On a broomstick roll

I have a love of clothes and my overly full closet(s) give testimony to it. I'll blame my mother here (don't we all?). When I was a child, she employed a seamstress who kept us in homemade clothes. Granny Bea was a wonder. Mother also shopped at grocery stores which gave S&H Green Stamps. There was a higher-priced clothing store in town which would take them for part of a purchase price. Our better, Sunday clothes, if you will, came from there.

Then I learned to sew. My sister and I stayed hours in the fabric departments. We could spend a summer month making up our wardrobes for the next school year. In fact, my sister made part of my trousseau.

I took summer home economics classes which consisted of volunteer work and sewing projects. Having stuffed my closet to its limits, I pieced a quilt in a very simple pattern one year. Mother had it quilted and at the moment, it's on my bed. I keep meaning to turn it over and note which piece of fabric came from which garment before I forget. But then it's not going to matter to anyone else but me anyhow.

All of which is the background to why I'm loathe to discard clothing. Just because it's out of style, doesn't mean it won't be back "in", and that's the explanation for why I've kept my broomstick skirts.

I love flow and movement in fabric, particularly in a hemline. Broomstick skirts, for the uninitiated, are horizontal layers of coordinating fabric, each gathered to the other. They are so named because, after washing, they are to be tied around a broomstick so that the wrinkles can set in. (The easy solution to this is to know that not everything has to be washed each time you wear it. The other easy solution are high-temperature rubber bands available in the cooking department. I'd have loved to have linked to them, but I can't find them online. Anyway, band it together, wash, dry.) The skirts were quite popular 10+ years ago. In velveteen or flannel, they were a winter staple, while in lighter fabrics, they worked with sandals all summer. They just fit into the niche which is my weakness for skirts.

And, of course, they went "out".

Guess what's back "in"? Guess who has succumbed to a new black one from Chico's? I'm not naming names, but it's a year-round winner. And it's with its older compatriots in my closet.