In March, of course, Youngest came home from U Maine, bringing with her Guest Son. He traveled pretty light, but she somehow seemed to have MORE clothing, bedding and knick-knacks than she had at the beginning of the year.
This old house began to feel claustrophobic. Any closets we have were added in sometime around WWII, and the combination of carving out space from preexisting rooms and the fact people simply didn't own as much clothing at that time means you could fit ALL six closets (yes, that's right, six closets for 3000 square feet) into the average modern-build walk-in master closet.
But! What we lack in closets, we make up for with an attic. It's a full, pull down the stairs and walk around over the entire second floor attic, complete with ominous single lightbulb, mice, and unfashionable (in 1820) floorboards that are, no lie, close to two feet wide in places.
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| So...many... clothes... |
The problem is, after living here for twenty-six years, the attic is full to bursting. So in the domino logic of storage, getting stuff out of the living room and library and parlour meant heading up to the bedrooms, and making space in the bedrooms meant removing out-of-season and seldom-used items to the attic, and finding space for them meant getting rid of at least 30% of what had been stored over the years.
It's a work very much in progress, but we're getting there. We brought down and donated luggage we have no use for anymore, boxes of Ross's old papers (The Maine Millennial wrote about them) and my fave, the "boxes full of odds and ends we threw in during a pre-holiday cleaning frenzy," which of course were meant to have been retrieved and sorted right away, but instead languished for years unattended.
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| What is this? Why did we keep it in the first place? |
Then of course, there were the boxes of clothing. Not the many, many tubs full of children's clothes we haven't gotten to yet. These are my clothes, neatly labeled in order of ascending size, dating back to the early 1980s. Many of you reading this are at or close to the same weight you were in 1985. I am not (cf, mini Snickers, above.) I tend to be pretty rigorous about tossing clothing that doesn't fit anymore, but there are always some pieces that are either too nice, or too sentimental to toss - and besides, I could always go back down to a size 12 again, right?
Wrong. The first thing I discovered going through my old clothes is dress size inflation - my size 12s are the same dimensions as today's size 10. I've always had an image of myself as being, well, on the plump side, so imagine my shock at seeing my willowy Youngest daughter fitting perfectly into outfits I remember wearing to work in DC. Readers, I was svelte and never even knew it.
The second thing I've discovered is that it pays to buy classics. Youngest snatched up multiple skirts, blouses and sweaters, which she proclaimed "back in style - as long as we get rid of the shoulder pads." A lot of snipping later, and she has a new wardrobe of silk, linen and 100% cotton.
The third thing I noticed, while laundering everything, was how many items of clothing I had that had been made in the USA. By members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union! Honestly, that made me kind of sad. We could use those kind of good union jobs again.
The fourth thing I realized was that even well-made clothing needs to be given away when your lifestyle has changed. Those small sizes that look so chic on Youngest will be perfect for her, a young woman heading for a career in international affairs or politics. Even if they fit me, I have no need for linen skirts, silk blouses or structured sweater jackets any more. Nor will I ever wear the clothes that are very close to my current size that I picked up during an inexplicable boho phase in my forties. What was I thinking of? Lacy knits and fringe are SO not me.
At the end, we have three boxes of clothing to donate, a bunch more in Youngest's room (still not enough closet space...) and a few sentimental pieces that are going back up in new, sturdier polyprophelene bins. Stay tuned for my next JRW week, dear readers, when I will have made it around to 26 years worth of Christmas decorations...
I have nothing but admiration for anyone who actually sorts out those boxes filled with odds and ends that once upon a time got stashed in the attic or in the basement . . . .
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to discover that your Youngest can make good use of some of that clothing.
We’re reasonably good about sorting through the clothing that no longer fits . . . it all goes to the church for the free clothing ministry and, although it saddens me to see how many people come through the door in search of clothes for themselves or for their children, it’s good to know that it all goes to support a good cause . . . .
It makes it easier to get rid of things, that's for sure. I've been washing everything and sewing on missing buttons; fortunately, I only saved what was in good condition, so I don't have to toss anything for rips and tears.
DeleteI love that Youngest can wear your classics! And that you are actually sorting through. I think it helps to have company doing that with you. Somebody at the thrift store is going to love that boho phase, don't worry.
ReplyDeleteEdith, the girls have been happy to look at (and critique) the clothing, and the Maine Millennial, who has her MLIS, is in charge of cataloging paper, etc.
