--if you ever see any prices written on my patterns, it means I put them in a garage sale about 25 years ago with no results.

The Vintage Cat also has wonderful old patterns, and many from the 30s, 40s and 50s, plus a number of children's and costumes.

Too old to play with dolls, pt. 1

2005-11-07T05:21:00.000-05:00

There comes a time in every mother's life when she realizes her little girl is too old to play with dolls. I remember taking my daughter to a garage sale where Denise's daughter was selling all her Barbie clothes. We bought outfits for about twenty five cents a piece. Then in a few years, my daughter's Barbies and her clothes (she never really got that much into dolls) went into our garage sale.

This photo shows a generation of cloth dolls, two made by my mother, and one by our neighbor, Ruth Crowell, who had no children of her own. Ruth was adored by all the children in the neighborhood and died of a heart condition when she was in her 40s.
The doll on the right is "Sue" and she had a cloth brother, named "Sam." Sue used to have a white apron and a matching hat, but I think my children played with her. She has yarn hair and button eyes and her facial features are embroidered. She's probably stuffed with old nylons, which made her washable.

Sam was my brother's doll so we were probably only about 5 and 7 when Mom made them as Christmas presents, but I don't remember that he ever played with dolls. Sam had red corduroy coveralls and a matching hat. As recently as the early 70s, I had the pattern, because I in turn made a Sue and Sammy for my children.

If you know anything about dolls and could see their little faces, you would clearly see a 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s cloth doll design, only one of which (Sue) got much mileage. The doll in the pink dress with a little lace was made for me when I was in fifth grade. She is wearing home sewn, white cotton underpants. She has rust colored, yarn hair and an embroidered face. Mom had probably not noticed I was getting too old for dolls, or she saw the pattern in the Rockford Morning Star and thought it was too cute to pass up. I think she made additional copies of this doll for some church bazaars. This pattern was still around in the 70s because I remember seeing it in my mother's sewing closet, in the hall in the Lincoln Street house. This doll never had a name. And Sue only had a name because it was on the pattern.

The middle doll's name, the one made by Ruth, is "White Doll." The reason White Doll is still with us is that I never played with it--preferring and loving to death her taller companion, "Blue Doll." Blue Doll was all blue except the face was white with embroidered features. I think I loved it best because it was stuffed with down and was extremely soft. Blue Doll got so dirty from constant use and going to bed with me every night and every nap time, that my mother told me she was going to wash it, but in fact she had Ruth make me a new one and she threw away my beloved baby doll. I was never told until I was an adult. Mom lied.

Just a note about the furniture in the photo: The dollies are sitting on a dining room chair of my great-grandparents, Illinois pioneers who had traveled from Adams County, PA for a new life in Illinois around 1855. In the 1960s, Mother took it out of the attic in Franklin Grove and refinished it and learned how to cane seats (over the years they had become kitchen chairs and were painted black). The secretary next to it began its life when my husband's grandparents were newly weds. For some reason, we have a photo of the craftsman who made it (inlaid wood flowers on the top in a rose design) and I'd love to know the story, but I don't).

College sewing project for a language major

2005-11-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

Colhecon was the name of Manchester College's home economics club. The description in the 1958 Aurora says: "Each of the 99 members of this club gain through its activities personal poise, social development an interest and a growing knowledge and appreciation for the various phases of the domestic arts. In addition to bi-weekly meetings which concern almost every phase of homemaking--such as floral arrangements, interior decorating, and personal grooming--specific activities include an annual banquet, candy sale, a coffee hour at Homecoming and a dress review." Imagine my surprise when I found out today I was a member. I do vaguely remember going to a meeting where a Merle Norman rep showed us how to apply their products. I didn't wear make-up until about 1979, and I walked into a Merle Norman store and bought some. So I guess it worked. I'm still using Merle Norman.

Here I am, third row from the front, third from the left, sitting next to my roommate, JoElla, who actually was a home ec major, or whatever that degree was called in the 1960s. She went on to get a master's at Purdue and is a vice president of a consumer testing firm in Seattle.

JoElla was my cheerleader and coach for the dress in the bottom photo. She assured me that the reason the modern woman sewed was not to save money (I'd spent a small fortune on the beautiful cotton fabric, zipper, notions, and a linen fabric for a jacket in a solid color) but to have better quality than the off-the-rack dress. I cut this dress out in the laundry room of the old Oakwood Hall (1898-1993), but I don't remember how I sewed it. Perhaps there was a machine in the building for community use.

