Out with the old, In with the old

I have a mother who sews.  A lot and forever.  She sewed ALL of m clothes from babyhood right through my 50s.  She still creates stuff for me, but not like she did when I was little.  My grandma sewed for my mother and was also a professional seamstress.  There were times when my grandma sewed classmate’s clothing and my mother made mine.  Which makes me wonder if my grandma ever sewed for me.  I’m sure she did but I don’t recall ever knowing about it.  

age 5

Mother made my dresses, gowns, pjs, robes, slips, pants, winter coats, jackets, blouses and for a while, my underwear.  Once a girlfriend asked me if she made my drawers too.  By that time she didn’t.  I actually had store-bought panties! I’m not sure I would’ve told her if they were still homemade though.  There are just some things that you just don’t talk about, right?!

This is the first day of school for our 2nd grade year..I don’t remember this dress at all but our moms had worked all summer getting dresses made for the new school year! I refer to this dress as my Flying Nun dress..that skirt looked like it could take off any minute!

 For some reason, when I was around 10 or 11, she bought me a white fake leather coat  that had red furry lining and red balls that tied at the neck. And it had a hood.  I was in the big-time now!  I loved that coat and was heartbroken when I had outgrown it. 

 But the way my mother made my clothes, especially the dresses and skirts, there were huge, deep hems that could be let down and therefore made to fit me.  Again!  And when I actually DID grow out of something, a little girl whose mother and my mother were good friends would get my clothes.  So those handmade items of mine found a new home and new life!  Her mother would pay a small fee for the clothes…just enough for my mom to buy more material and create a new dress for me.  

Obviously, someone forgot to say “SMILE!!”. 1st grade I’m the one on the right..the other two will remain unidentified until they contact me. I’ll name my price then!
This dress was brown and white cotton gingham and had little metal pennies scattered all over it! And the 2 little girls you see had a mom who sewed for them too!

 

This was sewing of the highest form…there was no extra money for store-bought clothes, so it was a necessity for Mother to sew for me.  She also made all of my brother’s clothes except for his jeans and made many of my daddy’s shirts.  Again that was the rule because Daddy was 6’6″ and finding clothes to fit him was impossible at best!  

Cutting to the chase because I could tell lots and lots of sewing stories, but I’ll save them for later.  Although the other little girl got most of my clothes, Mother kept some.  Not sure why other than she had spent a lot of time on them…like hand embroidering flowers on the skirt and top below.  Those yokes on Western clothing weren’t easy to put together!  And then there were tucks and ruffles and smocking…so imagine my delight when she cleaned out a closet and handed me a sack of my childhood clothes!  And guess what?!  I have granddaughters who were thrilled to get try them on.  

Me, age 5, on the right. The other two were lifelong friends! This is the stylish “squaw” dress. Everyone had one. Even my doll.

  

The squaw dress some 50 years later or so. It is cotton and has faded a bit but is otherwise in pretty good condition.

The only thing is that  by the time I got the clothes home and started trying them on the girls, only one of them fit into the outfits!  We about waited too long.  And the other thing is…when my mother used to complain about me being so skinny, I just rolled my eyes  and thought she was exaggerating.  She wasn’t.  At all. The clothes that I wore at age 6 would barely fit my 4 year old granddaughter who is a petite little girl by anyone’s standards!!!  Yikes!  Mother wasn’t kidding.  She was sure I’d starve to death.  Not a problem now.  

So here are the pics I have thus far.  I’ll  have to dig some before I unearth pics of me to match the ones I have made of my granddaughter.   This was my Dale Evans look.  Don’t you love the hat?  Still have it too.  And the tooled leather belt. I have NO idea where the boots are though but wish I had them!!!  

The old, granny, age 6

The new, age 4…perfect fit!