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| August 2011 |
| Billie Silvey |
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| When I was a child, my grandfather owned a dry goods store in Tulia, the county seat of Swisher County, just 15 miles from the tiny town where I grew up. The store was located on the north side of the Court House Square, across the street from the county jail.
It was essentially two stores in one--long, dark, narrow buildings with glass display windows in front. One side was the men’s side, with Levi’s and Stetson hats in the front and shoes and boots behind the counter in the back. The other side, down one step from the men’s, was the women’s side, with lingerie and hosiery and a few racks of ready-to-wear. But the bulk of that side was given over to bolts of fabric—mostly cotton—in all colors and patterns—together with the big pattern books, thread, zippers, buttons and other notions needed.to turn that fabric into garments. Like most high school girls at the time, I took home economics classes. It wasn't that I was planning to be a homemaker. I was planning to be a journalist. It was just that that was the assumption. A girl would grow up and marry and have her own home and family to care for. Every year, we studied cooking, sewing and child care. I remember when a friend and I planned and cooked a dinner party for our parents. I also remember planning a birthday party for the son of some friends of ours. But mostly I remember the sewing--the frustration of putting together two right sleeves, trying to take out stitches without snagging the fabric, pulling threads to make gathers for a skirt and having them break at the last minute and losing all that work. I also have some good memories—of garments that came out well, work that I was proud of. All of them were made of cotton. Cotton is versatile and can be used to make a number of different textile products from terrycloth to denim to seersucker. It can be used to make towels and bedsheets as well as shirts and T-shirts. Even the dress I was married in was cotton. It is also used for fishnets, coffee filters, tents and paper. The seeds of the cotton plant are pressed to produce cottonseed oil. The remaining meal is pressed into cottonseed cake. We used to feed it to our cattle. Even after we moved to Los Angeles, after we had started our family, I made a few pieces of clothing for Kathy before she reached the age when she wanted to shop for what she wore. I still use cotton balls to remove makeup and apply medicine, dry with cotton towels and sleep between cotton sheets. |
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| The Fabric of My Life |