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Our Clothing

The responsibility of keeping us clothed was, of course, our mother's. She spent many long hours knitting the long black wool stockings which we all wore. There were no slacks, jeans, or snow pants, so long underwear under those stockings was our answer to keeping dry in the snow. Since the roads were not plowed very often, we needed these to trudge the miles we walked to school and to play in the snow. When we got to school, the stockings usually had balls of snow stuck to them. After brushing off what we could, the rest melted as we sat at our desks, and made puddles on the floor. The wool for these stockings had to be sheared off the sheep, cleaned, carded, dyed and spun before it was ready to knit. With such a big job, it's no wonder Mother taught us all to knit so some of us could help.

She also sewed all of our dresses and undergarments. They were handed down to the next youngest and worn as long as they would last. Sometimes she would bring home dresses from rummage sales and remake them for us. In spite of all the sewing involved, we always had a new dress for Christmas and for the school picnic.

I have memories of an orange and green plaid dress she made for me with "pants" to match. The "pants" were longer than the dress, and the style was for them to show. When I wore this outfit to school, the neighbor boy I walked home with made the remark that he could see my "pants". I answered him rather flippantly, "I don't care. They're the same color as my dress." One of the girls had a pair of black sateen bloomers that her mother had made. One day while we were outside, she showed them to me. They seemed very special to me because they had a pocket. I really envied her having these, even though she had to lift her dress to take her hankie out of the pocket.

Since there were no slacks or jeans to be had, we wore dresses every day. The places we played, and the work we did were not very conducive to keeping our clothes clean. Washing was a big chore and had to be done often. With the limited facilities we had, all the water had to be carried up the hill from outside. First all the clothes had to be scrubbed on the scrub board, but later on we had a Maytag wash machine with a gasoline engine. Often on washday, Mother couldn't get it started, and we would have to go out on the field where Dad was working, to get him to come home and start the machine.

Ironing day was a full day. These clothes all had to be sprinkled first. No wash and wear like we have today! We had two sets of irons heating on the wood stove and two ironing boards. The dresses were all hung on hangers in the archway between the living room and dining room after they were ironed. There was a long row of dresses and a feeling of accomplishment when we were finished. As the years went by, and after we moved to town, we all had jobs and a little more money. By now we did our own sewing. However, we sewed less and bought more ready-made clothing. We still all have sewing machines and still use them, but have more yard goods on hand than we'll ever use, because together with sewing goes the never-ending desire to buy more and more materials to sew.

Many of these pieces of yard goods have already been sent to World Relief, sold at garage sales, given away, or used to make quilts for the homeless. There is still enough to open a small yard goods store. What will ever happen to it is anybody's guess.