CHANGING THE BED

[Hallie noted the lack of illustration on this blog and sent along these photos of her "patented" fitted sheet folding method. Thanks, Hallie.]

The home exec at "Miller's Last Resort," my childhood chum, has muttered in passing about hating to change the bed. That set me to thinking . . .

My standard is to change the bed on a weekly basis. It's a regular Saturday chore. We usually work hard of a Saturday, so a fresh bed Saturday night – after the weekly bath (LOL) – feels "real good."

Changing the bed nowadays is easier than when I first learned the rudiments. I remember the day -- I was about seven – when Mother said I should now begin to change my own bed. She described the method I was to use: put the bottom sheet in the wash, put the top sheet on the bottom, and use a fresh sheet for the top. The rationale she imparted was that the top sheet didn't get as soiled as the bottom sheet and this method not only saved on the laundry but also wear and tear on the sheets.

Yes, changing my bed was a challenge for me in those days. I could never remember which sheet went in the laundry and which was re-used. I simply could not grasp the concept that somehow the top sheet wasn't really dirty, so at every weekly change I would review the method with my mother. I kept my dissenting thoughts to myself, not wishing to incite any unpleasantness with Mother, but it seemed to me you never really got a clean bed. Inwardly I resolved that when I had a home of my own I would change both sheets on every bed! My mother's sheets were good old heavy-duty cotton, all of them white, and in those days fitted bottom sheets were not yet commonly in use, so all sheets were flat and corners had to be precisely mitered and tucked, then all the blankets neatly spread over the top and also tucked. I could never do it as well as my mother, and the bed I made for myself was never as comfortable as the bed Mother made for me. Ah! Such is life!

I also remember mended sheets. Back in the day, my mother mended sheets, and I know my mother-in-law did, too. A sheet would quite naturally wear out right down the middle. The thrift-conscious homemaker, and that was about all of them, would cut out that threadbare center section, then sew the two remaining strips together in a flat-felled seam. Or, they might overlap the sections in some way in order to make the center stronger and to get a few more inches -- and a little more use -- out of that sheet. It's not as easy as it sounds because the homemaker / seamstress would have to remove and reset the header. A double-bed sheet would now be a little narrow for comfort as a top sheet, but it might still work as a bottom sheet or do good service on a twin bed. Of course, the guest bed would not be dressed in a mended sheet, and probably not any bed in which two people slept, but it would work for a child's bed. Eventually my mother's old and mended sheets were used at the farmhouse, and Mike's mother took hers to her river cabin. My eldest sister, Harriet, who became a homemaker in 1953, says that she never mended sheets but did cut some down for crib sheets.

I remember that we didn't buy linens much. You didn't think, "I'm tired of this old sheet," and head out to replace it. While passing through the store you didn't say to yourself, "What a beautiful set of sheets! I'm buying those today." At least, my mother didn't, and I'm sure my mother-in-law didn't either. If you were at the place where you had to buy new bed linen, you watched for the semi-annual "white sale," which took place in January and July at some such department store as J. C. Penney. That's when you found bed linen at sale prices – period.

The same went for towels. Basically, towels last a long time, and they were not casually replaced. They may look like rags, but they will still be serviceable. I was in junior high when my dad gave my mother and me each two sets of matching towels for Christmas. Her set came from Montgomery Wards, mine (which belonged to the household as much as to me) from Sears Roebuck. They graced the upstairs bathroom for years. I'll bet I can still find one or two of those towels amongst our rags. In fact – yes -- the hand towel from Mother's set is even now hanging on the shower door as a cleaning rag. And – it looks darned good in its old age.

Well, as the '50s became the '60s, changes took place in the way people lived – and my family was no exception. Mother's top-loading washer sitting in the kitchen was replaced by a matched washer and dryer and moved to the basement. With her washing system improved, Mother's new sheets were percale and she insisted on fitted bottom sheets – now available and popular as a convenience. We would change both sheets now, but she could deal with it because – for the first time – she had a clothes dryer. And for my new bed I was provided a matched set of pretty sheets. Initially I had just the one set and agreed to wash, dry and put them back on the bed myself each and every Saturday. That agreement suited me just fine. KW