Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Weekly Challenge #180 - MacDee - Back to School in the '50s


When I was in grade school, the ultimate harbinger of Back-to-School was a new plaid item of clothing.  Store windows and catalogs were full of cotton woven plaid dresses, wool pleated skirts and jumpers, and trim little plaid coats with matching wool leggings for the coldest weather.  Those got slipped off and hung on a hook in the cloak room with our coats. The dress was either tucked inside the leggings if they had straps or they were just worn underneath.  Girls were never allowed to wear pants to school, and tights weren't even invented. We wore skirts with anklets or knee socks. 


My grandmother made all my school clothes with the skill of a designer seamstress, although back then, I just wished I could have clothes from Sears Roebuck or JC Penney like all the other kids.  Little did I know the value of a custom-made wardrobe!  Every summer, starting in about July, I would be called in from play to try on the latest article under construction.  Who wants to come inside and stand there sweatily suffering the pinning of pleats on a wool skirt or the length of a long sleeve with white pique cuff on a brown plaid dress?  I was such an ungrateful wretch!  But come the Monday after Labor Day, my new wardrobe was ready and I couldn't wait to wear it.  No matter that it was still in the 90's and dripping humid  and stuffy in our non-air conditioned school.  Waaaaahhh!  I want the new dress!


Those are not pants under that coat, they are leggings with straps that have her dress tucked inside!
That plaid jumper could have been wool or possibly a heavy twill.
 

30 comments:

  1. Hi, your Zentangle is amazing, I love all of it!
    (But you post your preview site on I am the diva ;-) )

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    1. Uh-oh! Maybe I can fix it. I'm new to this blog stuff. Thanks for your kind words!

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  2. A very lovely tile, and talking about the plaid dresses for back to school sure brought back some memories!
    Beautiful line work!

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    1. Thank you - seems like the old memories come back better than the ones from - say - this morning! Glad you liked it.

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  3. Love the story... and of COURSE your great tangle... love the moving plaid... great going... maybe I will try another one... NOT... anyway... your story brought back so very many memories... I can remember those days like they were tomorrow... plaid dresses were a huge thing... but My mother made my SMOCKED dresses... until I begged to wear a straight skirt in 8th GRADE...not kidding... but remember those days well.. wore dresses to high school as well... just the way it was back then... Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie

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    1. Oh - smocked dresses! I always wanted one but that's not what I got. Yes, I had the dress requirement until after my freshman year in college! Then we all turned into hippies and that was the end of that. Clothes came from the military surplus store. Oh boy!

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  4. OMG those skirts, those plaid skirts. Oh yes. Hated them! But what you've done here is really wonderful and so innovative.

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    1. I actually liked the plaid skirts. I wish I had kept the Pendleton ones I got in college. This was a fun challenge. Glad you liked my tile!

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  5. There is so much to look at in your tangle. It all flows together to make a delightful tile. This pattern seems to need colour to work really well, doesn't it?

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    1. Thank you! I agree black and white didn't seem like the way to go, so I used a tan tile with black pen plus Copic sepia pen and chalk and charcoal pencil for shading. It was fun!

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  6. I really, really like this one! Love what you did with MacDee!

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  7. Excellent Tile. Beautiful design, and I love the Patterns you used. Your story was delightful. Thanks.

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    1. Thank you! Half the fun of these challenges is writing about the inspiration - and memories - they bring.

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  8. charming! Love the tile, with plaid, marbles, books, and leaves! wonderful wonderful

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    1. Thank you - it was fun to remember those "first day of school" days.

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  9. BEAUTIFUL. what a great tile and a lovely post to read. tangle and color choice is stunning.

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  10. Love your story, and what a great tile, there is so much depth to it with layers of tangles. Linda x

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  11. Great tile. I like the color and I also like your MacDee yardage. Your post reminded me a lot of times growing up.

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    1. Thank you. You, like me, must be older than dirt... :-)

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  12. Thank you so much for your lovely story with its gorgeous tile and other images!! It's amazing, how many memories MacDee does revive....

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    1. Thank YOU for the pattern! I'm sure it is gratifying to see all the different interpretations.

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  13. Wow, what a great work! I love the sepia and the black background, it turned out awesome!

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