Comments on: My Spring Shirt

By: Cherub

Cherub — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 13:34:02 +0000

How could anyone not be cheered up by that lovely shirt?

By: Penny Jane Day

Penny Jane Day — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 20:03:16 +0000

Mending is a huge movement now. You could find a friend that’s good with a needle and thread and get the collar reimagined. Don’t ever throw it away, as I am sure you wouldn’t anyway.
You could get some new or contrasting fabric, it would be fun to have a look in Liberty’s.
Penny x
An avid follower of your blog who also spent a brilliant weekend on one of your blog writing workshops…

By: Albert Premier

Albert Premier — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:28:57 +0000

LOL! To a foreigner (from the Netherlands) like me “Stayed at Claridge’s. Ordered carpet and sideboard at Harvey Nichols and bought materials at Liberty” positively screams 1930’s British “U” people.
You are probably to young to remember that an adquate seamstress can restore the worn through collar of your spring-shirt by simply detaching, turning & than restiching it. This was regular practice in the years after the war.
Regards,
A.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:22:46 +0000

Thank you for sharing this lovely photo of your mother. My mother was a gifted seamstress
(among so many of her gifts…….she could knit, crochet, quilt, embroider, make slipcovers and drapes, and sewed many of my prom gowns). She was devoted to what-we-call “conversation prints”, and adored making summer shorts and tops for me, in vivid prints that depicted —
scotty dogs, calypso dancers, travel postcards, heraldic shields, gigantic flowers, etc. It was endless. Her love of themes extended to decorating efforts (thankfully, I was invited to join in) and our living room was a festival of rotating themes, including Chinese dancers-and-junks, Spanish matadors, Mexican donkeys and serapes, and more. Dizzying! And so fun. Everything was done on a do-it-ourselves basis. Whatever we could find or re-appropriate was used and re-used. With flair!
I so appreciate the gentle floral Liberty print — It is a different kind of “conversation print” and is full of story-telling and memories. My thanks.

By: Dorothy V. Malcolm

Dorothy V. Malcolm — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:44:23 +0000

When I lived in England, one of my favorite places to go to was Liberty of London. What a great store and to this day, I still have beautiful fabric and three Liberty scarves–all as good as new. Love this place!

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:14:11 +0000

I love the shirt print, and love that you too appreciate the prints of Liberty! Even more wonderful that you have a picture of your mother in a liberty print dress. I walked around Liberty’s lovely store in London at New Year about 4 years ago, but decided I couldn’t justify the cost of even a mere scarf which I confess were pretty expensive! I am already in ownership of many scarves – although only probably wear 2 or 3 ‘favourites’ of them on a regular basis. With father and 3 brothers in the house as I grew up, I recall many a time when my mother ‘turned the collar’ of their shirts.

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:47:20 +0000

How such memories stay with us. Your story triggered the memory of going with my mother up to London when she returned her home sewing to Bond Street and being shown round the sights of London and being taken to watch the clock strike on Liberty’s shopfront. I don’t think I ever went into the shop until I was well in my teens and thought I’d found an eastern Bazaar of material and carpets etc.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:19:05 +0000

That is indeed a lovely shirt for Spring. To make it last longer you could unpick and turn the collar over. I’ve done this to some of my 94 year old father’s favorite shirts. I love that you’ve subconsciously bought your young mother’s dress in shirt form. I hope it can be preserved for many more springs.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:05:53 +0000

So Charmingly put, full of hopefulness of spring and qualified by ‘thinking the best of people’
Thankyou

By: Margaret Shea

Margaret Shea — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:01:11 +0000

Loved reading your cheery memory on a dull day about a precious garment with fondness and attachment to wear for Spring. Especially as I used to enjoy wearing have a very jolly Liberty print shirt that always raised my spirits because of it’s beautiful print and tactile cotton