Time to Pack Away the White???

Labor Day is nearly upon us and you know what that means don't you???? Yep time to pack away all the lovely white frocks, shoes, purses and any other clothing that is summer white. So is there anyone in Bloglandia that still does this??? (yep) says Me :) I can't help it really I can't. I was still a little girl when my mum trained me to avoid this most horrendous of social faux pas You don't wear white after Labor Day :) SO with this being said I bet you think my mum was raised in one of the "Summer Cottages" in the Hamptons or a Southern plantation??? Actually nothing could be farther from the truth. My mum was the youngest child, only girl with 3 grown brothers. My Grandfather and uncles worked in lumber camps and railroad crew camps. This was the depression anyone with work was lucky. My Grandmother and my mum moved from job to job with the boys. That is until my mum was 9 when she lost her mother to cancer. That left 3 grown boys and my grandfather to raise a cute little red headed tomboy. She was packed off to live with her aunt for the school year and spent the summers in the camps. It was her aunt who taught her how to be a "Proper Lady"

Boy it must have worked cuz when my mum left home to seek..ah make her fortune...ah heck to make a living :) she was one put together woman. Her outfit matched her shoes, which matched her purse, which matched her hat, and there was always a pair of gloves in said purse. :)

See what I mean if she said you don't wear white after labor day I figured she must know what she is talking about. Although I must confess white has never been a color you would find in my unwork (yep made that word up) clothes. As a kid it was a lost cause to dress me in white :) Then after my career choice you don't honestly believe I would ever choose to wear white socially do you??? :) Except for a white tee shirt or two there was never anything in my closet that was white. That was doubly true for white shoes. :) Why???? remember I'm the retired nurse...... I HATED WHITE!!!! I still have trouble with to much white Don't even get me started on white walls, white this white that jeez I've been in some houses you could go snow blind in ...Hurruuph

Oh yeah, these days I have ONE white frock. Oh and it's such a wonderful, famine, embroidered handkerchief cotton sundress. :) I love wearing it. I could be sitting out on the lawn for a little tea with Alice Roosevelt. It's just one of those frocks that make you feel like you stepped out of another more graceful time. :) And I have taken great care to maintain it's whiteness. Not easy here that's for sure!! But it is very white and this is Labor Day weekend so it's time to pack the frock away for another year. What??? Oh yeah I tried a couple of years ago to wear it after Labor Day, but it just was no good. I just knew everyone was staring at me pointing their fingers and whispering behind their hand..... Psssst doesn't she know white after Labor Day is just Not to be WORN??????

To prevent that little unhappy episode from happening again, I started to make a few jumpers, aprons and skirts for Fall-Winter. Annalise is modeling the first one. A blue gray apron (my favorite pattern) and a gun metal gray skirt. Both are made out of a type of luscious rayon fabric. My nod to the warm semi-tropical weather we have here that lovingly passes as Winter!! :)

I love the way this apron drapes and lays in the front but the back is always my favorite the way the straps cross over. It's a great pattern and I can easily change necklines and strap widths so that no two aprons are alike. This and the jumper I made a couple of weeks ago have sorta become my team uniform :) Oh well I like them they cover my overly abused legs from standing 3/8ths of my life. And I don't look like Hoo Hum Hermione or Boring Bertha :)

This concludes our Fashion Faux Pas class for this season, now shoo everyone go put

those whites away you will thank yourself well maybe.....

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are ;)