Yesterday's Clothing

Chores at Home & other jobs

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"Judy" Judith Ann Haag Carstens & "Del" Delmar Leroy Carstens

Clothing

1940's My family (Judy) lived in Wisconsin where we had cold winter days and nights.( SEE PICTURE.). I wore leggings and carried a Muff when I was young. When about 8 and 9 years old I wore snowpants. They kept our legs warm but I had to wear dresses as pants for girls were forbidden. Scarves around our neck and mittens on our hands along with overshoes on our feet kept us warm. Leggings were very tight form fitted wool pants made to match my coat. My hat or bonnet was trimmed in white fur as was my muff.

1930-40'S Delmar Leroy Carstens was 10 years old. "I remember Gpa Waltke who was a farmer in rural Beatrice,Nebraska. He and all of the men in his day wore bib overalls.. They had "Sunday go meetin'" clothes which were new blue bib overalls [several sizes too long, so the pant legs had to be folded up several inches].;Shiny black shoes & white socks, a dress white shirt and tie made them look pretty spiffy.!!
When the overalls started to get dirty looking then they would be worn for work everyday. They were seldom washed. They would be so dirty that they would look like leather and could almost stand up in the corner by themselves.     .....................................

Gpa Johann Gottlieb Carstens, also, of Beatrice, Nebraska
 had a suit that he wore to church. 
He was a city man and was involved in community activities.                                       

1930-40's Flour and feed sacks were always fun to get because someone in the family would get some new clothes. Gma Judy remembers blouses and dresses from flour sacks. The sacks were also used for curtains and dishtowels. When a new shipment of flour came into the general store it was always good to be the first one there so we could pick out 4-5 bags that looked alike so you could make the nicest dress or a set of curtains.                                        

1948 Mother who did little knitting began knitting some soakers and booties. These were for the new baby to be, Charles Thomas Haag, my baby brother.

Soakers were knit pants to cover diapers, and they would protect our clothing while holding the baby who might get wet. A gift of rubber pants was given for the newborn. Rubber pants were great because moisture never soaked through and the baby was always dry. Mother saved those for when we went away from home.

After we were married and had our firstborn (Wendy Jo), we were given some plastic pants which were much easier to put on and wash than rubber pants. This was a great invention!
We used gauze diapers which dried quickly. Some people used flannel and double thick diapers which took a long time to dry on the line in the winter months.
Diapers would often freeze on the line as did the other clothes on wash day. I would bring them inside and hang them above the gas stove toward the ceiling which was warmer and the clothing would finish drying inside.

I was so happy for an automatic washing machine in the kitchen. This made diaper washing so much easier, and it could be done every day NOT just once a week. I had a diaper pail in the bathroom which would hold all the rinsed out diapers and a liquid sweetener made it smell good. Burp Rags and diapers would soak in the pail until time for washing.

When I took down the diapers they were each folded individually and ready for another change.
The babies wore nightgowns the first months and later cute little outfits were added to the wardrobe. I made most of Wendy's clothes the first year or two.

Blanket or quilts were also made from clothing that was no longer useful.

Gma Judy

remembers the thrill of shopping for clothing in August just before school would start up for a new year.

New clothes that mother did not sew was a big treat. I usually would get 2 skirts, 4 blouses, a sweater, socks, underclothes.

The dress in the 50's during my high school days was skirts, blouses, or sweater sets with neck scarves. I had a neck scarf in every color. They were silk squares which made a triangle in back & double knot in front They cost 25¢.I could baby-sit for a quarter an hour and did some of that every week so a new scarf I could buy.
I wore white saddle shoes & bobby socks or white buck shoes which were worn by all the girls. In 1954 I received my new winter coat as a surprise Christmas present.  I had to hunt for it from a note which had been wrapped for me to open.  It was blue wool, long to my ankles and would cover most of my legs. 