DeleteJulia, I don't envy your job! We did this with two houses two years ago, and instead of really getting rid of everything, Steve kicked a whole cannery down the road and just moved stuff. To the old garage that we left standing, to the new basement storage area, and most horribly, to the huge basement of our house at the farm. Which is in the middle of nowhere, and when we someday sell that place it will be a nightmare to clear that out.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to several thousand miles of ancient film in old metal canisters, there is also a beautiful china set that my mother-in-law intended for her granddaughters in California. Service for 12, including soup bowls. Who has that lifestyle these days? Especially 30-somethings in San Francisco and LA?
It's like a neverending story.
I do, however, envy your silks. Until right before the pandemic I had not seen finer fabrics in stores, even in the designer department at Nordstrom's, for years. There was a time when most of my blouses and knit tops were silk. Suits and dresses, too. Wonder what happened?
Karen, my guess is an accountant figured the manufacturer could save money using poly? Also, a lot of people think silk has to be dry cleaned - not so! I actually put all my silk blouses through the wash or did them in the sink. As someone pointed out to me way back when, people were wearing silk two millennia before the invention of dry-cleaning.
DeleteI also washed many of my silks. Since I sewed a lot, I prewashed some silks so they wouldn't waterspot, and so they would stand washing after the garments were made.
DeleteI think cost is probably the reason. However, my guess is it has more to do with the way silk is made, gathering and steaming the cocoons, which is not just expensive, it's also something requiring a lot of skill, and delicacy in handling. It's a tedious process, and involves growing mulberry trees on a mass scale, plus cultivating the silkworms. Since the finest silk requires killing the worms, that could be another factor. Allowing the worms to break out of the cocoon to emerge as a moth causes the fibers to break into lots of short ones; steaming the cocoon while the worm is still inside makes it unravel to a single, long strand, which provides the highest quality fabric.
I just have not read or heard of any change in the silk industry, either in China or in the other places where it's made, like Italy.
I loved reading this!
ReplyDeleteI’m embarrassed to say in my house when it comes to clothing it’s hand me UP. I grab off the scarves my kids throw away. I save for a grandkids dress up box anything with sparkles or fringe.
Hallie, we have two enormous dress up boxes up there that are staying put for the next generation!
DeleteHallie: my mom wore scarves during the last 15 or 20 years of her life. (She hate the look of her neck and jowls.) When Oregon granddaughters would visit they asked if it was okay to play in her rags drawer.
DeleteI love that!
DeleteOh Karen that china makes me drool. I don't need it, but it sounds lovely! Ditto on your boho style stuff Julia! Sparkles and fringe is me Hallie--I will know where to look when I need to borrow...
ReplyDeleteI know, I was going to tell Karen, "I'll take it!" I'm lucky, at least two of my kids and one add-on kid LOVE my various china sets. Youngest has already called dibs on the Canton Rose Medallion.
DeleteI'm tempted to keep it! I've never seen the pattern anywhere, a delicate floral with red, blue, and pink flowers. I'll put a photo on Instagram of the soup tureen.
DeleteOooh, Karen, I LOVE vintage china!! I looked up your soup tureen. Does it have a maker's stamp?
DeleteKeep the china, Karen. Especially if you've never seen the pattern. I love my grandma's Noritake chin, from the 1920s but it the bits and pieces of Homer Laughlin's Curried and Ives red Transferware from grandma's neighbor that I treasure the most.
DeleteDebs, it's packed away, but I think it's English. My mother-in-law didn't hold the Japanese stuff in high regard.
DeleteOh my goodness, it's so much more fun to read about someone else's cleaning-out chores than doing my own. Thank you for the chuckles over my morning tea, Julia!
ReplyDeleteI tend to move my older clothes to the tubs and 1.5 closets we have at the cottage and, when I put on those T-shirts or pants, I, too, notice they are 100% cotton and often made in North America. I hadn't realized that clothing tells the tale of our unfolding political world...
Amanda, I wish I had written down the tags - as the clothing moved from the eighties to nineties to the aughts, you could see manufacturing moving around the world, chasing cheap labor.
DeleteJulia, I know just what you mean! I have boxes of jeans labelled with sizes I'll never wear again. Perfectly fine, almost new jeans, that gradually, as my mother used to say "got too little."
