twelve dresses

I have been a very busy girl today

cutting out a minature dress


making a petticoat

lining the dress

making my own Designer label

locating wardrobe space

VOILA !

***

Why ?

Margaret

at

http://aliceandcamilla.blogspot.com/

has inspired me to join her and make one dress a month !

***

DRESS made from Vintage French fabric I had on a cushion which was wearing thin. Buttons from my mum's button box. Lace gift from another Blogger.

Petticoat made from coffee stained muslin, beads from my daughter's old earring making kidt and bow from my favourite clothes label.

Lining made from a dress pattern

Wardrobe made from Husband's Macphail Malt Whisky presentation box. Have had the little pegs for ages.

Intend to do a better job of hanging the dresses !

Everyone in Blogland is doing it...

getting out their old sewing machines of course !

Mum gave me her old Singer when she downsized

as it had been in storage

Later she gave me the booklets she'd since found -

and I couldn't remember even having the sewing machine !

Imagine my horror when I located it in our leaking shed !

I used to love playing with the little bobbins.

Mum made her own wedding dress -

I am no sewer & hated needlework class at school

but I do want to learn to use this

***

I'm certain there is another sewing machine in the loft

which we acquired when we moved back from Spain

and the removal man lost some of our belongings

(a pine trunk full of clothes, linens & lace sadly )

We took him to court but it got very nasty -

last we heard that he was in prison for drug running

I've always wondered who the sewing machine belonged to and...

whether she has my things !

***

I had some beautiful lilies in December with some extra " sticks "

The florist told my husband that they would root & we could put then in the garden.

Before they began to root they began to shoot !!!

and now there is a beautiful flower too.

So I went into the Florists and was told it is Dogwood.

The roots are coming now so I can get them out in the garden soon

I' m so thrilled and will be planting them far away from the hens !!!

Winifred Margaret Downs

born September 14th 1901

***

I have shown you some of the treasures

I own which belonged to my Great Auntie Win

so I thought I'd show you and tell you about the great lady herself.

The drawing is by my mother's cousin Joan Morton

showing Auntie Win looking out to sea

at my mother's house on Anglesey

Born to ( Hannah ) Mary Smith and Eli Downs,

Auntie Win had two brothers - a younger one, Eric

( who later became The Mayor of Southport )

and the older Gordon - my Grandfather.

Mary was a Yorkshire lass and Eli a draper from Glossop.

They met in a Southport boarding house on holiday with their respective friends

and moved there sometime later where Auntie Win and her brothers grew up.

So the family story goes Eli wanted to marry Mary's sister Aida

but their father insisted that he marry the eldest Mary.

Aida and a third sister Fanny also moved to Southport

and ran a boarding house together in Bath Street.

Neither ever married.

They were not rich or posh
but lived by good hard working family values.
Winifred & Gordon were members of a tennis club which is where he met Molly his wife to be
Molly, daughter of Rosa Hannah Edwards and Harry Whitehead of Manchester
The three were great friends
and Auntie Win was a bridesmaid at their wedding
( standing on the right )






Below are the holiday snaps taken in Largs which I mentioned in my previous post
and a hand written copy of a poem called
A boy about Largs
Let others sing of distant lands
written by John M Hill 1868
I just loved Auntie Win's handwriting
Molly, my grandmother's was very similar.





Winifred's great friend was Peggy Lithgo who had a terrific sense of humour
once when mum & I were staying with Auntie Win in Southport
mum rang Peggy to arrange a meeting
she answered the phone & put on a funny voice and said
" Yellow Top Taxi Cabs "
That was just her kind of humour.



Photos below of Win & Peggy together
and bottom right
Win and Molly





Auntie Win worked in Ladies' Gowns in Marshall and Snellgrove, Southport.
She was very smart & fashionable herself
always trimming a hat or collar.






I don't know anything about the voluntry work
she did in the second world war war
but she was obviously some kind of nursing assistant.
Winifred never married though she did have suitors
judging by the formal invitations hand written in the form of a letter
dance cards and Valentine's Cards







She adored watching horse racing
and loved gardens & would never miss a Southport Flower Show.
She behaved a bit like the Queen Mother at these events
a woman whom she greatly respected









Below is my favourite of all the old photos I own
I have had it blown up and given as gifts to family members many times.
It shows ( left to right )
Molly's mother ( my Great Granny ) Auntie Win,
Peter ( Molly's eldest son- my uncle & Godfather now in his 80s )
and Molly. It is taken at a beach hut they hired on Pagham beach in 1931.
Unseen but in the background is my mother a baby in a basket






Here is Winifred in the beach
with my mother Rosemary Winifred Downs
( she says she never had her own name ...
Rose from her Maternal Grandmother, Mary from her Paternal Grandmother
and Winifred from her Aunt ! )



Mum was very very fond of Auntie Win
and so in turn was I





Auntie Win was so " with it " and up with the times.
She was so interested in what we did
Here is a note from her to me
The card was designed by Joan and it
is just how I imagine Auntie Win walking along Lord Street Southport
When I sent her a picture of an out fit I wanted to copy for our VI form leavers' dinner,
she sent me a silk blouse & lace to trim it.
It looked exactly like the New Romantic style I was trying to copy.



Later she sent me several cardboard bundles of lace
but sadly they were lost to me forever when we moved back to the UK from Spain
I have Auntie Win's writing case though.






Here she is with my own daughter at my Mum's house
on Anglesey in the summer 1993 aged 92
she thought my daughter was such a hoot playing with her walking stick !






So proud to have known you Auntie Win

I know you wanted to make it to 100 and get a telegram from the Queen

but you did have a grand 94 years

It has been a while since I showed you one of my little treasures

which belonged my Great Auntie Wyn.

these little wooden rabbits with their leather ears are adorable.

***

Auntie Wyn holidayed quite a bit in the Lake District

so she may have bought them as a souvenir there

She liked to see the red squirrels

***

There are also photographs of her holidaying

in the seaside town of Largs on the Clyde coast

West Scotland

so she may have bought them there

( they are in a Tartan box after all ! )

what is even more special

is that it is the town my husband is from !!!

***

When we visit my parents in law

I think of Auntie Wyn

walking along the seafront

in her flapping coat & cloche hat & smart shoes

eating an ice cream from Nardinis

which is still there.

I have decided to add my lovely beach combing treasures

to the erosion bundle project

I gathered some of my favourite bits & bobs

and stuck them onto the blocks of wood

which are now outside

waiting to be weathered

http://erosionbundles.blogspot.com/

I took a walk through the

Church grave yard earlier
which looked stunning in the snow

my Narcissus have been peeping out since October !

The Bundles get their first bit of weathering



and - Bigfoot woz ere !

the erosion bundle project

I saw the end product of this project last spring

and caught up with it again here :

http://love-stitching-red.blogspot.com/

the idea is to create an artistic bundle of paper/ fabric etc

then hang or place it outside somewhere ...

and wait to see what nature does with it !

you retrieve the bundles in April

then have 'til August to create a piece of art from the results

my bundles are tucked behind my Clematis & Jasmine

which climb over the old blue shed.

To join in go to :

http://erosionbundles.blogspot.com/

WHAT ON EARTH ???

I'll show you what I'm doing tomorrow

my January 2010 challenge...

what will I make from this lovely chunk of wood

I found while beach combing ?

HAPPY NEW YEAR !