IDA MAKES A WEDDING DRESS

The following is an excerpt from Grandma Ina's autobiography. The year is 1880 and the family is crossing the Great Plains in search of a new home. They might have been in Nebraska.

"Dress patterns were cut out of newspapers and passed from one to another and enlarged or made smaller as needed. Idy made a wedding dress for a neighbor woman. It was gray mohair and made with pleats in groups of three above the hem. This was made with only a basque and shirt pattern cut from a newspaper pattern and a picture in a magazine to look at. I can still see Idy on her knees pinning those pleats into place and the worried look on her face. The floor had been spread with papers and the bride-elect was firmly planted on them. Later she wore the dress to the 4^th of July picnic and there were admiring comments on it. These called forth the statement by Idy, "I made it!" which she has always regretted making, but which is still kept fresh in the family, as a choice bit."

Poor Ida! She's 16 years old, a young wife but skilled enough in the art of sewing to make a wedding dress for someone of the community with whom she has a passing acquaintance. What do you think of her immodest comment? Obviously she was judged as showing poor manners by speaking up to claim the workmanship, and this was probably seen as tantamount to bragging. Now, at Ida's expense, family members will keep alive this indiscretion "as a choice bit" for the next 70 years! I guess I think there are worse things, yet modesty and humility are character traits to be desired. KW