Hand Me Downs

Baby Knitting

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to read books that I didn't have to buy.  My goal was to read existing books on my bookshelf, borrow books from the library or get free books from some other source.  It has proved to be a very good challenge. Not only has it made me a little more resourceful, but it has brought books to me that I never would have read, all by my lazy self.

I am reading a book now by Norah Lofts called The Town House. Its first in a trilogy, which seems to be the flavor of the month.  Trilogies, I mean.  Only this book was written over 50 years ago and does not contain all the stuff I personally find silly and tasteless.  It is a good story, with lots of twists and turns.  And the chapter I just read reminded me of something from my childhood.

I was born the youngest of three, and we were not a rich family, although we never went hungry.  In those days, hand-me-downs were not unwelcome, and were in fact a prize for me, as every season my mom would get out the big "drum" which was a large bin that old clothes were stored in.  My sister was about 3 years older than me so there was a little gap between her outgrowing an outfit, and my growing into that particular size.

As I grew out of an outfit, it was not uncommon for my mom to "let out the hem" of a dress so that I could wear it a bit longer.  Only, if the dress was starting to fade, the "let out" part was darker and it was obvious that the dress was old.  This could be remedied with a bit of rick-rack or lace to help hide the fold that was a little faded, but not always.

The book that I'm reading references this practice of letting out the hem and it made me realize that nowadays people probably don't do that any more. My mom was a SAHM and knew how to sew anything (and passed the skill on to me and my older sister) so it was no big deal to alter any bit of clothing that needed adjustment.  Funny thing is, today it super-cool to re-purpose something!
Sewing and hand-me-downs are probably very in; I think they just call it Vintage.

Recently I decided to make better use of my sewing machine and have determined to make a sewing nook out of an extra bedroom closet.  There are a few items that need to be moved out of the closet, to make room for a small table to put the machine on, but I hope very soon, I'll be able to post some things I've made out of some old "Vintage" patterns I found in the attic.

On Sunday my kids, their spouses, our new "boarder" and my father in law joined my husband and me for dinner.  We had so much fun playing with a fake moutache, watching the Muppet Movie and catching up on all the good news in everyone's lives.  That was my Mother's Day gift, but the kids brought me these things too, and I couldn't refuse! 

Mother's Day Roses!

Mary Englebreit-O-Rama!