Tea Napkins

Grandbaby's Tea Set and handmade napkins at Mrs. White's House

Last month, I found some beautiful Christmas Fabric.  I planned to make myself an apron.  I have been working on it, little by little, over the last several weeks.  I hand-sew because it is easier for me, even if it takes much longer than a sewing machine.

Part of Mrs. White's Apron, made with Christmas Fabric

I thought this material was so pretty and cheerful. I wish my local store carried more, but they only had about 2 yards, and then it sold out.


My three -year old granddaughter saw me hand-sewing the  lovely material and asked me to make her something with it.  I would have loved to make her a little apron, but there just was not enough material.  However, there was enough for some tea napkins.

Grandbaby loves Grandmother's napkins. I keep a pretty box of them on a hutch in our front parlour. She helps me set the table for meals, and for tea time.  I have plain linen napkins, paper ones, and some homemade ones.  Her favorite napkins are pink linen which were a gift from a dear friend.  Whenever she reaches for those, I hear her older brother call out to me, "Me'me!  She is getting into your tea napkins again!"

I thought she would love a set of miniature napkins for her toy tea set, which is kept here at our house.  The Christmas fabric would be lovely for this.  There was just enough material to make four little squares.  All I had to do was hand-sew the hems around each of them.

I put them in a Christmas tin, along with her plastic tea set.  She can use them anytime she likes, and then put it all away in the pretty tin.

I have not finished my apron yet. Baby's tea napkins came first. (gentle smiles)

Blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives -

Encouragement - Poor and Pretty Living.

What it Means to Be - Just a Housewife.

Some Ideas - The Secret to a Clean House.

 - To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

Find Home-keeping Inspiration, in Mrs.White's book -Mother's Book of Home Economics .  Paperback, 312 pages.

Echoes of old Gospel Music

Mrs. White's Parlour Table

Last night, after I cleaned the kitchen, I sat by the fire and did some mending.  In the background I could hear the sounds of old gospel quartets singing "They'll be no disappointments" [in Heaven], "Keep Smiling," "I've Got a Mansion," and "Brother will you meet me there?"  This was coming from my kitchen radio.

Listening to these beautiful old songs from old time singers as I worked with my sewing needle gave me a sense of great peace and joy.

Sometimes I forget how wonderful it is to sing and to hear hymns. Sometimes I forget the words to old cherished songs from my hymnbook. I am grateful for CDs of old music and a CD player to hear them.

Still, nothing is better than a church congregation holding the old hymn books and singing together songs like, "Amazing Grace," and "Rock of Ages."

Bringing the culture of holiness, into one's home and daily life is a privilege.  It is a blessing.

My children and grandchildren are familiar with the old songs as I have them playing while I cook and bake in the kitchen. The echoes of old gospel music plays quietly in the background as we visit at the table over coloring books or a game of checkers.  The music is in my car as I go out on errands.

And when the house and my life are quiet. . . . sometimes, I still hear the memory of some precious song in my mind and heart. And it is the most sweetest, comforting echo of all.

Blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives - 


 Remembering my Father - Holiness from the Garage.

My Heritage - The Blessing of Being a Half- Southern Mama.

Hard Times - Living in Reduced Circumstances.

 - To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

Now Available from The Legacy of Home Press:

"Gracious House Keeping: Advice, Encouragement, and Cleaning Help for the Christian Housewife."

Complete with Encouragement and Work Charts to cheer you along in your homemaking.

115 pages, paperback.

 

 

 

The Excitement of One New Dress

LOC: Home sewing in 1943.

 

 

 In my Mother's day, children normally had three outfits. The saying was: "One in the drawer. One in the wash. And One on your back." There were seasonal shopping trips to get a new dress (or outfit) at various times of the year. But it was nothing like today's shopping frenzy, in the modern home.

Before the "requirement" of walk-in closets, people generally had few outfits.  They had what was necessary along with one or two special (dress-up) garments.   There was no need for large closets. It was not a standard feature when building a home.

When young girls were learning to sew, they were excited at the idea of shopping for material, notions and a basic dress pattern. They would spend hours cutting pattern pieces and fabric. They would carefully sew, and try on portions of the dress. A tremendous amount of effort went into making such a dress! There was also much pride in the finished product.  Those dresses may not have cost very much, but they were treasured by each amateur seamstress. 

