Do you sometimes wish the styles would go back to the days when people dressed more proper? It would be nice if we had better choices.
Even on hot summer days people dressed respectable.
Question
"If they did not shop often, then did they buy all their seasonal clothes at once? How did they get these clothes and how big was their wardrobe?"
Well, that is a bit complicated to answer. It all depends on where they lived and the income of the family as to how many clothes they would have. However, people did not have a lot of clothing as we do today.
Something that is often forgotten is that many women would sew their own clothing. It was very popular to sew your own clothes or have someone sew it for you.
Sewing your own clothes meant that you could alter and change things so that the same pattern could make several items.
My mother and my Aunt Ruth were very good seamstresses. Aunt Ruth did sewing for others and when I was young I loved to look through her button box. My Aunt Nina was a perfectionist with her sewing.
There was no end to what could be sewn.
It is sad to me that today many of our mills are gone and sewing is not very popular. I wish that people would realize what a beautiful wardrobe they could have if they would learn to sew their own clothing.
The good new is that you can find how to do many of these things on you tube. A good while ago I had forgotten how to make a crochet stitch and found there are all kinds of things on youtube.
People made their own hats, pajamas, panties, bra's, men's shirts, purses and all kinds of accessories.
Here is an old book I have how to make hats.
We did go shopping for clothing, sweaters and shoes but often it was for fabric to make our own clothes. Most all department stores that sold clothing would have seamstresses to alter the clothing to fit the customer.
There were not many hair products as we have today to keep the hair in place so the hair was rolled tightly to get the hairstyles you see in pictures from the past.
Pin curls could be worn while sleeping. That cute look with the scarf wrapped around the head often hid pin curls so when the scarf came off the hair could be brushed out and look nice.
Pin curls were simply pinned with bobbie pins.
Then there was the wave look which these type of clips were used and you can still purchase these clips.
This is how they did the wave.
People had a bit more time in the past because there were not all the electronic distractions as we have today.
Invisible hair nets were also worn that helped to keep part of the hair in place.
I hope this helps to explain a few things about how people looked so nice in the past.
Grandma Donna