Boots rubbed against my legs until they had a red chapped ring around each leg.  I walked 1 1/2 mile to & from school each day and to church on Wednesday nights for choir practice, and again on Sunday mornings and in the evenings for Youth Group {called Luther League}.

50's Fashions for the gals are remembered today. Following WWII women were looking for a "new look" after going through wartime shortages of fabrics and shoes and socks. Now short skirts gave way to longer skirts with many pleats or fluffed up with many yards of material.

(I remember the circle skirt) Lots and lots of material and longer enough to cover the legs.

The rage was poodle skirts which were even fuller and they were fluffed up even more with two or three crinoline half slips for petticoats under one skirt.

(My wedding dress had three half slips with a very stiff crinoline being one to make the skirt stand out far from my body. Also princess waistline with very narrow waist and and extra waist cincher which held stockings up from the bottom and boobs up at the top AND it was strapless. It has long bone stays in it to hold it up.)

Blouses were designed with puffed sleeves. They also had ruffles and pockets.

Legs were less on display so spike heels were the popular dress shoe with eye catching straps to show off the ankles. Others wore clunky platform shoes or white suede shoes, known as "white bucks" . These shoes required frequent patting with a pouch filled with chalk powder to keep them white. If someone stepped on them or we scraped them against a desk or locker, we would ceremoniously take out the pouch of powder we carried with us and restore them to white again. The companion fad to the "white bucks" were white bobby socks rolled down to our ankles.

New hairdos were the poodle cuts and the guys with outlandish taste had ducktails. Girls began to sport ponytails, along with Betty Grable's upswept hairdo. My hair remained straight with a flip and down to the shoulders with straight bangs.

Feathered and flowered hats, gloves, purses and earrings were new. Lipstick was the only make up allowed by my mom. She said I would ruin my complexion if I started using make up so young. I should enjoy the natural look and I should be happy I  still looked so good.

I took sewing in high school and learned to make my own dresses and skirts. This ability saved lots of money, and I would make my dresses for a dollar plus the cost of the pattern which was 25¢. To save money, I often made 4 dresses from the same pattern changing the look by using different prints and combinations of material. The A-line skirt was the most popular. All I needed were different blouses to make another new outfit.

Suits with straight skirts were worn for dress up.  I had a red suit which I wore for confirmation when I was 15. I had a white hat, gloves, shoes, and blouse for access. That was my favorite dress up outfit.   Picture   

Gma Doris Bucholz Johnson always wore house dresses which she made.1930-40's. She sewed all her own clothing. The ladies wore dresses and never pants. Her daughters were not allowed to wear pants. I (Judy) was not allowed to wear jeans until I was in Jr. High School. Even in the cold of winters, my parents made me wear dresses to elementary school which had to be stuffed into snow pants which we removed at school in our cloak room before going into class. I hated that! It would have been so much easier and "lady like" I thought to wear slacks to school and no "baby snow pants".1940-50.

Judy: In 1957-65, during college hats were a must for proper dress for the women. As seminary students wives we were instructed to always wear hats to church as we were an example to others. It didn't matter how large it was, the bigger the better even if those behind us had to dodge us to see anything ahead. Off to the Millinery we did go and make our purchases.

Every week we looked for a place to sit in church where we did not have to dodge some lady's wide brimmed hat. [Picture in Reminisce Nov 1995 of women in dresses for party]  also family picture like this to be inserted.  
High heel shoes (spikes) we called them were very important if we wanted to be properly dressed. 3" spikes made it difficult to find that Tall, dark, and handsome guy while in college. But it was proper, so we were told. (I found my tall, dark, and handsome so my problems with wearing spikes ended.) Until 1980, women would never go to town in jeans or shorts. Never! (in the Midwest, Iowa)

After moving to Arizona in 1985 all of those traditions changed. It is so relaxed and casual in Arizona that even in church it does not matter what the dress code it. There is none. Maybe no bear feet, but that's about it. For church in the summer, that is so understandable, because who wants to dress up when the heat is so unbearable?