Old Oakwood Hall, Manchester College, Indiana
I do know I took it back home with me at Easter break and my mother helped me finish it in time to wear it to church. Especially, I needed help with the lined, linen lavender jacket. She probably did all of that. The cotton was silky smooth, the colors were white background with pink and lavender lilacs. Here's a photo of Mom and me with "our dress" taken about a year later after I'd transferred to the University of Illinois. The event was "Mother's Day" May 1959 at McKinley Hall. Notice, I'm about 20 lbs. heavier than in the photo of me working on "my favorite dress." The cooks at McKinley were fabulous.

Little green dress all grown up

2005-11-04T13:16:00.000-05:00

In the previous entry I mentioned the little green dress with the big puritan collar that I made for my daughter. The pattern is no longer with us, but the little dress made an appearance at my daughter's wedding in 1993. I don't know if this is still popular for wedding receptions, but then it was the thing to do--blow up a photo of the bride and groom as children.

In this photo her cousin Brandon (now about 6'3") is giving her back the garter, which apparently he managed to snatch when it was tossed. The reception was in the church fellowship hall, so there is a video screen behind the table. And no, that isn't champagne on the table, but sparkling flavored water. She had a budget for the wedding, but from the looks of the dress, I suspect she went a bit over. It was made for her by a dressmaker, but not by me. I'm not my mother!

The skirt that never looked quite right

2005-11-04T11:50:00.000-05:00

December of 1964 I must have done a lot of sewing. I would start graduate school in January so I was probably filling time. This outfit never quite looked right. I'd matched the pattern in the fabric correctly, but it seemed to sort of run uphill toward the waist, don't you think? I always had to adjust the patterns for my small waist (sounds better than big hips, right?), and I think I probably did something wrong, darted or nipped in or something.

This photo was taken at my parents' home on Lincoln Street. I don't know whose arm that is, looks like David's as there were no other little boys yet. The painting on the wall is an oil done by my maternal grandmother who was a very good artist. Many years later I found a tiny account book of hers that listed artist's supplies and rent for a studio. She had attended college, but was a victim of the times, and couldn't get a teaching job because her father could support her (not even a husband!). Somewhere under that tree is a wood jewelry box from my husband that I still use.

Here's a photo of the same skirt for Christmas 1969, by then we were living in Columbus with our two little precious ones. I also made the dress my daughter's wearing, but I'll write about it another time. The little jacket my son is wearing he was baptized in back in the summer. In those days he had blond, curly hair. Now he has black, curly hair, but the eyes haven't changed at all--still like little coals.

The print over the couch was our very first piece of purchased art--we got it with green stamps around 1966 I think. Artist is Bernard Buffet (d. 1999). Looking at it now, I'm mystified that we were so in love with it--or that I would lick all those green stamps to get it. Tastes change.

The summer of my yellow dress, pt. 2

2005-11-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

It was still the summer season when we gathered that Sunday at Uncle John's for a family dinner. If not summer on the calendar, at least if you look at the clothing in this photograph, it was a hot day. Oh all the cousins! My paternal grandparents had nine children, all but two living in Illinois. It's possible someone was visiting from California, and they may have been the reason we were together for a Sunday dinner, because it really didn't happen often. It didn't need to. We usually spent Sunday afternoon at Grandma's and you just never knew who might drop in.

See how glamorous and grown up I felt in this dress? Here I am, a 10 year old, posing with my much older cousin, Evelyn, who was 15. Also, notice the braids are gone and the dress is a bit tight--I was probably having a growth spurt. Usually, I wore my sister's hand-me-downs, but the yellow dress was all mine--and this Sunday may have been the last time I ever wore it. Summer was over this terrible Sunday and in 1950 it probably went into the "missionary barrel."

Terrible because it was either that night or the next day that Jimmy, Evelyn's brother, was taken to the hospital where he died in a week or so of bulbar polio. He was the most beautiful, delightful child--smart, athletic and loaded with personality and a head of black curls. Several years ago I went to a high school reunion and one of the guys talked about outstanding athletes from our little town, and even mentioned Jimmy, fifty plus years after he'd died in sixth grade.

