The Mayor Reunited with an Old Friend

Cleaning the enclosed bookcases, I discovered a good friend...

My Barbie

As a parent, I have observed that “age-appropriate” is a relative term; that is, relatives decide when a child gets a toy. The relative may be mom or dad, even grandparent, but especially the child herself. Yet for me, in the 1960s, the doll evolution determined the when and the age-appropriateness.

Christmas Day 1963, I had been twelve-years-old for one week. My present would be Barbie. Immediately I noticed that she had dark hair like my mother; Barbie was not the blonde doll I had requested. (I was blonde, but every baby doll I ever had were brunettes also.) No matter, Barbie had come to live with me.

My other gifts would be her attire. She arrived in an official box with her pearl earrings, black strappy heels, and that iconic black and white striped swimsuit. The rest of her wardrobe included a very sixties lounge outfit in a bold East Indian design, a fuzzy white coat, and a Dior-design dress with full skirt and little puffy sleeves. These out-of-the-box creations had been delicately hand-sewn.

Hand-sewn? That detail bonded me to my new friend. Her wardrobe would be no different than my own clothing. My mother, grandmother, and godmother made all my outfits (and would continue until I went to college). Each woman had a wonderful tailoring touch and eye for creative detail and color.

Besides, inside the Barbie box, was a booklet depicting her dream wardrobe. And dreamy were those drawings in bright drippy colors revealing the life adventures of a versatile, talented, independent, and creative young woman. All these visions captured what a twelve-year-old girl wants to know about her budding future as a woman.

Her hair, her make-up, her fabulous figure? These details never seemed to touch the reality of my life. Those clothes reflected life adventures and possibilities.

What I soon discovered, however, was that the $.25 to $.50 I was able to save each week would not be enough for the most amazing outfits and accessories. Even if I did manage to save $3.00 to $5.00, Woolworth’s had sold out what I planned to buy. Therefore I would have to go back to examples of versatility, talent, independence, and creativity of the women I knew in life.

In the early sixties, major sewing pattern companies – Advance, McCall’s, and Simplicity – created their own line of Mattel endorsed pattern designs. The cover art was as fun and clever as the “ready-to-wear” wardrobe booklets. Any smart and self-sufficient young woman could have all the designs she wanted for the initial investment of $.50 to $.75.

I wanted to be that kind of young woman; therefore, I learned to sew under the tutelage of my grandmother, along with the official Barbie sewing pamphlet included in the patterns. Even today, I find these directions to be a great primer for anyone wanting to learn the art of sewing. More than just instructions, these directions encouraged the young seamstress to have fun with cutting-up, a stitch-in-time, the hemming way, and getting-on-your-mark. And best of all, Barbie never complained about having handmade outfits, many of which coordinated with the fabrics worn by my mother and me.

And later the next year, when my Barbie met Ken, she found that he never lost interest in her either.

Despite all the protests and complaints about your possible mixed-messages to my unconscious, I remain your friend. The Barbie I knew helped teach an adolescent what real adventures in life we must take to grow-up amid any decade’s superficiality and conformity.

The Mayor Takes Action - Conclusion

This inventory of my needs and wants in starting to update my house on a budget involved emotionally charged feelings and memories. Thanks for indulging my sharing. I will move on to lighter moments from now forward. Occasionally I may revisit my homemaking progress after this post.

Hopefully this process may be helpful to someone who is trying to make sense of a once shared space that must now serve the needs of one. Blessings on your journey that is not an easy one. Family and friends really do want to support you. Just let them know what you may need when they seem not to now what to offer.

Many Years of Roses to Remember

Home-Making Again: A Major Hurdle for Me:

Relying on the good resource references in my previous posts, I worked on what my decorating style was in my study, a room where I was content, a room that is cozy, welcoming, eclectic, and nature-inspired. What about this room makes me so happy?


1. The furniture placement is open and practical for the many uses of this room - writing, bill-paying, working on photos at the computer, reading, studying, and sewing. There is a stool to prop my feet while relaxing in a comfy chair, as well as another comfy chair when working at the computer desk. Family members have sat in the one chair many times while I stopped working in the computer chair to talk and laugh. The furniture welcomes despite being lined around the room as work stations.

2. Existing colors already represent all my favorite combinations from endless studies of color palettes and rooms on Pinterest, blogs, and magazines.

canawanderer

3. Patterns, Fabrics, Textures, and Finishes: Stained wood is everywhere in this house. I like its warmth and natural appearance. Since I do not want to overpower the room with wood, I like the grass cloth wallpaper, the bamboo shades, textured fabric on the computer chair, the small checked fabric on the reading chair, the glass-top table desk, along with a variety of metal finishes to offer contrast. All seem natural and offer a feeling of water, earth, and fire. I notice that my accent color here is yellow. I realize my favorite "punch" colors in other rooms of the house are rust and orange-reds. Golden accent colors for me are invigorating.

If you were to think of your perfect room, real or dream, what would you discover about your choices for furniture and furniture setup, colors, patterns, fabrics, textures, finishes, and accents?

Here are the little updates I made to this room as I began to experiment:

In my re-design journey, I want to relocate furniture and artwork to different rooms to create new interest. Here I added my vintage sewing machine to the study because I could use it as the base for my portable sewing machines. I have better light with this placement. and I can look out on the back garden. A glass table desk was here which I used for jewelry-making in the evening because the sunlight was too bright and reflective on the glass. So far, I do not want to get rid of the glass table desk so I have moved it to the corner for extra sewing surface space. I am not sure it is a perfect look; however, I get to keep its convenience for sewing.