Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens dive

[bookish]

Household skills of previous generations can be quite destructive - the old way of making a knitted garment means that it can be taken apart easily and remade into something larger or smaller - almost all the garments I made for my children were remade and then worn by the grandchildren until they fell apart. The best parts of worn out woven garments were often used for patchwork or rag rugs, the not so good bits became wash rags or floor cloths or bird scarers out in the garden.

Destructive, but crafty. I never really had a notion of taking care of clothes nor respect for craft quite like I have now that I've been acquiring highland wear.

[Pleater]

Destructive, but crafty. I never really had a notion of taking care of clothes nor respect for craft quite like I have now that I've been acquiring highland wear.

My parents and grandparents went through two wars - I had a ration book issued when I was born in 1951.
When things are restricted or scarce it pushes people back into older ways of living and working.

Anne the Pleater

[OC Richard]

About the re-use of clothes, all four of my grandparents were born in log cabins in the hollers of Appalachia, and when an item of clothing was no longer repairable it was cut up and used to make quilts.

I've seen my grandmother make many a quilt out of these scraps.

Somewhat different is the case of a large extended Irish-American family in my area.

The wedding dress the woman who immigrated brought from Ireland in the 1840s was modified and used as a wedding dress for her daughters and granddaughters.

When it could no longer be so used, it was cut down and made into a First Communion dress which was worn by generations of the family's girls.

It's still in the family and the family's girls continue to wear it.

Older yet, I piped at a wedding where the bride's veil had been worn by every bride in the family for over two centuries.

The family told me it had originally been part of a dress worn at George Washington's Inaugural Ball in 1789, but then was made into a veil.

[bookish]

My grandmother grew up poor on a farm in Arkansas, and there were hard times for my father's family growing up in San Antonio, Texas. The family was dysfunctional, and there wasn't much constructive skill nor craft shared. Instead, my father's credit was ruined before he turned 18, as my grandmother and grandfather opened new accounts when they couldn't afford to make payments on old accounts through the mid to late 60s. My mother's extended family had successful businesses in Michigan, but her mother and her father were spendthrifts and had other mental challenges. They were effectively disowned by the family. As a result, my siblings and I learned some poor habits as young folks from our parents. Overspending when times were fat to acquire that which we couldn't when times are lean was the modeled behavior. I understand the mentality, and I don't think it's an atypical response when you grow up in uncertainty. On top of that, I grew up in a commercial culture where everything is a commodity and is disposable. We are just a family of consumers, generally, trying to unlearn those habits.

Wherever there is a community or family mindset to "make do", and there is the will, focus, and reinforcement on making and craft, that seems like a far superior way to live. I hope there is a viable future for that in my country, even for those who are more well off.

I probably would have hated it if I grew up as a child knitting or sewing, but to me now, it seems so promising. I just need to master myself enough to make the time for more sewing practice. I'm happy to have acquired some ex-hire jackets and waistcoats. I'd say there has been some mixed success on that score in terms of fit and quality. But, I wonder if I can do more than just save some money on what others made. How cool is it that one can make something so unique and practical as a pair of kilt hose, or a nice suit jacket?