The Dresses

All of these dresses were made by Ducknik and JJ-aka-PP's grandmother, and were worn by her mother. They date from the '20s and '30s, and were all discovered by JJ-aka-PP  inside a barrel in a storage shed, after grandma died. She had made them, they had been worn, and were then squirreled away and forgotten. They are really beautiful.

This last one has a wonderful story. Long-time Plotnikkies will remember that Ducknik had an aunt who Plot and Duck went to see in Somerset, Kentucky, just before Auntie Melba died in 2007. Aunt Melba was Duck and JJ's mom's younger sister.

When the above flouncy Charleston dress was being made, Aunt Melba, who was 10 years younger than her older sister, was so jealous that she wasn't getting a dress made for her, that she stole the last ruffle that was supposed to go on that dress and put it on one of her dolls.

She caught such hell for that that she never said another word about it, until the day JJ-aka-PP happened to show it to her and she came clean about the story. And now everyone's gone, except for these dresses.

And don't forget the button box.

It's the old Depression Mentality -- Grandma cut the buttons and belt buckles off every piece of clothing that ever wore out, and they all went in this box. So we're looking at 75 years at least of buttons here -- you can't imagine how many there are.