How We Shop

When Ladies made their own clothing

My Mother was a talented seamstress, and although we went to the department store every Fall and Spring to shop, we did not go to buy.  We browsed the new dress designs in the stores during the morning, relaxed in the car at lunch to enjoy the sandwiches Mother had brought from home in the ice chest, and then we went to the fabric shop to buy the patterns and fabric we would select to copy the dresses we had admired that morning in the department stores.

We sometimes bought our fabric and patterns at Jetts' department store in Pratt, but we rarely bought clothing there, since my mother was a seamstress.  The dime stores were where we bought our undergarments, costume jewelry, and cosmetics. Sweaters, jeans, and clothing Mother could not make were probably purchased at J.C. Penney.  After High School, when I lived in Wichita for a few months, I did a lot of shopping in the department stores, but the only thing I remember buying was an umbrella, which I considered a very sophisticated change from the clear plastic rain bonnet I tied under my chin.  

After I was married and we lived in New England, I loved the big Department stores, and we sometimes went to New York City, where stores like Bloomingdales, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Bonwit Teller, B. Altman, Lord and Taylor, and Gimbels were a tempting delight to visit.  Today, I believe, only the first four department stores that I just listed are still there.  

I did buy clothing for myself, but I also made my own clothing.  I even made my husband a tuxedo!

Times changed, and shoppers were drawn to the big box competitors like Walmart and Target.  The pandemic reduced enclosed malls.  People in urban areas got home delivery groceries and increased shopping online.  Not only are stores having to deal with online shopping and fewer customers buying the more formal clothing people once bought, but some businesses are also now threatened with Smash-and-grab robbers and break-ins, requiring the added expense of guards and expensive safety measures.  Unfortunately, those safety measures often make shopping seem less inviting, discouraging the impromptu visits that had sometimes led to sales.

The days of lovely fabric stores for talented seamstresses, elegant department stores, and customers' closets with a wider variety of clothing for different occasions have nearly passed.  

Our changing world has taken away many things we enjoyed, and the replacements may not always provide the equivalent enjoyment.  However, on the other hand, we now take for granted new things that we have come to believe we cannot live without.  However young or old we are, shopping is teaching us to adapt.