Wendy Jo Carstens 1957-
Mother, Judy:

"Made Wendy a Jacket and Bonnet from my Red Corduroy Skirt and handkerchiefs for

binding. Ribbon for tie."

Made sun dresses from my old blouses.

Winter Coat from my tweed winter coat which was made with blue fluff lining. Collar was blue and a muff to match. Purchased blue velveteen hat with white puff on top.

Made sun suits, shirts from clothing.

Irene Svoboda gave Wendy a new Red dress.

Wanda, next door neighbor, gave her a couple outfits. We couldn't afford to buy clothes in those days.

Susie and Donna, school teachers I babysat for, gave Wendy a new dress for her birthday.
That was really a very special and expensive gift!  Seldom did anyone spend that much on a birthday gift!

Picture insert

Gpa Del 3/4/31 "I wore bib overalls as a boy in the summer with no shirt or tennis shoes. I didn't even know what tennis shoes were until I was 10 years old. "

"When I was 10 years old my mother dressed me in 3/4 yellow pants called knickers, with a white shirt and suspenders and bobby socks. We had no choice, we just wore what we were told. We lived in town and when we got to the farm where my cousins lived, I was very embarrassed. The other kids thought I was weird and teased me unmercifully. I decided right then that when I got old enough to make my own decisions that I would never wear short pants again." PICTURE

"Like mother's experience (Judy), we would get new clothes in August just before school started. I would get one pair of overalls and two shirts. The shirts were often made by my mother.."

"In the winter we were required to wear "long johns", and mother made us flannel shirts and nightgowns. The nightgowns along with a ton of covers kept us from being cold. Down filled mattresses and quilts kept us warm and all three of us brothers slept in the same bed. Body heat was a big factor in keeping us from getting cold. In the Morning our Dad (John Carstens) would be up very early and would then stoke the fire so we would have heat when we dressed for the day. We had a chimney in the kitchen and another in the dining room on the opposite wall which had a pipe through which the heat moved."

Gma Judy also remembers sleeping in a cold hours when 8-12 years of age. Mother (Jean Johnson Haag) was the one who would stoke the fire and made us stay in bed until the heat began to move up the registers when we could get dressed. I remember the bathroom was the smallest and warmest room in the house for dressing. [Picture of house]

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My mother (Jean Johnson Haag) slept upstairs on 710 Menomine St. in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with no central heating at all in her house. Only a wood burning stove in the downstairs dining room and cook stove (wood burning) in the kitchen.     

Great Grandpa Buck Haag
7/1/1918I had to wear corduroy knickerbockers (knee length pants with a button on the cuff just below the knee. Little boys were always dresses in these until about 16 years old. I got long pants when I was 12. In high school we wore corduroy pants and never overalls.

Foxy 1909, tells how she could not go to the closet and pick out what she would wear nor could she fix her hair the way she wanted until she was 18 years old.
She had two pair of shoes, one for school and one for Sunday. The Sunday shoes were always too big.
"When we grew into them we would wear them for everyday."

Chores at Home & Other Jobs

Gma Maude

Gma Maude Elizabeth Rice Haag Grew up in Cadott, Wisconsin a tiny rural village. Always helped in the garden and caring for the chickens. Had to help in the house when not working. Dad owned a General Store in town so spent much time working there also. Her father was Jacob Rice who lived until 1958 at 102 years old. He remained in the same house.

Maude married Benjamin George Haag from a farm nearby. Wisconsin. He worked for Eau Claire Leader newspaper in later years. Sold subscriptions. When people could not afford the paper he would trade eggs, butter, and chickens for their subscription. Butter was 10¢ a #, and eggs were 6¢ a dozen. Chickens were a quarter dressed. So during the depression, they always had plenty to eat.
The picture below was displayed on Ben and Maude's 50th Wedding Anniversary!
1958 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Daughter Elizabeth "Beth" became a school teacher, and married John Henry Wampole (known as "Uncle Hank" in earlier days) who also taught in high schools and colleges. They worked in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and Oregon. After 16 years of marriage, Bryce was born an only son.