I still remember how much time went into making my very first dress.  I also remember selecting a pattern for a baby dress when my first child was only a few months old. I loved sewing a dress for her, and trimming the collar in lace!  I have made many girls' dresses over the years and those dresses have been cared for and enjoyed more than any store bought item. Why? Because so much time was spent on their creation.  Most of the dresses were made for a specific event or holiday, but worn many times, over many years.

Of course, in this present day, it is very inexpensive to buy a new dress. Sales at local department stores and the quality of items available at consignment and thrift shops make it very easy to find affordable clothes.   But sometimes I wonder if we buy too many dresses?  

What if we carefully sought out only one dress at a time. What if we bought one dress each season, or made one dress? Would we take our time and make a deliberate selection, rather than just buying whatever was available (or easy)?

Imagine how exciting it would be if we shopped for one pretty dress just like girls of yesteryear searched for a pattern and fabric?  Not only would we save a tremendous amount of money, but we would slowly build a lovely wardrobe of charming clothing!

Blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives -

Is Mother Required to Offer Daily Desserts? - The Thrifty Kitchen.

How Clean is your House? - Beware of Random Kitchen Inspections.

- To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

 

Find cleaning inspiration and encouragement in Mrs. White's book, "Gracious House Keeping."

"Gracious House Keeping: Advice, Encouragement, and Cleaning Help for the Christian Housewife."

Complete with Encouragement and Work Charts to cheer you along in your homemaking!

115 pages, paperback.

Comforted by my Homemaking Tools

I have this old ironing board that I have used for many years. It is wobbly and the cover is faded and worn. I did some ironing yesterday. I set it up in front of the television and watched "The Waltons." while I ironed pillowcases and fabric for sewing projects. I took breaks from ironing to wash bedsheets and make beds. I did dishes, made lunch and enjoyed a very special homemaking day.

I love the scent of a hot iron, and the feel of warm clothes. It reminds me of the comfort of home. When it was time to put the ironing board away, I thought of how it would be nice to get a new one. But then realized I needed to keep this old one. It has been well-used, all these years, and is an important part of my life. Why would I replace it with something modern and cold and foreign? I need to be surrounded by the familiar. I need to look at my homemaking tools and remember they have been used year- after- year and that I've done well.

One thing that is difficult about using a computer is that it is very hard to keep house while surfing the Internet or checking emails, or writing.   But when I watch television or listen to the radio, I can iron and sew and walk about the house doing projects. I can dust and polish and visit with my family. I can interact with those around me and accomplish things that give me great joy.

I mostly try to use the computer in the very early hours before sunrise. Then I spend the rest of my day focusing on the joy of the home arts - familiar things - surrounded by my family - and ironing and sewing and doing dishes.    Even the mere act of sweeping the floor provides a good feeling.  I love to see the vacuum cleaner and the broom and my dustpan, over in the corner. I see the furniture polish under the kitchen shelf, and my sewing basket on the hutch,  and I know these special tools are part of my daily life.   It is a rich and full life.  And I am ever-grateful.

blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives -

Old Fashioned Living - Retirement Planning for the Poor.

Encouraging children to clean -  Nobody wants to Clean a Messy House.

Finding Genuine Happiness at Home - Peace be Upon This House.  

 To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

Importance of Home Economics Training

Library of Congress: Setting the table in home economics class, South Carolina, 1939

 
 

When Homemakers Learn The Science of Keeping a Home, Society Benefits.


Keeping the home is a challenging career in itself. We are not unemployed, living in leisure. We have daily work that keeps us busy. It is important that we are trained in the scientific arts of home economics.  Here are just some of the things we need to do:

1. Operate and maintain appliances. We also need to understand how new models work and see if they will make our homes more efficient - both in saving labor and money.

2. We need to learn nutrition. This is for the health of our families.  This includes our choices in the grocery store, our meal planning, our baking and cooking.  We must have basic cooking and shopping skills.

3. Basic Medical Care. We are lay-nurses. We must know how to handle colds, fevers, and minor injuries.

4. Child Care and Development. We need to know the basics of caring for a baby, toddler, child, teenager and young adult.

5. Basic Sewing.  We need to be able to, at the very least, repair clothes and sew on buttons. Making clothes for the family, or sewing drapes, and doing embroidery work, etc. are nice, but not essential in today's homes.

6. Laundry and Cleaning. To run a sanitary, efficient home, we must learn the basics of laundry and how to clean a house.

