The young girl's needle went in and out of the fabric at exactly the same distance each time. She was very exact in everything she did, but each quilt circle had to be even more so for her. Each stitch that she made would bring the circle together in an even round puff. The circles in many colors and patterns stacked up neatly beside her were from the dresses she had made to wear to school, ready to receive the needle and thread and continue to form the quilt. Some pieces were from her friends dresses too. They had taken the scraps of material from their homemade dresses and decided to make a popcorn quilt together. A memory quilt. Once it was finished they would take turns keeping it for awhile. Sometimes they sewed the pieces together while they sat on the bed and talked and giggled over the things they had planned to do on Friday night. Other times they worked on it when they were at home alone, each of them with their own box of circles. Each, knowing which pieces of the fabric had belonged to who and who had worn which dress and when. It was so much fun to look at the small circles and remember the times they had worn their dresses. Memories to touch and feel.
As each "popcorn" was placed in the box, the girl would mentally add it up. They had an idea of how many they would need, but not an exact count. The three teenage girls had read about a "Popcorn" quilt in a magazine and decided they could make one as a memory quilt. The sixties weren't times of everyone being rich or without worry about money. Some of the kids at school seemed to have everything, but most didn't. Most of them had to make do with what they could afford too, most of the time.
Girls especially, during the teen years feel the need to fit in. Fitting in was so important during those early years, to the tender heart of a teenage girl. In order to really fit in, the girls needed to wear the same clothes as all the other girls. Just like the ones that always wore the latest styles and didn't seem to have a care in the world other than looking pretty. During this particular time, a style of dress called the "shift" had become immensely popular with girls all over. The style was the same, but the pattern of the fabric was the key. You couldn't just have one, you needed several dresses of different patterns, most of the patterns were of small flowers. The colors were endless, which meant that if you bought the fabric and made them yourself, you could have many more than if you had to go buy them. The girls chose to learn how to make them themselves and learn they did.
Of course the shoe was important too. There was actually a style of shoe to be worn with the dresses in order to really fit in with the fashion and make it work. Now those shoes weren't particularly inexpensive either! Some girls had more than one pair, but most only had one pair and they were treasured. Navy seemed to be the color worn most of the time, because it went with so many different colors of dresses. Yes, navy seemed to be the best choice. However, a few girls actually owned red and pink too. They weren't the girls that made their own dresses though, theirs were store bought and they could have new shoes whenever they wanted in every color available.
The girls that had learned how to sew and make their own dresses were somewhat envious of those pink shoes, but the red ones were actually coveted. They were so pretty and just made the outfit feel so special. The girls had finally made it and received a pair of red shoes somehow, saving their pennies and dimes and felt completely confident when they had red shoes too. Except...that wasn't the end of it. Just when they thought they were fitting in completely and were confident every day wearing their homemade dresses and store bought shoes, a new fade came in to fashion. Would it ever get easy?
The cable knit sweater. Not just any cable knit however, it had to be the name brand sweater or the color wouldn't be right. No knockoffs would do here. How could this happen so soon? Just as the girls had mastered their skills with the sewing machine, here was another hurdle to climb. You just had to have the sweater to wear with the dress and the shoes that you had finally managed to get two pair of. Now they were faced with something they couldn't use their talents to make. The sweater had to be purchased and it was only sold at certain stores. Yes, the high end stores. Stores that weren't normally visited by those that didn't have buckets of money to spend.
Having been accepted and praised with their dresses of many fabrics, they couldn't be defeated now and go back to...not fitting in, or feeling out of place when everyone else had at least two of the sweaters. Not easily defeated, the girls found ways to make enough money to each buy a sweater. Babysitting was the popular form of making money when you were too young to get a job and they did their share of it. Kids that screamed for their mom's the whole time the girls were taking care of them and refused to go to bed, were their ticket to the sweaters.The real jobs would come a little later...
With all their savings from their babysitting jobs, they timidly opened the door to the special store that sold the sweaters, they almost lost their nerve and backed out to the sidewalk to count their money once more. It was the quietest store they had ever peeked into. They had always looked in the windows of this store and continued walking past it, knowing it would be futile to go in. It would have been far too embarrassing too, if they didn't have enough money today, once they had picked out the color and taken the coveted sweater to the counter to pay for it. One of the girls had been given some extra money by her parents and she assured the others that she would help them out if they needed it.
Onward they marched covering their laughter with their hands on their mouths, into the den of high end shoppers and snooty looks. They spoke in whispers as they walked through the isles of beautiful clothing, not wanting to be seen by the other shoppers.The thick carpet under their feet wouldn't hide their actual fear, only the sound of it. Most of the stores they shopped in had shiny lineoliem floors that made every footstep clack as you walked on it but this store was hushed as people made their purchases.
Finally finding the rack of sweaters, they couldn't hide their joy as they touched each and every one. They became so absorbed in feeling the soft wool and admiring every color with a slight gasp at the prices, they lost track of time. Realizing that they would soon be late to meet the parent that was picking them up, they rushed to make a decision, in almost a panic. Suddenly, one of the girls broke into a huge smile, all we have to do is each pick different colors and we can borrow each others. The other two girls felt as if heaven had lifted a burden from them and quickly agreed to the plan.
Of course they picked white and navy and red. The sweaters just had to match the shoes! Giggling all the way out to the sidewalk, they were proud of their plan and couldn't wait to try them on at home with each of their homemade dresses. So much anguish had gone into the perfect outfit, surrounding those homemade dresses. They didn't realize until it was time to make the quilt, much later, that they had suffered for all the wrong reasons, needing to fit in. They just knew at the time they had anquished until they each owned at least one color of shoes, sweater and dress that matched and made them feel completely...in. They fit in. The lesson learned was that they truly didn't need to try and fit in anymore, they already did, but not from the clothes that they wore, but who they were. The older they got, less importance was put on the right clothes as each passing year brought them to other things and a different way of thinking..like boys.
Of course the quilt came to be because the dresses had long gone out of fashion and been replaced with other things. Still..it brought them together with their first team project and the feelings of wanting to remember those hard earned dresses just a little longer. A few lessons they would take them with them into adulthood had been learned as well, learning to sew and be self sufficient at an early age, finding out what they could accomplish with hard work and tenacity.
Jeans had come into fashion by then and they were all for it! It was entirely too much work to stay dressed in fashionable clothes all the time, they had better things to think about now...cars! Friday nights and driving through all the local hangouts...gas was cheap...and curfew was...later.
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