What did your mother make for you?

**Patty**

From another thread ...

Times were hard when i was a kid.....there was no Primark/cheap clothes......so my mother got out her trusty singer & made mine.

Crimpolene (it was the 70s ok) dresses.

Brush nylon nighties :eek:

I had the best fancy dress outfits in the street though thanks to outwork she sourced :rotfl:

I had to hold wool for my Nana when she unpicked hand-knitted stuff bought at the jumble. She washed it & then it got knitted into cardi's or jumpers. Then it got unpicked again & knitted into tank tops when i grew :rotfl:

So what evils did your mother sew for you?

Alikay

No evils: My mum was pretty good and made simple clothes in nice fabrics. I can remember some lovely needlecord pinafores, and little A line cotton dresses. As a teenager she made me quite a few well fitting pencil skirts and a couple of gorgeous dresses.

My nan was to be feared when she'd been busy at her WI craft group though: Multi-coloured waistcoats made from crochet squares were apparently "all the rage" one Christmas, and all the females in the family were duly endowed with one.:D

suejb2

My Mam isn't a sewer but she could knit.I'm the youngest of 5 and all my siblings had jumpers or tank tops (remember them!!) in just one colour I ,however,had the "leftover" remains so I wore a multi-coloured striped mixture.Jumpers were not a success ,many were too small on the neck and if they could't stretch over your head then it was simply snipped and a button sewn on.Happy days.

meritaten

mum knitted - unfortunately, it was at a time when 'hand knitted' clothes were looked down on! (sixties and seventies). my aunt sewed and she made me some lovely clothes! honestly, she could copy all the latest fashions and I had some lovely mini dresses that could have come out of Mary Quants! bit spoiled by mum insisting I wore her handknitted 'cardies' with them - but they were easily ditched!
mum did once make me a fair isle tank top - and for once it was in fashion! it was beautiful tbh. pity it was about two sizes to big - but I just pretended it was my boyfriends!

lostinrates

My mother knitted beautiful cardigans with lovely buttons, i remember my pink cardi with pink star shaped buttons and a soft yellow one with green buttons. My mother smocked beautifully and i still have some of the beautiful, beautiful dresses she made me and which are only found in expensive childrens shops now, she did not like synthetics and understtod how important a pretty sash or button was when i had to wear a dress.


But even she made horrors. The home made care bear was NOT a hit, and i am embarrased to admit my mother's attempt to give me something i wanted at a price she could afford was met with spoilt tears and tantrum.

cazziebo

I was one of 5, and my mother was an enthusiastic, if not too competent, knitter and dressmaker. I was the oldest girl with 8 years between me and youngest sister, and she'd insist on making us dresses in the same fabric. How ridiculous did I look at 12 wearing the same style and shape of dress as my 4 year old sister? (to make it worse I was very tall for my age)

We also did the unravelling and re-knitting thing too, and if she ran out of wool on one then just finished the jumper in another yarn.

The worst was when Bay City Roller jumpers were in fashion. They cost a few quid at the market but no - I had the hand knit jumper with a half sleeve in red when the rest was maroon.....

annie_d

A poncho from a plaid blanket with a hole cut in the middle for the winter.

A matching pair of hot pants from what was left over from the blanket.

There was not enough left over from the blanket and my groins were red raw.

A poncho from blue lining material with a tassel sewed on each end for the summer.

Lots of Crimplene with the sleeve holes too tight so my underarms bled.

Matching white lacy dresses and knickers.

A hat from an old jumper that smelled "funny". My mum said, "No one else will notice." Then laughed like a witch.

Happy days.

busiscoming2

My mum made me dresses when I was little and then skirts and blouses in my teens. I remember a pair of culottes too! I then took over making some of my own clothes until I got too lazy!

She also made my dolls clothes, clothes for the action men and my toy pram and cot bedding.

Oh and she was a whizz at making the furniture for my Barbie House which she'd made from a large cardboard box as seen on Blue Peter.

elsien

Mum was very good at sewing, which was lucky as being extremely premature and small, clothes to fit me couldn't be bought anyway.

However if it were today, I'd be on to childline re abuse having seen photos of some of the appalling crotcheted hats she saw fit to encumber me with.

aliasojo

I had a bright green poncho style cape. The kind that covered your whole top half and there were just 2 slits for your hands to poke through. The fasteners were gold coloured seriously fancy toggle type things and it was lined with a silky fabric which made it freezing when you put it on.

She also made my prom dress (in our day a prom was when you changed from primary to secondary). It was a long sweetie pink job with flowery trim, the peplum and the frill at the bottom were both flowery.

I'm surprised I wasn't scarred for life tbh.

She also knitted a lot of jumpers for me but I often got to pick the pattern and colours so those were ok.

cazziebo, I had bought white trousers and Mum sewed tartan down the sides, she sewed some tartan wrist 'scarves' too. Just so I could prance about Princess Street Gardens on a Saturday afternoon with my pal letting everyone know we were Roller fans. Those were the days. :rotfl:

onlyroz

My mum made me home-made breast pads out of old towels when my son was born. She then proceeded to wave her handy-work under the noses of my friends when they came visiting, much to my embarrassment...