What if you don't know any of this stuff and are struggling at home?

 In the early part of the 1900's, homemakers clubs were available in many towns throughout the United States. This was where the women would get together to learn from one another. In my local town's Historical Society, there is a photograph of a group of mothers in a homemaker's club in the 1930's. Their support of one another was wonderful!

Today, we can join quilting clubs, cooking clubs and the like. We can also read books, watch videos and learn in many different ways. The important thing to remember is that we must always continue to sharpen our skills and learn because changes in modern culture and technology affect our work at home.

Some Quotes from the Experts:

-----------------------
"Home economics should find its way into the curriculum of every school because the scientific study of a problem pertaining to food, shelter or clothing… raises manual labor that might be drudgery to the plane of intelligent effort that is always self-respecting…Home economics is not one department, in the sense in which dairying or entomology or soils is a department. It is not a single specialty… Many technical and educational departments will grow out of it as time goes on."

Martha Van Rensselaer (1913)
Professor of Home Economics and Co-Director of the New York State College of Home Economics


--------------------------
"From the broad view of intelligent statecraft, the state will find an education in home economics a tool of the utmost importance in building up forces which increase physical well-being of the population and which make for a reduction in the number of persons thrown back to the state for support by reason of physical, mental, or moral failure."

Albert R, Mann (1930)
Dean, New York State College of Agriculture


--------------------------
"Home-making today should have a background of scientific training because only in this way can real efficiency be achieved. The average girl wants to be able to keep her house with the least possible strain, and in order to do this she must have good training. This can best be achieved by taking a good course in home economics."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1933)
First Lady
-------------------------------------

Blessings
Mrs. White

 - To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

Every home can be a homeschool!

Find confidence and courage in teaching your own children at home with Mrs. White's book,

Seeking a Thrifty and Simple Life.

112 pages, paperback.

The Sewing Hour

There is a time, in a homemaker's day, called The Sewing Hour. It is when she sits quietly in the parlor and works on the sewing. Perhaps she is mending the family wardrobe? Or maybe she is hand-sewing a hem on a new garment? I am often working on an apron. There was a time when I would crochet a baby afghan, or sew a toddler quilt while praying or singing hymns.  This is a precious time of quiet devotion.

I urge you, dear ones, to use this time to listen to a godly, inspiring, convicting sermon. When the hour has past, you will put down your sewing and your heart will be full. Even though you may hold back tears (because of the sermon), you will get up and minister to your family!

Blessings,
Mrs. White

 To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

How the Old Time Mothers Survived Poverty

Library of Congress:  Family cans their own food, Osage Farms, Missouri, 1939.

There are so many families struggling right now. There is never enough food for even the basics of life. Housewives need encouragement, inspiration and ideas in order to survive on very little.

During the War in the 1940's, Britain's government provided citizens with books to help them obtain skills to manage on very little. These were called: "Wartime cookery" and "Make do and Mend." I understand some of these have been recently re-published.

The other day, I cut out material to make two aprons. While I was ironing all the material I was thinking about the depression-era mothers. They would take scraps of fabric and piece them together for quilts. Or they would make rag-rugs. These women were productive, hardworking and creative. They could take the smallest amount of leftovers, from supper, and come up with something amazing the next day.

With knowledge, ideas and inspiration, these women survived poverty. Currently, in America, we are told, by the government, that a family of 5, earning less than $25,790 is living in poverty (in 2009). It does not take much to be poor in this current age. Housing costs are high, utility bills are outrageous and food costs are rising. Here are some things the Old time mothers did:

1. Water down the milk.

2. If children were allowed to have a soda, they had to share it.

3. If, during a holiday, the family had soda, they would fill the cups with ice and add a little water before pouring the soda. The children never knew what "real" or "straight" soda tasted like until they were grown.

4. Cut up one apple or orange and divide between everyone in the family. Serve on their lunch or supper plate.

5. Sew and mend rips in the clothes. (Are we doing this today?)

6. Make a big pot of soup, then do the housework and laundry. The soup cooks all day - it is an inexpensive meal and goes far. Just serve it with muffins or biscuits.

7. Bake something every other day - muffins, bread, biscuits. Leave this out, wrapped up, on the table or counter. It will help fill everyone up and keep them from snacking on junk or feeling hungry (deprived).

8. When there is nothing to drink, Mother would make tea. Those tea bags were re-used all day long to fill cup after cup. Mother served tea on tea plates and kept the tea bags on those little plates for re-use later in the day.