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame how clothes shrink when they're in storage, isn't it, Judi? :-)
DeleteThe thing I most identified with in that story, Julia, were the boxes of odds and ends thrown together in a cleaning frenzy, intended to be gone through immediately. It makes me feel a bit better to know that others have those, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I ever mentioned it on JRW, but I went through a health issue in May and June of this year. (My thyroid went bananas.) Everything is settled down now, but in the process of that I lost ten pounds. This was even more significant than it might have been because I had actually been at my "goal weight" when it started. (I'm one whose weight is always an issue, and often fluctuates over about a 20 pound range.) So ten pounds below my lowest normal weight feels great, but it has made most of my clothes too big. (And my bigger clothes WAY too big.) I've felt a bit nervous about making wholesale wardrobe changes, though, until I see whether this new weight is sustainable. (By which I mean, is this my new goal weight? Or is it a crazy, unattainable goal for the long term?.) So I have not emptied my closets of any of the larger sizes and am muddling through summer on a limited wardrobe of smaller clothes and clothes that seem OK even a size or two too big.
Youngest is very fortunate to get your high-quality "vintage" clothing, and I know it has to be a lot easier for you to part with them this way, too.
Susan, it is gratifying to see her delighted to have my old stuff (fortunately, I got rid of my jackets with impossibly-expensive-to-alter shoulder pads a couple decades ago.)
DeleteI understand your caution about getting rid of too many clothes, but I urge you to indulge in a couple of pieces that fit your new smaller size! Lots of sales going on these days...
My late husband was a big fan of those "Throw it all in; I'll deal with it later" boxes. He never dealt with them. I avoided them for ages. Now, as I peck away at all the stuff I've moved three times and still don't know what to do with, I call those my "Oh, honey!" boxes. As in, "Oh, honey, why did you ever keep this junk?" It's kind of a nostalgic moment when I run into one. And really, kind of not.
DeleteGigi, exactly the same here.
DeleteI had a mom moment in 2018, when my older daughter tried on my wedding dress, with a high neck and long sleeves. Nope, it wouldn't work for her. My younger daughter, six inches taller than her sister, refused to put it on.
ReplyDeleteI've delayed closet cleanouts until local charities can accept donations. However, I did go through the contents of the basement, housed in the garage after the water heater flooded the basement. By coincidence, I published my blog today:
https://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2020/08/when-inspiration-emerges.html
Good luck with the Christmas decorations! How many popsicle ornaments will you keep?
Margaret, my daughter-in-law's mother had a high lace neck on her wedding dress. Alison repurposed the collar into a lovely head ornament for her own wedding to my son two years ago. It was a perfect reuse.
DeleteMargaret, will I sound like a bad mom if I admit the popcorn and macaroni ornaments are the ones I'd like to give back to my children? I've been collecting some really lovely ornaments over the years - unfortunately, I have to put all the handmade ones up first before anything else goes on the tree.
DeleteAnd both my daughters have roundly rejected my Princess Diana style wedding dress. I'm not worried, if bell bottoms and platform shoes came back, giant sleeves and puffy skirts will be in style again some day.
Heaven forbid, Julia!
DeleteAs for the homemade ornaments, can you hide them on the back of tree?:-)
I kondoed my drawers last year after reading Hallie’s book, and the closet is kept current. Then there is the basement, where I’m no longer allowed to go. Steep steps and fall risk. I’m afraid of what it looks like down there. And the stick. Finished with a bathroom, heating and cooling, full of dead people’s stuff. And all those silk blouses and wool or linen suits that neither I nor anyone else will wear again.
ReplyDeleteIt can all stay put. Cleaning that out is above my pay grade
Ann, you made me think of the gorgeous wool suits my friend gave me after her mother-in-law died a couple years ago. MIL was quite well to do, and she had lovely taste, plus an active la-di-dah social life. I could not resist the Geoffrey Beene, Escada, Carlisle, and St. John skirt suits, silk trousers, blouses, and jackets. I've worn some of it, but mostly it just sits in my closet, mocking my own pitiful social life.
DeleteWhen I moved from the country into town I stuck a lot of stuff into a storage unit until I could get out of my rented house and into a home of my own. Once here, I had to hire one of the guys from my concert crew to rent a truck and bring everything from storage to my house. I have made some inroads, and I'm working, bit by bit, on making more, but it's a slow go. Lots of memories. Lots of sadness and exasperation.
ReplyDeleteThe best moment of the whole process was when the storage company contacted me to see why, after so many years, I had removed my stuff and closed out my unit. I explained the whole move/move again thing to them, and then was honest. I told them that, in many ways, that stuff is my emotional baggage, and I closed the unit because, after all these years, I finally have the space and the time and the fortitude to deal with it.
