Community Chat

[Burnsite]

My mother's mother died young, but she dressed up.  She was very ladylike in her look.  My other grandmother liked to dress to the nines, and wore beautiful suits and shoes.  They lived on a farm, but like my other grandmother, visits were special and the best clothes were worn. 

My poor mother, with six kids, could not keep up with either of them.  I remember, when I was a preschooler, having my oatmeal while she smoked a cigarette and drank a cup of coffee (with two saccharines), wrapped in my dad's bathrobe.  She told me once that she had been a heavy smoker during WW 2, way before she was married, when she was nursing.  But she quit when I was three. 

She was at the kitchen table and took out a cigarette to have with her coffee, and (I was three) I lit a match and went over to light it for her. 

She always told me she quit that day.  My younger sibs never knew she had been a smoker.

[Lila Belle]

I always thought my grandmothers were so chic. I've never seen my Brit nan without her pearls or my Alabama gram without red polish on her toes.

Both let me try on their wedding gowns with me standing on a stool to get the full effect, empty shoes peeking out posed just so.

I loved to watch them sit at their dressing tables putting on their make up and jewelry. I can smell their face powder and perfume to this day.

[VanSleepy]

This is OT, but I had to look up what a shirtwaist dress is...in looking at some pictures I came across a pattern for one from 1950.  It was bust 34, hips 37 - size 16!!