Waldro Rice Webert Haag was son of Maude and Ben born 9 years after Beth.

"Buck" Haag

Gpa "Buck" Eau Claire, Wisconsin" When I was 3-4 years old I was given jobs by my sister, Beth. She named every piece of furniture in the house, and I had to keep them clean. 

  The leather davenport was an Elephant. She would say, "Today you must clean the elephant."

Each day I had a different animal to clean.     

Dad told Judy the following:

"I was a pesky little brother.  I was three and she was 12.  Beth had to watch me a great deal.  She would get angry with me and put me in the closet.  I didn't mind, I just pulled down all of the clothes and went to sleep.  When mother came home, Beth got into trouble. I made a mess! 
Actually, she forgot me because it was quiet and peaceful.  One day they couldn't find me and looked all over the neighborhood, until Beth remembered she had put me in the closet; and there I was sound asleep.

Most of the time we had a housekeeper who took good care of me, and she was a good cook, too.  My mother was not a cook, and she always had a job away from home.
Our housekeeper watched over me like a hawk."

When I was old enough I mowed the lawns. We had about an acre to mow.   My friends didn't have chores like this to do so I became an instigator.  We played farm by attaching ropes to the lawn mower, and to my friends; and they would pull the lawnmower to get the job done.  Now if they didn't help, I wouldn't let them use my turning pole. [Turning pole was a heavy metal shaft of pipe hung between 2 trees (it would grow into the trees).  We would do chin ups, turnovers, acrobats, and hand walking.                            [PICTURE]

I received an allowance year around, but only mowed the lawn in the summer of course. Every Saturday morning I had to scrub the kitchen and hardwood floors.  The floors didn't have a covering on them so we had to fill in the cracks and mother (Maude E. (Rice) Haag would help me with that on her days off."

When in high school my girlfriend, Jean Johnson (Haag) would come to my house and scrub the floor for me so we could get done and go to a movie."

Later she became my wife of over 50 years."  She died in August 1987 after a bout with colon cancer.

Gma Jean Haag

Judy Haag Carstens

I always got mine. It was $5 a month when I was in High School. I had to pay for all my expenses with that $5. My parents did buy a season ticket to the ballgames so that was extra. If we wanted a coke after a game or some French fries (which was all I could afford), it came out of the $5 for the month. I always put $1 in savings, $1 for church, $1 for clothing accessories. Purchased neck scarves of every color for 25¢ each. We wore those with our sweaters, and it was special having lots of different scarves.

"My dad "Buck" started a new job when I was 9 yrs. Stanley Home Products (SHP) & Mother worked with him to build the business.  We children had a job every week when the merchandise would come from the distributing center to our home. We would help dad unpack and shelve the products. Then set up orders from an order card that each customer filled out at a Stanley Party (Demonstration) the previous week. We children also had the job of stamping dad's name and phone number on all of the catalogs, order cards, and inserted flyers and then collated the materials for the "parties" (demonstrations in hostesses homes) for the next week. We would line up the catalogs from the bedroom through the living room to the kitchen and then add what needed to be put with each one. (order cards and Stanley pencils. My brothers, Jon and Gene were only 4 and 5 years old so it is questionable how much help they were.  We were busy!!! Actually, I think we enjoyed it most of the time."

 Also, at nine years of age I [Judy] put on my first Stanley Home Products Party (Demonstration).  I wanted to do this because I listened to my mom and dad demonstrate to each other for practice. It sounded so easy to me so I received the OK.  I booked my party with my Grandmother Johnson. She invited all her neighbors and relatives. The manager, Eivend Hogan, from St. Paul, Minnesota, came to Eau Claire; took pictures, and had them published in the STANDARD (a monthly publication of the Company.)

From the STANDARD:

"Judy carries her demo case and sets up her display. She proceeded to put on her first Stanley party.

