Fabric Memories
Woman in the Middle | July 21, 2015I keep all the normal mementos that most people keep. Photos, programs of plays I was in in high school, the tassels from various graduations, etc… But I also have a thing about keeping clothing that represents good memories to me.
I have the shirt I was wearing the first time Hubby kissed me, way back in high school. I have the dress I wore to my college graduation, the dress I wore to my rehearsal dinner, and various pieces of clothing that my mom bought me and I have kept all these years just because of that connection.
I bought the new best selling organizing book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I have to admit, at first read, it didn’t do a whole lot for me. However, I decided to work on things in the manner suggested by the author, Marie Kondo. She suggests working on categories of things, not areas of your house. The easiest category, she feels, is clothing, and she recommends doing that first.
She wants you to drag every scrap of clothing out of every drawer and closet, taking it all to the living room, and going through it all at once. Not. Going. To. Happen. However, I have been systematically going though all my clothing drawer by drawer and, finally, I bit the bullet and did drag all the hanging clothing out of my closet and onto my bed to go through. The good news is this has allowed me to find a pair of pants and a pair of shorts that actually fit me but that I have never worn. Both still had tags. Yay!
The bad news is that I have had to acknowledge that about a fifth of my rod space was taken up by clothing that had sentimental value but no earthly use to me otherwise. Oh, what to do? I have thought about it quite a bit. I decided that the quilt route is not practical. Many of the items are made from material that is just not practical to use in a quilt. Second, the piece of clothing means something to me, not just the material it is made of. If I cut a square out of a skirt, I will likely not remember in five years time what that small square meant.
I have decided to take photos of these sentimental pieces of clothing, write their stories up in this here blog, and then get rid of them. I realized it is the story each piece of clothing represents that is important to me. I decided t was time to get the stories out, and then I can set the clothing free! Be on the look out, the stories are in process and will be coming to a blog post near you soon.
Do you keep clothing that has sentimental value to you? Am I the only crazy one?
P.S. That top I was wearing when Hubby first kissed me? I won’t be getting rid of that!
I have also kept clothes that have a sentimental value to me even though my daughters and Tim say take a photo and more on the memory is in your head………….whatever, my memory may fad and seeing the item brings the memory up and yes a photo can do that
Glad it isn’t just me! IF I pulled out all the clothing I have saved for sentimental reasons, mine and the girls, I hate to think how big the pile would be!
Great post! I love it that you have stories to go with saved clothing. And I can’t wait to read those stories on your blog. I have saved things from 30 years ago, mostly hoping to get down to that size again. But there is one skirt made of “ultra suede” that always made me feel svelt and professional. I cannot bear to part with it.
Sounds like you didn’t save as much as I have (lucky you), but you know what I mean.
I have one of my mother’s dressy dresses made of blue velvet from the 1930s. We were never the same size so I could never wear it but it’s special to me. I’ve carted it from house to house as I move.
I have a dress of my mother’s from the 1950s. I have no idea why she saved it, but probably because she liked it. Now I save it! You should show us the velvet dress sometime. I would love to see it!
I HAD some items of clothing that my brother and sister-in-law had talked me into keeping, but I kept asking myself WHY do I need them?? They were taking up a lot of space in my closet, so I gave them to the Goodwill. I hope someone will get some benefit from them, but they were in my way and needed to go! Sorry Brother and Sister-in-law!