An Education That Fits Just Right
When my mother decided it was time for a new dress for me, she and I went to the fabric department in the Ashland City Five and Ten Cent Store or to Harvey’s Department Store in downtown Nashville. My favorite was my royal blue velvet Christmas dress. I still remember shopping for the real rabbit fur trim, purchased by the yard and sewn around the neck and wrists.
My mother was also a professional dressmaker. When a customer wanted Mother to make her a dress, the lady purchased a pattern, fabric, and matching thread and brought it to our home. First, Mother cut it out on our kitchen table and sewed it together. Then the customer returned for a fitting. After she put the dress on in our living room, Mother pinned it here and there to make it fit that particular customer perfectly at the waist, hips, and under the arms. She marked the hem exactly where that year’s fashion custom dictated and marked the sleeves at the perfect length for that customer. Later the customer returned to pick up her perfectly-fitted dress.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hubert, of Mechanicsville, Maryland,
sit on their front porch in June 1942.
Mrs. Hubert is the town dressmaker.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The Hall of American Costume at the Smithsonian Museum of History and Technology, now known as the National Museum of American History, once had a display called A Dressmaker’s Salon of the 1880s. It featured this mannequin in a wedding dress.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives,
Record Unit 95, Box 45, Folder 01,
Image No. SIA_000095_B45_F01_001
When you teach your children at home, you can provide them with an education that fits just right, one that is “tailor made” for him or her.
Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently,
that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen
and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life;
but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,
when the Lord said to me,
“Assemble the people to Me,
that I may let them hear My words
so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth,
and that they may teach their children.”
Deuteronomy 4:9-10