Family History: The Seamstress

I thought you kids might like to learn a little more about Grandma Applegate.  As you probably know, she is an excellent seamstress.  But you might not know that she learned and developed this talent while in high school. 

Grandma Applegate made this dress with the matching slip as a junior in high school.  She entered the dress in the 1955 Singer Junior Sewing Contest in Oakland, California.  She won first place and was awarded a small set of scissors and a small portable sewing machine, which she ended up giving to her older sister, Joan.

 

Picture taken by Kathy Page in October 2014.

 

The next year, her senior year, Grandma made another dress with a matching slip and entered the same contest.  She won first place again!  The intricate sewing of all the pleats down the front of the dress were amazing.  This time she was awarded a large set of scissors and a Singer sewing machine, which she gave to me many years ago.   This time her dress went to nationals.  It ended up being disqualified because Grandma had altered the pattern.  Her teachers were not aware of that rule and were upset she got disqualified.

 

 Picture taken by Kathy Page in October 2014

 

 

This is a picture of Grandma wearing the dress she made at the competition.

 

 

This is a picture of her on the stage with the other competitors.  The original photo was long and skinny.  So when I scanned the photo, I couldn't get the entire stage in the picture--there were a lot more girls than you can see.  If you look closely, Grandma is the third girl on the left--not counting the head in the background.

 

 

 

This is the sewing machine Grandma won--which I still use. It is a great sturdy machine--they don't make them like this anymore!