Homemade clothing of the past...

Marci, the thread by Guterrman today is made in two different countries. If you look at the tag the original thread from Germany is still quality and the stuff from Mexico is coarse and thick and will not work in my machine.

I still sew a lot today, a great hobby.
If you use that cheap crap they call thread in a machine now it knots up so bad you can't sew with it.

Mostly the only thing I do with the cheap crap is sew buttons back on and I stitch up my masks when the seam loosens.
 
Mom was a seamstress, so she had a lot of remnant fabrics that she used to sew us 3 girls clothes. Even after she stopped sewing for other people, she made most of our clothes. My sisters and I made some of our own dresses in the 60's which were easy .. A-line skirts, and the aforementioned tent dresses, etc. I made my own maternity clothes. I no longer have a sewing machine. Daughter now does the sewing and sells on Etsy.
 

Marci, the thread by Guterrman today is made in two different countries. If you look at the tag the original thread from Germany is still quality and the stuff from Mexico is coarse and thick and will not work in my machine.

I still sew a lot today, a great hobby.
I was just going to agree with Marci about thread. I sew. My grandfather was a tailor, a suit maker, and I worked in his shop for some years. I do have some trouble with newer machines so mine is an older model. But anyway, about the thread; yes, howdy, there's breakage and shredding and it gets caught up the machine and tangled up in the bobbin. I took my machine to be cleaned and serviced last year and the guy told me it was the thread, but he didn't have any suggestions other than "buy good quality"...so thanks, Lee. I'll be checking labels.
 
I made a lot of my own clothes from the time I was in about the 8th grade. I got very, very good at it. My masterpiece was my stepdaughter's wedding dress, complete with lace inlays and overlays and train. It was quite a challenge, but it was absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself. We were stationed in Germany at the time and she couldn't find anything she really liked, or that fitted her the way she wanted, so she asked me to make her dress. I also made the bridesmaid's dresses, and my own MOB dress.

I don't sew anymore because of the arthritis in my hands.
 
Back in the 70s we had a Volkswagen camper van. My wife decided that it needed new curtains. She sent our daughter then in high school out to measure how much fabric was needed. Daughter didn't get it right, so we wound up with curtains plus a jacket for me and a skirt for my wife.
 
I was just going to agree with Marci about thread. I sew. My grandfather was a tailor, a suit maker, and I worked in his shop for some years. I do have some trouble with newer machines so mine is an older model. But anyway, about the thread; yes, howdy, there's breakage and shredding and it gets caught up the machine and tangled up in the bobbin. I took my machine to be cleaned and serviced last year and the guy told me it was the thread, but he didn't have any suggestions other than "buy good quality"...so thanks, Lee. I'll be checking labels.
Do you iron too? ;)
 
I wouldn’t mind the one on the left done in the denim for summer. It has pockets & I could wear a long or short sleeve shirt under it. I‘ve been on the lookout for something like this.
 
I wish I could sew. I have always wanted a H-back apron like my grandmother wore. I try to find them when I go to tag sales, but no luck. My grandmother had them with with tiny flowers on it, it was beautiful. I wasn't given an opportunity to get them when she passed away. That was almost 40 years ago she was 93.
 
Yes, "tent dresses" is exactly what they were called.

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Cute fashion times...hair also.
 
I still have an apron that my grandmother made for me when she 'tried' to teach me how to cook at a young age. She embroidered my name on it by hand. I'll treasure it forever.
Yes, homemade aprons were all the rave!

If you didn't have one, it was almost guaranteed that an older relative or family member would make you one. I own a few that were made by others, even though I had a couple of aprons to my name when I got married.
 
My mom made us all matching Christmas dresses every year for the family picture. I can't remember how old I was when I refused to dress like my younger sisters, probably at 12 or 13. I think the next year she made me an outfit out of the same material but a more grown-up style and after that she just said to wear what I wanted.
 


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