A Blast from the Past . . .
One of my cousins has gotten into Ancestry.com in a big way. My mom also was very interested in tracing her roots in Northern Ireland and she amassed a bit of information, and I had hired a genealogist in Northern Ireland before I went there a few years ago, and they unearthed some things. I never did anything with it.
During the mass cleanup of the basement back in January BC (that's Before Construction ;-)), I found a couple of my mom's small, purse size notebooks where she had written some notes on the family research she had done when she visited Belfast. I brought them upstairs and put them with the rest of the info. It's all been sitting in an Anna Griffin file/fabric bag ever since. I was supposed to mail it all to my cousin back in January BC . . . yeah. However, as has been my usual of late, I never managed to get that to happen, so her being in town was fortuitous. I took everything over to her at her sister's on Friday night.
In one of the small notebooks, I found a coffee-stained page where my mom had written her Visa account number, her William A. Lewis ("Where the Models Buy Their Clothes") account number, and her Marshall Field's account number. Neither of the stores exists any longer. She had also written a little Imperial/Metric conversion for pounds/kilograms and miles/kilometers, and at the bottom of the page, she had listed the following four sewing patterns.
Butterick #3528 B.M.
Vogue 1519 (2)
McCall's 2398 (1)
Simplicity 7261 (1)
Sewing patterns. This intrigued me because my mom was never much of a seamstress - I was. Although I don't sew much anymore, for many years I made all my own clothes. Since my cousin didn't need the info on that page for her research, I tore it out and brought it home.
I'm still banished to my office this morning while the painter is making the sunroom beautiful, so it seemed like a good time to see why it was so important for Mom to remember four patterns. As I found them online, all was revealed . . .
Butterick #3528 B.M.
October 4, 1986. Yes, I made them wear those dresses in blue moire - massive sleeves and all (but no shoulder bows :-) ). It was the 80's, and you couldn't get much more 80s than this dress. They have both forgiven me, but hey, they looked gorgeous, as you can see. So - first pattern decoded: Bride's Maids dresses from my first wedding.
Vogue 1519 (2)
This was in the running for me on the big day - the B look - tea length without the train, hence Mom's (2) after the pattern number.
McCall's 2398 (1)
Clearly we have a theme going now. Another dress in the running. Mom noted (1), which was the first look with the jacket.
Simplicity 7261 (1)
This last pattern, though, was initially a bit of a mystery. Nothing to do with a wedding. Was she thinking of it for her Mother of the Bride dress???? (OMG I hope not :-D ) Did she want a new coat? That seemed more reasonable, but if that was it, why this one? Totally NOT her style at all. A little more sleuthing, however, turned this up:
Ah - this makes more sense. The third pattern that had been in the running for my wedding gown. :-)
I was living in Denver back then, and she'd written them all down so she could go to the store in Illinois and see them.
Which did I choose? The McCall's one was the winner. A friend from the theatre, Micheal Gold, (he also stood up in the wedding) made it for me.
I immediately recognized the pattern when I saw it - but interestingly enough, I had no recollection of the two that didn't make the cut. Clearly the McCall's Laura Ashley look was far and away my first choice.
My marriage didn't last even five years, but last I checked, my maid of honor still has my Laura Ashley wedding dress hanging in her closet because she loved it so much. :-)
Funny how the past finds us now and again, isn't it?
During the mass cleanup of the basement back in January BC (that's Before Construction ;-)), I found a couple of my mom's small, purse size notebooks where she had written some notes on the family research she had done when she visited Belfast. I brought them upstairs and put them with the rest of the info. It's all been sitting in an Anna Griffin file/fabric bag ever since. I was supposed to mail it all to my cousin back in January BC . . . yeah. However, as has been my usual of late, I never managed to get that to happen, so her being in town was fortuitous. I took everything over to her at her sister's on Friday night.
In one of the small notebooks, I found a coffee-stained page where my mom had written her Visa account number, her William A. Lewis ("Where the Models Buy Their Clothes") account number, and her Marshall Field's account number. Neither of the stores exists any longer. She had also written a little Imperial/Metric conversion for pounds/kilograms and miles/kilometers, and at the bottom of the page, she had listed the following four sewing patterns.
Butterick #3528 B.M.
Vogue 1519 (2)
McCall's 2398 (1)
Simplicity 7261 (1)
Sewing patterns. This intrigued me because my mom was never much of a seamstress - I was. Although I don't sew much anymore, for many years I made all my own clothes. Since my cousin didn't need the info on that page for her research, I tore it out and brought it home.
I'm still banished to my office this morning while the painter is making the sunroom beautiful, so it seemed like a good time to see why it was so important for Mom to remember four patterns. As I found them online, all was revealed . . .
Butterick #3528 B.M.
Vogue 1519 (2)
This was in the running for me on the big day - the B look - tea length without the train, hence Mom's (2) after the pattern number.
McCall's 2398 (1)
Clearly we have a theme going now. Another dress in the running. Mom noted (1), which was the first look with the jacket.
Simplicity 7261 (1)
This last pattern, though, was initially a bit of a mystery. Nothing to do with a wedding. Was she thinking of it for her Mother of the Bride dress???? (OMG I hope not :-D ) Did she want a new coat? That seemed more reasonable, but if that was it, why this one? Totally NOT her style at all. A little more sleuthing, however, turned this up:
Ah - this makes more sense. The third pattern that had been in the running for my wedding gown. :-)
I was living in Denver back then, and she'd written them all down so she could go to the store in Illinois and see them.
Which did I choose? The McCall's one was the winner. A friend from the theatre, Micheal Gold, (he also stood up in the wedding) made it for me.
I immediately recognized the pattern when I saw it - but interestingly enough, I had no recollection of the two that didn't make the cut. Clearly the McCall's Laura Ashley look was far and away my first choice.
My marriage didn't last even five years, but last I checked, my maid of honor still has my Laura Ashley wedding dress hanging in her closet because she loved it so much. :-)
Funny how the past finds us now and again, isn't it?
Comments
Really took me back - nearly 30 years ago . . .