Keith & Hannah, 1980-82 -- Volume 011

 August, 1981.  Keith was a year and a half; Hannah was 6 months.  The Olan Mills photographer did not even try to get the babies to smile.  So they mostly looked shell-shocked.

I sewed my blouse to go with the jumper, which was originally floor-length.  From the fabric I cut from it to make it just-below-knee-length, I made Hannah's matching dress.

Hannah, age 1, February 1982

Keith, 2, and Hannah, 1

I sewed Keith's 3-piece suit for Easter, 1982.

1976-78 -- Volume 008

 

Three-piece western suit and satin shirt I made for Larry when we were 17.

This was my maid-of-honor dress for my friend Martha's wedding.  The bridesmaid had one like it.  They were made from a Gunne Sax pattern.  They were of the stretchiest single knits we had ever worked with, and it took an Act of Congress to get the hems straight.  The other bridesmaid's skirt stretched after she was done with it, and wound up dragging the floor. 

But let me tell you what happened on the wedding night, after the sermon:

 My father finished preaching, prayed, and then said, "Will the wedding party take their places."

 The bride and her attendants arose, as did the groom and his groomsmen.  We stepped forward to the alter, and the wedding ceremony commenced.

 And then Martha and Carey Gene were husband and wife, and it was time to step back to the pew and then file out while the congregation sang the closing hymn.  The newly married couple would go first, followed by Larry and me, then the other bridesmaid and groomsman, the candlelighters next, and finally the ringbearer and flowergirl (my nephew and niece, Robert and Susan).  Since the pew was only a few steps back, we did not turn around; we just backed up.

 Problem:

 Sitting in that strrrretchy single knit dress through the service had stretched the back of the skirt, and it was no longer half an inch above the floor.

 I stepped on the hem.

 This pulled me backwards a little, so I automatically stepped back quickly with the other foot to catch myself.

 That foot wound up even farther up the hem, jerking me back all the more.

 By now, I was leaning backwards at a precarious angle, as I effectively walked up the inside of the back of the skirt.

 The outcome would have been nothing less than ignominious, if the backs of my legs had not suddenly ka-bonked into the pew, which brought me up short and prevented me from landing flat on my back in front of the entire congregation.

 I did not willingly wear a floor-length thneed (à la Dr. Seuss' The Lorax) ever again.

Playing Jackson's piano

Someone gave me flippers to try on -- and then Lyle, Larry's father, showed up with his camera.

I made that striped skirt.  Do you think it goes with the flippers?

School Pictures, 1973 & 1974 (from Album 007)

 Pictures are messed up from being in Larry's wallet.  If I find better ones, I'll replace these.

Sarah Lynn, 9th grade, age 13

You can't see much of this top, but I was quite proud of it, as it had a wide placket in the front, and the side fronts were gathered into it.  I thought I had really arrived, sewing-wise, once I made that!

Sarah Lynn, 10th grade, age 14

Double collar, double collar!  I thought my cleverness now knew no end.

Clothes Made in 1973 and 1976 (from Album 006)

 

My friend Martha (left) and I (right) made matching dresses.  Here we are with my dog Sparkle at Lake McConaughy in western Nebraska in 1976.

Here I am with Sparkle, the Best Dog in the World, at Summit Lake on Mt. Evans, Colorado, 1973.  I was 12.

1978 -- Dating, and First Job (from Album 005)

That's the vest, pants, and satin shirt I made for Larry.  There's a western jacket that goes with it, too.

Larry has always said this dress was his favorite of all time -- and he's never changed that opinion, after all these years.

These pictures were taken for my ID at Nebraska Public Power District.  I was 16, and had gotten my first job through my Business Administrations class in 12th grade.  I was a secretary in the Word Processing Center.  Those big Word Processors were the forerunners of today's computers.  I loved my job there.

May Day, 1976 (from Album 004)

 For this May Day, 1976, my friends and I got together and made enough cookies to fill all these boxes and baskets -- one for every family in our church.

That red and white checked dress (double knit, as always) was made from one of my first patterns -- a princess style, with inverted V in the front.  I sewed enough of those things that when I found Y seams in quilts, they didn't faze me.  😁

Clothes, 1972-73 (from Album 003)

 

Here I am with my little Sunday School class, having a picnic at Pawnee Park.  I was 13.  The dress I am wearing was one of the first ones I made -- and it's double knit, of course.

Easter outfit I made.  The jacket is ribbed double knit; the skirt is a thinner double knit.  That's my wonderful dog Sparkle, part German Shepherd and part Collie.  Any trick I dreamed up to teach her, she learned in nothing flat.

In Florida

My cousin Jeanine with her dog Blossom Belle Brisbane; Rhonda who would become my sister-in-law when I married her brother Larry, with Uncle Howard and Aunt Evelyn's kitty; and me with Sparkle.  We were at the Winings' farm in North Dakota.

Sarah Lynn, 12; Annette, 6 (who would one day become my sister-in-law when she married Larry's brother Kenny); and Martha, 14 (whose daughter Amy would one day marry my son Teddy).