9. Mother saved jars (we can save spaghetti-sauce jars today) and kept them clean, storing them in the cabinet. When the family would go out, she would fill that jar with cold water so everyone would have something to drink.

As I was doing some hand-sewing yesterday, I thought how important it was to keep busy. I prayed as I sewed. I was keeping busy with the home arts and this soothed my soul. If we mothers of today, could just work hard around our homes, and pray for courage, we could make it on very little. We would also start believing more in miracles and trust God so much more than we do now. So many blessings come to the diligent, brave housewives. May we all be found worthy.

Blessings,
Mrs. White

From the Archives -

The beautiful testimony of the Mother of D.L. Moody - Poverty in the 1800's.

Making the best of what is available to cheer the family along - Homemade Birthday Dinner. 

Thrifty Wisdom from the Old Days - To Earn and Not to Spend.

 

- To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

 

Find cleaning inspiration and encouragement in Mrs. White's book, "Gracious House Keeping."

"Gracious House Keeping: Advice, Encouragement, and Cleaning Help for the Christian Housewife."

Complete with Encouragement and Work Charts to cheer you along in your homemaking!

115 pages, paperback.

1930's Style Homemaking

LOC: Mother with her child, at home in North Carolina, 1939.

 

I have been watching old episodes of The Waltons on DVD. I have enjoyed it so much. "Livie" (the Mom) and "Gramma" both work in the house all day. They take wonderful care of the family. They both wear practical dresses and aprons and have their hair up. They are representing the actions and lives of housewives in the 1930's.

I have been so inspired to just have a quiet house. Is it possible to shut off most of the lights and technology for just a few days? I want an old fashioned home. I want to have a lovely living room, neat and tidy. I want to enjoy polishing my furniture and sweeping my floors. I want to have a nice workbasket beside my chair so I can sit with the family while mending, sewing or crocheting.

I want to listen to a nice old fashioned radio program with everyone sitting all around me. I want my children to come to the table for a large, home cooked dinner. And then, I want to joyfully and lovingly clean up the mess afterwards while the children play on the front porch, so they don't get underfoot.

I want guests to show up and I will have tea and cake ready to serve them. I want to enjoy the old fashioned life in this current day and age.

I want to watch more of the Waltons and get my inspiration. Then I want to put it into action. Where is my peace? My peace cometh from the Lord, and the old paths. My peace cometh when I am in my place, the keeper at home.

Blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives -


We Must Learn  - To Earn and Not to Spend.

This is What many of us Crave - An Ordinary Life at Home.

The Greatest Use of a Mother's Time - A Humble Parlour as a School of Theology.

 

 

 - To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Home Arts

I have a darling, old singer sewing machine. It sits in an antique cabinet. It is so pretty, and reminds me of something one would see in a museum. I remember sewing little dresses for my girls when they were 4 and 5 years old. I wanted to have those dresses finished quickly so I stayed up late into the night and worked on them. The fabric was black with pink roses all over it. I also made them matching hair ribbons, and everything was trimmed with white eyelet lace. I enjoyed sewing for my babies. It gave me such a warm feeling.

I have baked lots of bread over the years. My favorite is Italian. I used to make it with a big pot of homemade tortellini. Everyone loved this old fashioned, homemade supper. I enjoy mixing up dough and working with my hands to make food for my family. I love to serve it for them and see them smile. I love to hear how much they enjoy my cooking.

I have taught my children how to mend their clothes. Whenever they have a rip, I see them with my sewing box, fixing their own clothes and it makes me so proud.

My Mother taught me how to iron and do laundry. When I was a young girl, I was responsible for my own clothes. We had an enclosed porch on the side of our house, on the second floor. I could stand out there, near the dryer, and iron my skirts. We had lots of windows with a view of Boston Harbor. I loved watching the boats go by while I did my work.

These are just some of the many home arts. When we are working around the home, for our families, we are truly living a life that nourishes the soul. It is such a blessing to care for our loved ones.

May we all do it with a cheerful smile and a grateful heart.

Blessings
Mrs. White

 - To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -

 

For happiness and cheer in the kitchen:

Mrs. White's old fashioned cookbook focuses on serving meals and setting the table in a humble home.

"Serving in the Kitchen: Cookbook with Recipes, Advice, and Encouragement for the Christian Home"

152 pages, paperback