Gigi, one of the things I'm able to get rid of now are some of my husband's clothes that have no sentimental value and that no one is going to wear. I wasn't ready before this, but now I am, and someone else will love having a whole collection of size 36 button-down dress shirts.
DeleteOddly, Warren's clothes were among the first things I got rid of, but that was because I had a relationship already with the county senior center, and I knew they kept a donation closet where twill slacks and comfy sports coats would be welcomed and worn. I still have a large pile of musical instruments and amps that I don't want to get rid of and don't play.
DeleteJulia, I love that your daughter can wear your lovely clothes, made of REAL materials, crafted by American manufacturers and sewn by American workers. I did not ever have anyone my size to hand things to. I've gone through the closets almost every year and feel awful that those tiny things will never make it up my hips again, and, like you, I have kept some for sentiment or because they are just too good to give away. Your tale of sizes and materials has hit very close to home today.
ReplyDeleteJudy, honestly, the biggest surprise was finding out that I had been her size!
DeleteBig intentions, little progress. Clothes are a different story from garages, basements, etc. If my sisters don't want it, it goes to charity. With nine nephews, there's no one to wax nostalgic over my sentimental pieces.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you can solve a mystery for me, Julia. I will swear I've consumed the very last of the mini Mounds bars, only to have them reappear. Hmmmm....
Flora, we've ordered so many bags of Mars mini chocolates, we get auto order suggestions from Target...
DeleteCannot remember when I last saw the union label or heard the song. Clothes were made better in the 80's and they fit better. Sad commentary on our lives today.
ReplyDeleteMy latest clean out project was my bedside table drawer. Not a big deal until I found two mismatched earrings. Thought I had lost them but kept their mates. Since they had been missing for 18 months or more, I felt like I had two new pair off earrings. At least with earrings I did not need to worry about my size.
Absolutely right, Tarheel! I have four overflowing drawers of scarves, and I am never giving those away. The girls can deal with them when I'm gone.
DeletePreaching to the choir, Julia! Oddly enough I had decided yesterday it’s time to go through my closet and do a drastic purge. Changes in size and life style demand it. I’m not even feeling sentimental about clothing souvenirs, so adios leather skirt from Spain, woven vest from Guatemala, etc. I got rid of the silk blouses sometime back. Silk is warm, Houston is hot, can’t wear it.
ReplyDeletePat, souvenir clothes are the easiest for me to get rid of. There are an assortment of items that fall under the "what was I thinking" category. did I really think I was going to wear an embroidered blouse or a Senor Frog t-shirt in Maine?
DeleteJulia, I hope that you KEEP the clothes with the label Made in the USA (International Ladies' ....Union ?). I would!
ReplyDeleteGet what you mean about dress size inflation. My grandmother always threw away stuff. When my grandmother became sick, she had no energy to do that. Because of that, I inherited her beautiful black dress from the 1960s. Her dress was made by her dressmaker. Nothing in the stores would have fit her so she had a dressmaker. While black is not my color, I wear it because it fits me like a glove. The only difference is that my grandmother was taller at 5'9" and I am only five feet five inches tall. The dress stops at my knees. I have worn it to the banquet at Left Coast Crime. I think Rhys Bowen saw me wearing the dress.
Yes, I still have a lot to declutter! I still am keeping the books and the clothes, though.
Diana
Diana, we had the same experience when I cleaned out my mother's closet. She had excellent taste and kept most of her good, classic clothes. We had dressmaker made shifts from the 1960s that fit my daughters perfectly.
DeleteJulia, that's wonderful!
DeleteSounds like you are being super productive. If you need a new challenge, come tackle my condo for me. With work, I've been as busy as usual and I'm not finding any time to organize and sort, which I desperately need to do.
ReplyDeleteMark, it's super frustrating to be one of those people who seems to have less time during the pandemic, and constantly be seeing articles and discussions online about what people are doing with all their spare time! Honestly, I would not be tackling this job if I weren't trying to shoehorn everyone's dorm rooms / apartment into not very adequate storage space.
DeleteAs to your second photo:
ReplyDeleteHave you read Gail Carriger's books? There is a special place for wicker chickens.
Libby, I haven't, but you have intrigued me!
DeleteKeep your distance. Just in case.
