FLOUR SACKS AND BLOOMERS

By Frances West

 

Recently I had to shop for some new underwear for myself, which triggered the memories of the days when I wore homemade bloomers. (Younger folks may want to look up exactly what bloomers are.) In those days my mother baked a lot of wonderful bread and would buy flour in 100-pound bags.  These cotton bags had colorful designs and were really quite pretty. So the ladies of the house would make good use of their material by making dish towels, aprons, and pinafores for the little girls’ dresses and other practical things.   My mamma decided that this was the very thing needed for my bloomers. The problem was that, for some reason, they were way too big. She always said it was so I could sit comfortably. But I was constantly pulling and rolling them up so they would not show below my dress. Girls did not wear jeans or long pants in those days.  Also, they were supposed to be long enough to connect with my long cotton stockings.  All of this was, of course, so I would stay warm.

There was only one other girl that I know of who also wore cotton bloomers. Her name was Patty and she lived with an elderly aunt, so we sort of bonded because of our underwear.  It seemed all the other girls had pretty pink silk or rayon panties.  I knew this because of a piece of playground equipment we used at recess. It was a high metal pole that had long chains hanging from the top with hand grips at the bottom which we would grab and run as fast as possible. The centrifugal force would carry is in a high circle and of course, expose our underwear.  It was called the “Giant Strides” and was great fun.

 My mother didn’t escape the bloomer dilemma.  One day she was standing at the stove, cooking dinner (stirring gravy, to be exact) for dinner guests, when her underpants fell down when the buttons came loose. This was during World War two and rubber products were scarce since the war effort needed all of things like that so they had to use buttons....anyway, poor Mom was so embarrassed. I heard a story that this happened to President Roosevelt’s wife as well.  I don’t imagine it was any less embarrassing.

In winter most of us wore long heavy brown cotton stockings. These were usually held up by a circular piece of elastic and were high enough to connect with the bloomers, which also had elastic at the lower leg. Most of us had to wear these stockings all winter or at least until the snow had melted from the hillsides. However when spring began to show we sisters would wait until we were out of our mother’s sight and would roll our stockings down and bloomers up.  It must have been quite a sight to see these little girls walking to school with fat brown “donuts” around their ankles.  Then on the trip home, we would reverse the procedure so that our moms would think we had worn our long sox all day. Looking back, I’m sure my mom knew what we were up to all along.

            To this day I like soft, pretty underwear. Nothing fussy and “age appropriate” for someone 82. Now I buy flour in paper bags and toss the bags into the trash when emptied. Recycling and using everything possible is not a new concept as many younger folks think these days. But then of course they know nothing of flour sack bloomers.