SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
About the time polyester made it’s appearance in fabric and clothing, I found that I could make an A-line skirt with only one yard of pure polyester fabric. It was usually about 64″ wide, so that gave me whatever I needed to make the skirt. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of any of those skirts.
However, at the same time, I made at least one suit from this red patterned polyester that I thoroughly enjoyed wearing.
Polyester became my favorite fabric to work on as well as wear. The only unfortunate thing about polyester, is that it pills! Many years later, when I worked for a fiber and yarn company, it was described to me that cotton threads “sloughed off” while polyester has little “hooks” that grab and pill. Interesting.
One thing I did while in Germany, was to take a tailoring class. I had never been so instructed in the art of sewing, and found that detail in sewing makes a great difference in the finished garment. For instance, in that class, I made this wool suit – skirt and jacket. Unfortunately, this picture isn’t in color – so just picture the suit I’m wearing in this picture a deep purple.
About the same shade as this dark purple iris.
I really enjoyed that suit. It had a lining in the skirt and jacket. And I learned to make bound buttonholes. WOW! was that an art in itself! When my mother came to Germany to visit, she showed me a suit she had bought. The saleslady had informed her that “bound buttonholes were out, and this kind of buttonholes were the way to go.” I told mother she had been sold a bill of goods – they weren’t anywhere as neat as the bound buttonholes, which are quite classy.
I found a pattern for a dress that I used both on cotton (like this picture), as well as polyester. I made up several dresses from it. Here is a picture of me in one of those dresses (polyester) shortly after our second daughter was born. We were in Maine.
Also, here is a picture of our Karen at that same time, in Maine.
While we were in Germany I made this little cape for her from a fuzzy polyester fabric, and lined it with a plaid flannel fabric. It kept her nice and toasty while outside. I was pleased to find, years later during a visit to Karen’s house, that our granddaughter had the cape on one of her dolls! The little hat she has on was made by our good friend, Frau Katie.
About that same time, the “style” of dresses became this sort of “shift” or “sack.” It was easy to make – again in either polyester or cotton – and easy to wear. In this particular picture we were in Berlin, Germany. I had also made that little sun dress that Karen is wearing. It was made from cotton.
The dress I’m wearing in this picture was one I made from polyester. I really liked the pattern, and made it with sleeves, without sleeves, in polyester and also in a polyester blend. One good thing about polyester and polyester blend, is that it packs well, and so travels well.
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 