I was speaking of wearing hats in my last post "The Ruby Rose Tea Room" and it got me thinking about my grandmother who went by many names: Mable Elvira Kirkpatrick Reynolds, and whose nickname was Billie. Her grandchildren referred to her by a rather formal "Grandmother," but her many great-grandchildren and great-great-granddaughter called her GeGe.
Grandmother also wore many hats- literally! Grandmother was a milliner, the maker of hats which included the pillbox, cloche and sailor hats. She made hats from wool, felt, straw and velvet. I remember watching her steam felt hats over a very bald head form in the kitchen, where she pulled, carefully pinned and left them to dry on the counter.
Other "hats" Grandmother figuratively wore were: homemaker, wonderful cook, mother, wife, friend and seamstress. In fact my grandmother was an expert seamstress who outfitted my sister and me in darling outfits. She also tailored sports coats and slacks for our little brother, Gregg. When we were young, she made all of our play clothes, school outfits as well as Easter dresses, hats and coats. If she was making us a special outfit for Christmas, we wore a blindfold during our fitting. I remember standing on a chair, Grandmother on the floor with a mouth full of straight pins, and she hemming my skirt. I would turn an inch every time she would say "turn." Of course she had a mouth full of pins and it would be a very muffled "turn."
When I was about 13, Grandmother took my sister and me to Kansas City to see Cinerama which was a 3-D movie
in a theater with three screens. She made matching sailor dresses for us. They were pale gray with a herringbone pattern, pleated shirts and big sailor collars with a long red ties down the front. She made wide brimmed hats out of the same fabric as the dresses with long red ribbons streaming down our backs. We walked to the theater down a narrow street that Grandmother called "Petticoat Lane." She said it was because the wind blew down the street whipping the girl's skirts around, showing their slips. I remember hearing a "wolf whistle" as we walked down the street. She said it was for Rhonda and me, but Grandmother was only in her forties and quite the dish and looking back on that day, I think the whistle was for her.
When I entered high school I didn't want "homemade" clothes anymore. But, she made my lovely high school prom dresses then formals and homecoming suits when I went away to college. She would make my clothes from a size 10 pattern and send it to me on a Greyhound bus. She never hemmed it, knowing that I would want it shorter than she would hem it so she left that task for me. When I walked down the aisle (the first time) I wore the beautiful white satin, floor length gown with a long detachable train she made for me. The train was edged with a lace floral trim handsewn with hundreds of pearl seed beads. The same lace and pearls decorated the waistband and bottom of the skirt. It was just beautiful and took her hours and hours to sew those beads.
Grandmother made hats for herself, my mother, friends, aunts and my sister and me. Pictured above are two hats that my mother saved from the 1960s.