DeleteJulia, I love that youngest is enjoying your “vintage” clothes. I had an old suitcase from my mother that I filled with some of my vintage clothing, such as my orange and yellow dress with the telephone on it, and let my daughter and then granddaughters have it. So much fun seeing them wearing the old items I remembered wearing.
ReplyDeleteI am being forced to do some cleaning out. We are bringing in some pieces of furniture from my mother-in-law’s house into our house that is already full. So, I’m trying to move things around, and in doing so, cleaning out the excess. It’s going to be a work in progress for a long time.
Kathy, that sounds pretty much like what I'm doing, except with a reversal of the generations. God help me if my dad has to leave his house for assisted living; I can't imagine what I would do with even more furniture!
DeleteJulia, your essays are always such a treat. I am not much of a clothes-keeper, although now I'm wishing that I had saved a couple of things from my early-author days in my 40s, because I could fit into them again! (Especially the purple and black jumpsuit...) My mother loved to shop at a Dallas Jewish women's organization's twice-yearly sale--gorgeous and very expensive designer clothes in beautiful fabrics, for a smidgen of the original price. (Those ladies were very good at keeping their closets Kondoed!!!) Alas, I didn't save any of her things. Lots of tailored stuff in browns and neutrals, not only not my style or colors, but my mom's shoulders were a good two sizes smaller than mine. (I got my linebacker shoulders from my dad's side of the family, apparently.)
ReplyDeleteThis year I haven't even done my normal seasonal clear out (our closet space is about like yours.) The charity donation sites were closed, our housekeeper is not coming (I would save nice things for her and her teenage daughter) and since I'm only wearing ratty t-shirts and shorts, I just couldn't be bothered. Next year...
Oh, and I doubt my fashionista daughter would wear any of my hand-me-downs, and she is not a vintage girl!
DeleteJulia, LOL. I'm pretty good about giving away old clothes. Haven't worn it in six months? Out it goes. But I still have those few, "too nice to give away" items and...I'll never wear them again. Okay, I have a couple skirts for church, but the business casual stuff? Yeah, it can go. I won't even wear it to conferences.
ReplyDeleteThe Girl is only 5'3" and a fraction of my weight even in my best years, so she hasn't been able to pilfer a lot. Add that to the fact we have completely different tastes in clothing and, yeah.
But don't get me started on the Christmas decorations!
This was my plan during the pandemic, but...life. 21 years in this house and I don't want to look in the Hooligans' closets. Ever. You should feel solid achievement for the accomplishment, Julia. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience when I lost some weight and could consider clothes from younger years. They no longer suited my personality and, let's face it, I couldn't have pulled off the look even if I wanted to. You can't stay 30 forever. Good luck with it all! I love to clean out (other people's houses!)
ReplyDeleteBravo Julia! Personally I find cleaning out so painful. We moved to a smaller retirement village home 2 years ago and we are just now done with cleaning out. Next year, we will probably move to a 2 bedroom and start all over again. UGH!
ReplyDeleteI have not given away my clothes from when I first started working out of college in the 80's. I keep thinking that I might become that small again. I guess I should give myself a deadline to lose an appropriate amount of weight. Whatever does not fit then, can go to my daughters or my son's girlfriend. After that I can donate. I lost the baby weight after the first two children, but it did not happen after the last one. She is 23. I am enjoying reading the posts. It is too bad that we can't all get together and go through our things at the same time. It would be much more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've done a small amount of cleaning out (just threw out some papers today), I haven't done a big clean-up. 1-I have the whole house so it's not hurting anything; 2- It's too hard to get rid of some things; and 3-The places to take the stuff aren't open. Every once in a while, I get rid of a few things, or they fall apart. My dad had a bunch of red bandannas that he used as handkerchiefs or to wipe sweat. I use them in the garden. Dad died in 1986, and this year one actually had a hole in ii, and I had to throw it away! Guess you can see that I keep things for a long time. LOL Stay safe and well.
ReplyDeleteI turn to a vampire any time i want to. i become a vampire because of how people treat me, this world is a wicked world and not fair to any body. at the snack of my finger things are made happened. am now a powerful woman and no one step on me without an apology goes free. i turn to human being also at any time i want to. and am one of the most dreaded woman in my country. i become a vampire through the help of my friend who introduce me into a vampire kingdom by given me their number. if you want to become a powerful vampire kindly contact the vampire kingdom on their email worldofvampir@hotmail.com
ReplyDelete