Here she is demonstrating the black flesh brush. She said, "It is curved like Mae West to fit your curves. The handle is just the right size so you don't hit yourself in the head. It has a lifetime guarantee and the bristles will never come out. You may jot that down on your order card."

She sold over $25 worth of merchandise and gave the hostess a very nice gift. A Brown Beauty Set. (This was a brown dust mop and a split duster for the furniture. and a Lucite Hairbrush and Comb Set."

"She is only nine years old. If a nine year old can do this job, You can do it!"

For many years I was invited to speak before Stanley Meetings. I spoke at an Area meeting in St. Paul at the Kahler Hotel when 13. When 16, I was invited to speak at the Regional Convention in Chicago, Illinois at the Conrad Hilton Hotel and stayed for the entire week.

Babysitting

As I said "I was given an allowance of $5 a month, and it had to meet all my expenses. I received $5 a month in high school which I divided into to needs from which $1 went to church, $1 went into my savings account, $1 for school supplies, and the rest had to pay for movies 10 c, snacks, or cokes after school. $1 for clothing. Also, school dances after games which were 25 cents each week. Mom & Dad bought me a Season Ticket to all the school ball games.

My paper routes
Delmar Leroy Carstens
9-17 yrs.

You don't see any punches here, but they were different holes for every week. The hole is different than a regular punch so people could not punch their own cards

Notice This side was for business so we might have continued service. .

Every Saturday morning I rode the street car downtown to Sioux City where all the paper boys would go into this very old building which was the Sioux City Journal & Tribune Printing Building. Upstairs along a very dark hallway where Mr. Kuhlman had his office, all the boys were lined up to pay their bills.
He collected our money for the papers.
We were called Jr. Merchants since we bought
papers from the Tribune and sold them.
I could keep $4-$5 a week and thought
I had it pretty good.
With my first earnings I saved and purchased my first bicycle. It was a Wards Hawthorne Victory Model with skinny tires, yellow painted rims with red fenders with frame and black handlebars and black pedal arm sprockets. It had no chrome because it was during the war. I Was So Proud!

I peddled my route several miles from home. At that time I had about 90 customers. Later I had a route with 180 customers
and more money ($8 a week)
If you could not collect, you were just short on profits.

I nearly peed my pants one day when I stopped to collect for the paper as I was met by the door by a customer with a gun in hand. He said, "I am going to shoot you."

It was good at times, because I remember one family inviting me in for a bowl of chili.
Sometimes, especially at Christmas time, I was given cookies and candy. One family even gave me a sled which I had for many years.

On occasion, in the winter months I would sometimes use my sled instead of my bike to carry papers. I had this route about 5 years. 1948
I, also, built a two wheel cart with a canvas top to carry my papers and while walking pulled my sled. (I didn't do that too long because the papers were so very heavy.)
On Sunday mornings I would get out of bed at 3 o'clock to go and pick up my papers, fold them to get an early delivery. During the week I would go about 3:30 to fold papers which I had to have delivered by the supper hour.

I folded them in a half and then thirds after which I would fold them in thirds again and tuck in one end. They were flat and could easily be sailed on the porch in front of each door.

"This is how my delivered paper was shaped. I folded many papers and then sailed them up on the porch of every home as I walked by them."

One house I delivered to had very large pillars in front. It had a storm door which had many glass pieces instead of one piece of glass. One of the panels was broken and one day I learned to sail my papers so that it went through the broken pane and landed between the two doors.
One paper I threw downhill across the railroad tracks to Kromanach's porch.