Terrible because we'd all been exposed. Can you imagine the worry of the parents who had gathered for a simple family dinner, watching their children every day for the tell-tale signs of polio. And then it struck again, this time my sister Carol shortly after Jimmy's burial. She survived, but my childhood didn't.

The summer of my yellow dress, pt. 1

2005-11-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

The summer of 1949 was probably a rite of passage, and I didn't even know it until years later. Not to sound like I'm writing a pre-teen novel, but there is still a lot about that summer that I don't know, and even more I wish I didn't. But it was the summer of the yellow dress and traveling across the eastern United States with my mother, brother and grandparents in a time of no air conditioning and no super highways.

Ostensibly we were on our way to Asbury Park NJ to attend the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, so it must have been June. But Grandma had another agenda--to find out what had caused her son's death in October 1944 in the China Burma India theater of WWII. It was the summer my mother began to lose her hearing. It was a summer to meet relatives I now record and keep track of in my genealogy software, Old Order Brethren, Quakers and Lutherans. It was the summer my brother got desperately ill from the heat and Mom discovered salt pills cured him. It was the summer I slept on the floor of a 3rd cousin's apartment in some city in Pennsylvania and watched her use a curling iron and paint her fingernails bright red--all very shocking, but exciting to me. I didn't know any women other than farmers who left the house in the dark to go to work.

This yellow sheer cotton dress trimmed in lace was so delicate and light, I felt like a fairy princess wearing it. It would twirl with me, run with me, and yet, when I paused in front of a mirror or store window to admire it, I thought I looked almost grown up. Mother made it of course, so I don't own the pattern. And she may have made it up from seeing a picture in a magazine or catalog.

The photo was taken in Wilmington, Ohio with Uncle Edwin. I fell in love with Uncle Edwin on first sight, and he was a dear old man, a retired college professor, and former President of Wilmington College, a Quaker institution. He and I started up a correspondence that ended only when he died in the early 1960s. I used to pour all my teen angst out to him--poor guy, he was absolutely baffled--sort of like me reading the teen blogs I find on the Internet.

Uncle Edwin was married to my grandfather's older sister, Alice, whom I remember looking sort of like the apple head dolls you see in craft shows, only she was white with white hair. Alice had helped raise my grandfather, who was orphaned at a young age. They later moved to Detroit and lived with their son Howard and his wife Roma. They didn't seem poor to me, but I think they were--church college faculty probably didn't make much or have pensions and may have not been covered by Social Security. Uncle Edwin wrote a book, "Tell me--my quest," which is about pacifism, I think.

I'm not sure how long we stayed at their house, or even if we did. When my grandparents were married in 1901 they went to Wichita, Kansas to live with Aunt Allie and Uncle Edwin who then taught at a Quaker college there. My grandmother ran a boarding house for students and my grandfather a feed store. Thirty years later during the Depression Uncle Edwin needed to borrow money from them, but they had none. No one had money--lots of land, but no money and no one to sell the land to. I found his letter in the 1990s--sad what you find out years later.

No photos of the going away dress

2005-11-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

This pattern and the gray-blue silk fabric were purchased in Indianapolis for my "going away" dress in 1960. Oh yes, and I also bought a sewing machine, since I needed one to make the dress (still have it). I bought the hat, gloves and shoes to match, but had to take the dress in pieces back to Illinois with me for the final assemblage. I was definitely in over my head on this one. It definitely needed some careful tailoring.

Apparently I have no photographs of me actually wearing it. All I have is this photo of someone probably taking a picture of me in the dress in front of my parents' home. The woman I lived with in Indianapolis, Aunt Marg, is standing next to my mother on the porch.

But I do have a photo taken 40 years later.

My favorite dress, 1955 version

2005-11-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

Obviously, I don't have patterns for the dresses my mother made. Actually, I'm not sure she did either. The blue dress with the purple dogs did have a pattern, because I couldn't have made a dress without one. But, I have another dress in that pattern that my mother made for me for the Christmas dance of 1955 when I was a junior in high school. It looks completely different--but it has mother's signature style. Coverage. I never had a strapless prom or dance dress, although they were all the rage when I was in high school. Mine might be scooped, or plunging or sleeveless, or halter, but never, never strapless. Same for my sisters.

