Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Pat Capps Mehaffey

April 10, 2006

Again I am introducing another new and wonderful writer for Storytime Tapestry.  Pat becomes writer # 315 for Storytime Tapestry.  Please email her and tell her how much you enjoyed her work.

Pat Capps Mehaffey                                                                                     

pcm@cebridge.net

 DESIGNER FASHIONS – DEPRESSION STYLE

 Pat Capps Mehaffey

            I was born in 1930 at a time when American families were experiencing the grinding power of the Great Depression.  Since I was the only girl in the family, as well as the child born late in her life, my mother longed to dress me in pretty, frilly, little-girl clothes.  But there was no money for such foolishness. 

            Our 175-acre fertile black-land farm and all the farming equipment had been repossessed, and my dad was trying to provide for his family by tenant farming.  Instead of his beloved tractor, he was using a team of two white draft horses to pull the plow.

My mother was in charge of the Jersey milch cows and the Rhode Island Red chickens, and she was extremely devoted and protective of her charges for through them, she was able to bring in much-needed cash.  Sometimes a calf was sold or traded to a neighbor, and mother consistently made some money by selling butter, milk and cream as well as eggs. She used some of these proceeds to purchase nutritious feed especially designed for poultry to help the hens produce bigger and better eggs. To Mother’s great delight this chicken feed was packaged in 100% cotton cloth sacks in various attractive designs.  By taking care in the selection and purchase of the feed each time, and always choosing the bag with the same patterned fabric as the one she last purchased, she soon had enough matching fabric for a dress for her daughter.

At age six, with my first day of school approaching, Mother said I must have something special to wear for this momentous occasion.  At night, after all the chores were done, she stitched a three-piece outfit complete with dress, slip and panties using patterns she cut from a brown paper sack.  The feed sacks she used were bright yellow with tiny white flowers scattered all over, and Mother used yellow bias tape and white rick-rack for decoration. 

When the school bus stopped at our mailbox that fateful first-day-of-school morning, I marched up the steps clutching my lunch box and feeling like a princess because I was wearing special “designer” clothes. As lovely and satisfying as this yellow outfit was, there was one more unexpected gift to come. In one of the little pockets sewn on the skirt of the dress my mother had placed a nickel just for me! 

    Recently, as a gift for a special occasion, I received a genuine designer original.  I wore it with appreciation and gratitude but in my heart I knew it was not as grand as the original creation I wore for my first day of school.