Hand-sewn clothes

Growing up in the 40s and 50s in a small town was really pretty nice. Our friends knew our parents and we knew our friends' parents.

My mother made most of my clothes from the early days right on through my high school years, I guess. In the early years, flour came in printed material sacks. When the flour was gone, the sacks were washed. Then Mom would make blouses or skirts out of them. The sacks were quite often flower prints so the blouses were colorful and pretty.

She made sure that I always had clothes to wear. She had a sense of style that was ingrained in me. The clothes she made were "in style" and not a much different from what the other girls wore. I am sure other moms sewed for their daughters back then, too. There were girls who never had anything made for them by their moms. We did buy sweaters and coats but nearly everything else, she made. My Mom was a very talented seamstress.

Once in a while, there would be a "store-bought" dress or skirt but not too often. This happened more when I was in high school.

General Dwight D Eisenhower made the "Eisenhower" jacket popular during WW II. For you younger folks who don't know what an "Eisenhower" jacket is - it is a short jacket that actually had a band on the bottom that buttoned at the waist. It looked very nice with slacks. My jacket was checked wool in brown, light aqua and yellow if my memory serves me right. I really liked wearing that. I wore a sweather under the jacket.

"Squaw" skirts were popular when I was in high school. So Mom made me a white one, an aqua one and a red one with matching blouses. I even had those when I went to college. So they stayed in style. This style skirt is similar to the "broomstick" skirts that are popular now. They were fun to wear because they would twirl when I danced.