The temperature at 10:45 Easter morning north of Hutchinson was 27 degrees. Not surprising this early in April, I guess, but even later in the month it was a typical Easter morning. At least it seemed to be that way when I was growing up.
My maternal Grandmother, you have heard so much about, sewed all my dresses every year until she passed away when I was a sophomore. She spoiled me and my mother because when school or holidays came around mom didn’t have to worry about looking for an outfit for me.
Grandmother made most of my Easter dresses out of very lightweight fabric. I think her favorite to work with was sheer voile. It is lightweight and she usually bought it with a pattern on it. Most of the time it was a flower print.
I never knew what color or style of dress I would receive each year but I was never disappointed. When she used the voile for an Easter dress for me it had to have a slip that would match one of the colors in the fabric. And of course when I was little each slip she made had to incorporate several layers of can-cans in colors that matched the dress.
I have never figured out why she loved to work with that fabric because it just made more work for her to make my little dresses. But she also wore that fabric a lot herself, always with a darker slip to match under it. I can’t imagine working with that slinky soft fabric on an old treadle machine.
When my little sister, the brat, came along Grandmother made her a dress when she made mine for Easter, along with a little coat and of course bought both us a hat to match the outfit and little fancy socks to wear with our black patent leather shoes. We were also given a cute pair of dressy gloves. We thought we were really dressed to the nines when we were ready for church.
I was not too happy about having to wear a matching dress with the brat, but didn’t have a choice. If I wanted a new dress for Easter we were going to be matching when we went to church. The only good thing; there was enough age difference that we were not in the same Sunday school class. So, not many people saw us together to realize we were dressed alike. I’m sure they would have thought it was cute to see us dressed alike from the head to toe.
I wonder if Grandmother made my cousin’s dresses for Easter and if we would have been 6-8 little girls in the same outfit if we had been going to the same church. I hadn’t thought about that until now. Maybe I was the only one she sewed for…. and I should not ask and stir up that hornets nest.
When she made me the voile dresses with the slips for Easter, and in case the weather was cold, she’d make a little coat out of a heavier material than the dress to go along with it. These little coats were always so cute and I loved them. My favorite of all the coats she made me was pink.
I’m sure almost every year I had to wear the coat to Sunday school because it was to cold to go with just the little voile dress. If I didn’t have to wear it for Easter because it wasn’t cold the coat was passed on to another little girl without me ever getting to wear it.
It always made me mad when I had to wear the coat, which matched the dress, to Sunday school because my dress couldn’t be seen until I took the coat off. But my young mind didn’t take into account that it would be the only time I would get to wear it. I would outgrow it before it got cold again.
This year was a normal Easter with the cold weather and every one needed a jacket or coat. And the trees were not budding out and blooming so Easter was really early. When I was little I was going to wear my new Easter outfit Grandmother made even it was cold on Easter and I had to wear the matching coat. Kansas weather is always throwing us a curve with cold Easter weather. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