This dress is a lovely heavy white satin faille, and it was so luxurious, you can hardly see the hoop skirt underneath. The big red bow was mother's own seasonal touch. I removed the bow in 2000 to have the dress dry cleaned and it too was a beautiful, heavy fabric cut on the bias. My boyfriend of the moment wasn't much for dancing, so I think this wonderful dress sat on the sidelines most of the evening. However, I did take it to college and wore it several more times. My husband is a wonderful dancer.

Christmas dance 1955

The house on Hannah had a very large entry hall, with the dining room on the south side, and the living room on the north side. You can see the tall radiator next to the stair way, and there was a clothes closet directly behind that. About a year after this photo was taken, mother completely changed the color scheme and the floral wallpaper was removed and we went to beige. Everywhere. Maybe that's where I get it. My daughter says we have a beige life. I'll have to check with my sibs, but she may have also removed the wall between the entry hall and the living room to make it one large room.

Next, is a photo of my daughter in 8th grade trying on my old clothes.

Wearing Mom's dress

Midis and Maxis

2005-11-03T12:43:00.000-05:00

Some of us looked really awful in mini-skirts that roared into popularity in the late 60s. I was one of them. Thankfully, the midi and the maxi came into popularity to save us. I can't even tell you how many times I used this pattern--usually for the skirt. Once I started looking through the old photos, I think I spotted it in a 1982 photograph, and here it is in a 1971 portrait of our family.

You can't see the skirt in this photo, but it was a very nice brown wool tweed. Instead of making a short vest, or a calf-length vest, I made one that was just a little above the thigh in a brown cotton suede, lined in a polyester. It was really a lovely, very practical outfit.

My daughter's dress in this photo is a red, white and black plaid, and I'd also made my son a little jump suit, short pants, and myself a long skirt in the same fabric. I think I made those for the Christmas of 1970, and by the time this photograph was taken 10 months later, he had outgrown his outfit.

Wool tweed skirt with brown suede vest

October 1971

Junior high school sewing project

2005-11-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

By the early 80s, feminism was in full swing. The girls were required to take shop, and the boys had to have a "home survival skills" class. This is my son's sewing project. He must have done it all at school, because I don't remember helping with it. Nor do I remember that he ever wore it.

Accessories made by Mom

2005-11-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

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

The House on Hannah, pt. 2

2005-11-03T08:45:00.000-05:00

In the second photo of the My favorite dress entry, I'm sitting in a rocker that my parents started out with in 1934. By the late 50s my mother had refinished and recovered it, and it was later given to my sister Carol for her first home, and I think may have been passed on to her children--there were two chairs. The sewing cabinet to my left is now in my dining room, and my mother's huge Merriam-Webster 2nd International Dictionary sits on top. Inside, I have some old spools of thread that belonged to my husband's grandmother which I occasionally use--they are probably 80 years old.

In the third photo you see one of my mother's designs for covering up old radiators. I'm not sure she actually did the carpentry herself, but it is certainly possible. I can recognize most of the books because she still had many of them when she died in 2000. Although the set right above my hat doesn't look familiar.

House on Hannah Avenue

The barn on Hannah

I'll have to ask my sibs about this, but there appears to be an addition on the back of the barn with a chimney, as though it was an apartment. There were no interior walls there that I recall, only a workshop.

The house on Hannah, pt. 1

2005-11-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

To understand this entry, you have to refer to the dress in the previous entry, because I'm going to tell you about the house and the rooms you see in the photos. My father often didn't consult my mother when he bought a house. Remember, ladies, in those days, a wife didn't need to sign the mortgage, in fact, for my first three homes, the bank wouldn't consider my income in factoring payments. So it is possible, Dad wasn't unusual this way.

The first house he bought in the winter of 1951 was in the Carr Addition on the east side of town. It was a story and a half, way too small for 6 people, and I'm sure my patient mother had ways to let him know this. So then he bought a slightly larger two story on Lincoln Street, which he then traded for a house on Hannah, a big gracious three story with a huge front porch, on the west side of town. It had a huge barn that had been converted to a garage that would hold our car and his truck, and the barn had a second floor full of interesting objects for us children to explore. Do you see the corner of the ironing board in the first photo below? That was in the attic of the barn. The yard was so big my mother could have a large garden and I staked my horse out back in 1952, and in 1955 my sister's trailer home was parked in the back yard. So, this house had plenty of room!

