Here are just a few from my growing collection - too many to show
This post on doilies and tray cloths reminded me about this little tray cloth - which is the beginning of another story. It was hand-made by me in 1957 at primary school for my Mum - so I guess it could well be classed as vintage in its own right! I found it in a drawer the other day and had quite forgotten about it. It has a couple of marks on it but I put it into the washing machine and gave it a light press and hey presto - good as new.
One teacher in my infant school Mrs B who taught needlework was a bit of a tartar - likeable but very strict and us girls were all pretty scared of her as she shouted a lot. She was very particular and spoke her mind. She taught us how to embroider. I was pretty proud of my first attempt. Mum loved it and kept it all those years. She gave it back to me not long before she passed away.
After I had been in Secondary School for about a year, Mrs B joined the staff as a needlework teacher and we were quite daunted at the thought of working with her again. Normally at the end of the summer term the school would put on a show of some kind. This particular year it was a fashion show, where the girls had to model the garments they had made in the needlework class during the term. The school had recently introduced a new fabric for their summer school uniform, so that was my project to make a school skirt.
Well, there was I aged 11 years old walking down the catwalk, feeling pretty smug with myself in front of all the mums and staff, modelling the skirt, when Mrs B had to describe what we were wearing. Most of the other girls had made various items of clothing and were suitably commended on their work. Then it came to my turn and to my utter dismay she announced to all and sundry "It's a pity that Pat had to machine stitch the hem of her skirt - it would have looked so much nicer if it had been hand stitched". I was mortified and fled the stage in tears.
This is the wretched skirt - taken outside Anne Hathaway's cottage in
Stratford upon Avon on a school trip in 1959
Do you know, I have NEVER EVER machine stitched a hem again in my whole life. Even curtains have hand stitched hems. So I guess I learnt my lesson from a very young age but at the time I couldn't forgive Mrs B for humiliating me in front of so many people. In later years when we were all grown up and running our own homes, some of us attended a school reunion where we again encountered Mrs B who was by now in her 80s. A lovely lady who'd mellowed over the years and talked fondly of her time teaching us from primary through to secondary school. Memories eh?
Do you have any embarrassing moments you've never lived down?
