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Back to Family Memories Index Sewing in the SixtiesSpring has sprung indeed, going by the state of my stuffy nose. I'm not allergic to anything that grows around here but some trees and I get along better than others. I love the blooming pear trees all over town, it looks like our pre-Easter cold-snap might pass us by this year and let those beautiful blossoms alone. Spring has sprung in our local newspapers, too. They're fat with full-color sales ads for Bermuda shorts, pedal pushers and sandals. Of course, they don't call them Bermuda shorts any more and pedal pushers have a different name too. Cargo pants? What on earth are cargo pants? Every now and then the manufacturers change the names to something else, but have you noticed how little the patterns change? Flipping through the sales ads, I thought how different ladies' wear is today compared to the 1950's and 60's. Remember crinolines? In the 1950's every teenage girl had several crinolines in her wardrobe, some short, some long, some flounced, some plain, some with a thin, flat plastic hoop or two stitched in for shape. Underneath you had to wear a slip, of course, something to keep your bare skin from chafing, and if you were smart in windy weather you'd pin the crinoline to your slip. For special occasions you might wear several crinolines at a time, the laciest one on top because the frilly hem "might" show. Over all that you wore a full gathered or pleated skirt, with or without a wide cinch belt. Of course, everything we wore had to be ironed. Starched and ironed. There was no spray starch, either. Starch was mixed up in a basin, shirts, skirts and dresses dipped in, wrung out and hung up until nearly dry, then ironed. If you knew what you were doing you could get through a batch of laundry without scorching too many things... In the late 60's I invested in a Sears floor-model sewing machine and got myself a fold-up ruled cutting board, many spools of thread, sewing scissors, and other accoutrements to fill my sewing basket. That year I spent many pleasant afternoons flipping through Simplicity, McCall's or Butterick pattern books, selecting patterns and fabric for dresses and skirts for the females in the family and school shirts for my son. One pattern usually contained several styles. You could stitch up a casual dress or a dressy dress, choose short sleeves, long sleeves or no sleeves, collar or no collar, pockets or no pockets. Depending on the material you could create a spring dress, summer dress and winter dress from the very same pattern, and that's what I did. I preferred the pullover, no-zipper styles, but I did eventually learn to put in a zipper without the top ends coming out different lengths. Basting! That was the secret, basting! The Salvage Shop at Coles Cross Roads was quite convenient for young homemakers on a budget, and at some point during my sewing days cloth was added to their inventory of building supplies and housewares. I loved to wander through shelf after shelf loaded down with bolts of every color and weave and texture. One section contained upholstery material, a bit heavier, wider, and much less expensive than ordinary dress fabric. Bright yellow and black swirls, floral patterns of pink, red and rose, modern-art designs in dark blue and lime-green caught my eye one early spring day. Feeling the smooth texture and weight, checking the ravel-risk of cut edges and thinking to myself, I made a housewife's executive decision. Before the month was out I had stitched up enough skirts and dresses from upholstery materials to last several seasons. To my added delight I discovered the material was practically wash-and-wear, requiring no starch and very little ironing. I had many compliments on my stylish ensembles that year. Friends and family were surprised to hear the secret of my sewing success, upholstery fabric from the Salvage Shop. As I watered the house plant sitting on top of it the other day, I thought about my sewing machine now serving as a handy end table. My cutting board is folded away in the bedroom closet, my old sewing chest still full of thread. I wonder if I could find marvelous wash-and-wear upholstery material like that these days? But jeans and a knit top, Keds and sports socks and I'm dressed most days. I decided I'd rather remember than re-live my sewing successes of the 1960's. |