Being Resourceful (in the early 60’s)

This is a story that involves fashion history, a personal story from my memory.

In 1954 the first pair of seamless stockings was created. In 1959 panty hose were invented.

Prior to that and for a while after, until everyone caught up with the changing trend, women wore individual nylon stockings, usually with seams up the back, each stocking fastened at the top, to a garter belt, or secured with a garter (like the blue one that is still often “thrown” at weddings).

When I was a sophomore in high school in the early sixties, we were just beginning to transition from “nylons,” both seamed and seamless, to seamless panty hose. 

In my house, between Mother and my sister and me, sometimes we had an odd number of individual seamed stockings and individual seamless stockings (odd number because we tossed the ones that had “runners” — can’t go into that description right now, but wearing hose with a “runner” would’ve been the height of NOT chic), and we only had maybe one pair of panty hose (always seamless). 

For high school choral concerts, we were required to wear a dress, which also meant wearing hose (we would never have gone with bare legs back then). One evening as my sister (a freshman) and I were getting ready for the concert, we discovered that we had a total of one pair of panty hose and then a single seamed nylon and a single seamless nylon.

With our combined memories, we are not positive about which one of us got stuck with the one seamed/one seamless nylons, but I’m pretty sure it was my sister. But together we came up with the idea for a solution. 

I took Mother’s Maybelline brow color with the little brush, and after my sister put on the nylons, I actually DREW a line up the back of her leg to simulate a seam. Honestly, you couldn’t tell the difference in her two legs! So, she wore “seamed” nylons that night, and I wore the seamless panty hose.

Yeah, we were resourceful like that. We made things work!

#fashioninthesixties #resourcefulsisters #maybellinebrowcolor #pantyhose #seamlesshose #seamedhose #howbrilliantwerewe #weareamazingstill

Catching Up

We may have gone directly from winter to summer here in the PNW, but no complaints from me. Though we still have the predictable rainy days, we have had several beautiful days of sunshine and warm temperatures. In our little back yard, I was struck by this view from our patio: in the foreground is our Missouri Dogwood Tree (the state tree of our native state), and immediately to the left of the dogwood tree, yet in the far distance, is a lone Hemlock Tree, the state tree of Washington (the state where we live now).

It’s now warm (and sunny) enough for me to enjoy walking outside, and that is a huge benefit in getting all my “Fitbit” steps without having to do so many steps indoors (not fun).

We no longer have our Missouri home where we daily watched many birds and animals in the woods behind our house, but we do enjoy the beautiful goldfinch (state bird of Washington), “flocking” to our feeders here.

We also have a pair of barn swallows who have decided to make their home just under the roof over our patio. Their nest is visible from the dining table, where I work. They don’t mind us at all, and while we have lunch or coffee on the patio, the momma bird just continues to sit on her eggs.

I have three new art pieces that I’m fairly proud of. Full disclosure: I threw one attempt at a kitten in the trash in the midst of completing these. I am finally learning that I simply do not do well with the art style that saturates the paper and then basically throws paint on, hoping the colors and placement will somehow reveal the subject. (Oh, I see yellow with green below it—it’s a sunflower!) That style is simply not me, and while many artists do very well with that style, I finally know, NOT ME.

This beautiful horse has turned out to be one of my favorite pieces so far, and I didn’t even know I could do it, until I tried (lesson there?). When I think about it, though, no feathers, no fur = much easier in many ways.

This one was fun, probably because I do love bright colors, and I love cherries.

This is maybe my second botanical. I do not really love to paint flowers, but I totally enjoyed this simple “plant in pot.”

On to family things, my “girls” and I are about to start a book study (tomorrow). I found a book by Sophie Hudson that is about cross-generational women/relationships in the Bible (Elizabeth and Mary, Ruth and Naomi, Lois and Eunice). I can hardly wait to delve into this with my daughter-in-love, granddaughter, and granddaughter-in-love (while my great grand babies play nearby). We know we will enjoy having fun and studying together. (Today I took my first peek at the content, and already in the Introduction, I had a big cry……I’m overcome with emotion when it comes to generational things……I am SO blessed.)

Hope to be a little more faithful with the blog in coming days. Thanks to those who follow, read, and send me emails/leave comments!

#watercolor #watercolorcherries #watercolorhorse #watercolorplantinpot #giddyupEunice #crossgenerationalrelationships