I had three different routes. One route took me from my house, down a long hill and onward toward the river. Missouri River. The bank down the hill to the river was very very steep. How people got their furniture down that hill I will never know.
Customers did not pay until they had received their papers for a week. I had to walk down to collect. One family, Trudell by name lived by the river in a ratty house. When I stopped to collect one day, their house had burned down and mice trying to escape made it part way but were laying dead all over the ground. Obviously, I couldn't collect from that house and my profits were very low that week.
Another night when I stopped by a house to collect a young lady came out "stark naked". I was quite surprised at my young age. She then went back into the house to get here card (each customer had their own card which I punched after receiving payment). Mom thought she was rather stupid when she heard this story, but I said, I remember her being a rather attractive little girl.
The second week she had a towel in front of her at least. I don't know why, but thought in my later years I think she might have been a nudist. I didn't forget her anyway.
I, also, delivered along South Paxton Street where there were only a couple of houses along the West side of the street and a field on the east side. That is the area where I went quite frequently in later years because a housing development took place and now Mother (Judy Haag) lived. At the end of Paxton Street (2600 block in those days),
There was a road to the West. When it rained I would have to walk down that long hill, leaving my bike at the top because the dirt was Iowa's' sticky and muddy muck.

In our day no parent ever delivered papers for their sons. If we were sick or unable to deliver, it was our job to find our own substitutes and pay them for their work.

Gma Ella Waltke & Gpa John Carstens

Gpa John Carstens loaded a shot gun one day with rock salt and shot the bull so he wouldn't bother anymore.  It did the trick, but he felt badly later because the old BULL Bellowed for a very long time. It smarted. Those on the farm had to feed the chickens, pigs, horses and see that they were watered daily. The women sewed all the clothing and the young girls had to learn how to cook and sew. Gma Ella wanted so to go to school. She loved school, but only certain boys in the family could go beyond the 8th grade.

Gma Ella Carstens parents, Gma and Gpa Waltke came from Germany where they had lived on a farm. Gma Waltke 16 yrs old came to U.S. from a small town of Aurich on a Clipper Ship through the Gulf of Mexico to Missouri, and then to Nebraska.  She was married and at 19 years her first husband tried to kill her one night when he was drunk.  They were riding across a bridge with a horse and wagon, and he threw her off the wagon into the river.  She caught herself on one of the support rails and hung there quietly until he was off the bridge and on down the road.  She said he never looked back.  That night she found her way to a barn on a farm where she crawled into the haystack and slept.  In the morning she went to a home for help.  Her marriage was annulled.

Gpa Waltke stowed away on a ship at the age of 14 to escape the military.  He was found at sea (too late to return to Germany) so he came to the U.S. [they could not go back now] and settled in Nebraska which became their home for life. He farmed near Pickerell and Beatrice.

Family Pets

Judy had a family pet named "Snippy". Gma Haag brought him home in her purse when Judy was 4 years old. He was a cross between a Miniature Dashound and a Toy Pomeranian. When 9 years old Judy entered a parade with children and their animals. Mom had me dressed up like a chef selling hotdogs for 5¢. Mom covered my buggy with a box and old sheet.

Prince, was a border collie, who came to live with us when Charles, Judy's baby brother, was a baby and had pneumonia, three times his first year of life. Mother cared for him at home because the hospitals were too full for good care. One day Dad came home with this puppy for mother. Prince lived with us for over 20 years. Mickey a Siamese cat also became part of that family. This was the only cat Dad ever tolerated. Mom loved cats but we never had one before Mickey.

"Sparky" was a member of the John & Ella Carstens household. He was a part of the family while Delmar, Kenneth, and Ronald were growing up. A little bullterrier. Full of life and slobbers.           

Del Carstens family had many animals for pets. Rabbits, kittens, dogs, parakeets, fish, gerbils, and tortoises (Josiah) were all part of our family pets. Prince a black Lab was a beauty of a dog but too frisky to keep in a small town of Swedesburg so we gave him to a Missionary family in Havre, Montana when we went there for a summer to serve the parish while their Missionary was on vacation. That was a very sad parting. All members of our family cried as we left and Prince was in the garage crying.

Mathias a little stray came to stay at our home in Swedesburg. A great dog who just disappeared one day. Then Tobias (a black miniature Dashound) was a strange dog. Grew close to mother (Judy). Didn't like the little kids as they teased him.

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Under Constructions
Updated February 29, 2008