The photos showing me making the dress were taken inside my sister Carol's bedroom. Mother had converted it to a sewing room after Carol left home. See that little "Go ye" drawing on the wall? After high school Carol went into Brethren Volunteer Service, so she took Christ's command seriously. The desk behind me in the first photo was actually from my grandmother's kitchen--an old work table with a zinc top and flour bins. Mother removed the bins, covered the top, stripped off the dark finish to a light oak, and added new handles and so we had a nice desk. That's what people did with antiques in those days--made them useful even if it destroyed their value. Besides, then it was just old, not yet an antique.

My favorite dress

2005-11-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

The dress I'm about to show you was made by me probably in the summer of 1957 or 1958. I puzzled over the date a bit. I did gain the freshman ten (actually more) in college and I look sort of thin in the photos. It's possible I lost the weight in the summer, because I was living with my grandparents in Franklin Grove as their cook and housekeeper, and I was probably not a very good cook. In the summer of 1957 I was in Fresno, California in volunteer service, so I'm leaning toward '58 and think I wore it the first time to my uncle's wedding.

It was a lovely, high quality pima cotton, sort of a gray-blue with little purple cartoonish dogs on it. Sounds strange, but I loved it. The last time I remember wearing it was 1966. By then my rib cage had expanded a bit from pregnancies, and I'd shortened it to go with the 60s fashion.

I'm sure we bought the fabric at Eichler's in Dixon--Mom was a huge fan of their fabric department, and we'd sit a long time on the stools pouring over the pattern books, always avoiding Vogue, and fingering the fabric. You could almost see her fingers itch. Oh, the patience of that woman with three daughters who sewed, and only one who did it well (not me). She paid her dues at home and then again at 4-H meetings, home-ec class projects and county fair contests. Not once did I hear her nag or complain (about sewing), and I can still hear the crunch of the pinking shears on our dining room table.
Here I am, all set to go to the wedding--white shoes with 3" heels, hat and gloves. In the photo above, where I'm hemming the dress (obviously loving it), I'm wearing another dress I made, and I used that pattern several times. That one was maroon, and the buttons may have been gray. However, from the looks of the hem on that one, it looks like I may have sewn the project I was working on to the dress I was wearing. What do you think?

The next entry will be about what else is in those photographs of my favorite dress with purple dogs.

Update: On Nov. 10 I found the negatives for the photos and to my surprise, I'd made the dress in 1956. So, now I have no idea where I was going when I finished it.

The extra bedspread fabric

2005-11-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

Today I've created a new blog called Memory Patterns. The idea comes from looking at scanned sewing patterns on other sites. So I decided to try to match the patterns with old photos and old memories. Should be fun. Unfortunately, I sold a lot of my patterns at garage sales or traded them, or gave them away.

The dress I made for my daughter, caught in this charming school photo, was from left over fabric, gold, tan and teal, I used for our King sized bed. I don't remember why I bought so much fabric, but I also made a tie out of it for my husband. He later wore the tie to his office "ugly tie contest." Wide ties were very popular then, and many women were making their husband's ties.

I would have used the fabric requirements for view B size 7, the jeans top, although I made the dress, so would have used 7/8 instead of 3/4 of a yard. Although, I certainly had a lot of fabric left over. Suggested fabrics were lightweight cotton, muslin, seersucker, polished cotton, gingham, challis, surah, and cotton knits. The dress had a back zipper with puffed sleeves with elastic casings and a front yoke with vent. I think I made several dresses from this pattern, but the bedspread print seems to be the only one that will live in our memories, and albums.

The copyright date on this pattern is 1973, which means I probably made it when my daughter was in second grade. She's probably smiling like that because some teeth are missing. This child/woman, speaking of teeth, has never had a cavity.

The King sized bed had a few adventures too. When we decided to change to a queen sized water bed, we gave half of the king size to my son, and half to his friend George (he changed his name, but I don't recall what it is now). When our son moved out, I think we gave him that bed. He doesn't seem to hang on to our furniture very long, so I don't know how long he had it.

What this blog is about

2005-11-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

This blog is about resurrecting memories with visual aids--my old sewing patterns. Right now, it is under construction, but check back. Meanwhile, visit one of my other blogs.