All About that Plaid

When I was a little girl, I wore dresses--plaid dresses. Plain colored dresses, if I wore them at all, were for church. In the winter, I wore red, navy blue, or white, heavy tights under my dresses. Little girls never wore black, not even black tights. When the weather was hot, I might wear a short set, with matching shirt and shorts, or a one-piece sunsuit, but only at home. If we were going someplace, I usually wore a plaid dress.

This is me on my sixth birthday, with the doll cake my grandma made for me. My dress was gold and brown plaid, but a shinier, fancier plaid than usual, since it was a special occasion. 

Most plaid dresses came in short-sleeve versions only. When the weather was chilly, I wore a cardigan on top. It didn't necessarily match my dress, but that didn't matter, since warmth was the only goal. If the weather was really cold, I wore slacks under my dress when I was outside, but the pants came off when I went indoors. 

I was seven in this picture, which was probably taken one cool morning before I walked to school, to commemorate my missing teeth. It certainly wasn't taken to honor my haircut, courtesy of Mom, who rarely paid anyone to cut my hair.

I probably owned only one pair of pastel slacks, since I didn't have much reason to wear them, other than under my school dresses on cold days. I suppose I wore them if the family went fishing, but it wasn't unusual for me to wear a dress when I rode my bike--or a horse.

Here I am with my cousin, Debby, riding her family's horses one summer day after church. I can tell it was after church because Debby's hair was curled, and we were both wearing lace-edged, white socks with our church shoes.

Every August, soon after the fall catalogs arrived in the mail, Mom would order my new school dresses. She let me choose which ones I liked the best, from the Sears, JC Penney, or Mongomery Ward catalogs. 

On a whim, I checked online to see if I could find any vintage catalogs. Did you know you can find any catalog you want, from any year?

 

Mom usually let me choose dresses from the least expensive offerings--$3.00 dresses were a much wiser purchase than $7.00 dresses, especially for school clothes. These pages are from a Sears Catalog I found online. Do you recognize the red dress with the ruffle down the front--the one I'm wearing with my sweater in the above picture?

Plaid dresses are making a comeback. They aren't the only option for little girls' dresses, and the styles are somewhat different from the dresses I used to wear, but they are definitely back. Now, though, every cotton dress will have just enough polyester woven into the fabric so it won't need to be ironed after every washing.

I must have been feeling a little nostalgic after I noticed the girls' plaid dresses for sale in our local stores this fall. It almost makes me wish I could still order from this old catalog. My granddaughters might like to get plaid dresses for Christmas this year...

And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.  Matthew 6:28-30a