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Posted by Candide on May 28, 2006, 7:06 pm
> wrote:
>
> > With all that homemakers had to
> > do, when on earth did any find the time to sew not only for
themselves,
> > but the normally huge families?
>
> For ordinary, everyday garments, all we sewed by hand were hems and
> buttons.
>
> Remember that hand sewing can be done while you are resting up from
> some other chore -- and that the "huge families" were expected to do
> some of the work.
All my vintage sewing books state that a good housewife should keep her
mending box/bag handy so she could tackle projects in her "spare" time,
and not let things pile up. Perhaps this is why so many of those items
like vintage knitting/crocheting bags/boxes are so beautifully done,
they were meant to be seen.
Grew up with two siblings, and am here to tell you there was no slacking
off. Each of us had chores and heaven forbid if one did not complete
them properly. Dishes were taken in turn each night, but thankfully
taking out the rubbish was left for the boys ( was too afraid of possums
and the raccoons that hung around the rubbish bins). Once asked my
mother (while I was doing a sink full of dishes), why we didn't have an
automatic dishwasher. Her reply was she "had one", me. Well nearly shot
back a good answer, but that would have probably lead to a date with the
wooden spoon, so kept on washing with my mouth shut! *LOL*
>
> I think the average during the span that included the baby boom was
> about two children. Mom had four, one of her friends had six (which
> was much remarked upon), another had none, at least three had one
> each, and there was a great deal of gossip about a family of fifteen.
> (Somehow I never met any of the fifteen children at school; I think
> they were all older than me.) Rumor had it that the mother didn't do
> a lick of work herself -- all her time was taken up supervising the
> children.) Mom once said, "I don't know what her kids look like when
> they come home at night, but when they step out the door in the
> morning, they look like they came out of a bandbox."
Think many communities "back then" had their share of those paragons of
motherhood that produced almost annually. "Mrs. McCleary" and her 10 or
so children would often be pointed out by the parish priest as the local
saint of motherhood, as she brought in yet another new baby for
christening. And yes, with that many bodies in a household, there should
have not been much work for "mum" to do, besides she was probably
carrying another anyway! *LOL*
Shirt collars came back from the laundry VERY stiff, and could not lay
flat, nor would men wish them to do so. So they were kept in boxes to
remain neat, clean and keep their shape.
>
> (I *think* that in *her* mother's time, a bandbox was where men kept
> their formal collars so they wouldn't get rumpled. i.e., "out of a
> bandbox" meant "perfectly clean and neat".)
>
> [Google says it was hats, but there was only one hit.]
>
> Also remember that before the introduction of 'labor-saving" devices,
> everyone knew how to get along without them. In cities, people sent
> their laundry out -- and people didn't dirty a tenth as many clothes
> as we do now. Mom once told the story of how she suddenly realized
> that she no longer had to wear an apron -- now that she had a Bendix,
> a housedress was just as easy to wash as an apron. (I wore aprons
> when first married anyhow: for the sake of the pockets.)
>
> Joy Beeson
Oh but I love a nice clean pinny! Draw the line at the heavily frou-frou
types that seem to invite frivolity though. Aprons are a great way to
keep neat while hoovering/dusting/housework and much easier to run
through the ironer than a housedress! Now if one could only get little
children back into the habit of wearing pinafores, laundry day would be
a breeze! Well, one might get away with it for little girls, but have a
strong hunch no self respecting little boy would even touch the garment.
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