Yesterday, I mentioned how my mother took my “just right” bellbottom jeans when I wasn’t paying attention and made them into a quilt. Here it is:
I like the teddy bear appliques most of all. Someone mentioned they must have been to “hippify” the jeans since it was the era of the hippies when I wore them. The appliques weren’t for cuteness. They covered holes made by battery acid.
The job I had at the time involved moving stuff with an electric jack, and exposure to battery acid was an occupational hazard. All my clothes (jeans, anyway) had evidence of that!
Besides, the longish hair I wore back then was my little act of rebellion against “The Man”, who, frankly, cared less about us production workers’ appearance as long as we got the production out.
Part of why I wasn’t happy (at the time) Mom repurposed my jeans, was they were authentic US Navy bellbottoms I bought at the US Navy’s air station at Lakehurst, New Jersey. That’s the place where the Hindenburg went down.
I don’t recall why a bunch of US Army guys took an official trip down to Lakehurst from Ft. Monmouth, but we did.
While there, it was only natural we all bought bellbottoms at the post exchange. They were the rage, so stylish in the civilian world of 1970! But these were the real deal, genuine US Navy bellbottoms, not a fad! I felt pretty smart wearing them when off duty or on jobs where I could were civilian clothes. They definitely didn’t say “US Army”! (The close-cropped military haircut took care of betraying that fact about me! Hard to pass as a 1970s civilian with one of those!)
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Postscript:
I put the quilt over a chair to take photos. Dougy did what he always does when I am in the dining room area: He hopped into his favorite box, hoping (against hope!) that I’m in there to bring out the feather toy! He likes to hide there to snare the “bird” out of the air when it passes by!
Poor kitty! I think I owe him some play time now for setting him up for disappointment earlier. Don’t you?
Remember me writing about the longtime friend in France whose famous call to action is “Are you up!?” Well, Dougy definitely is up for play, as you can tell by his “horns”! He – and “they” – definitely are up!
would love to do the same with Jamie’s comfy t-shirts.
The horror! 😉
Beautiful blanket with some great memories of your Mom “sewn” in! 🙂
Dougy looks ready to play! 🙂
Give him and Andy some gentle rubs from me!
HUGS!!! 🙂
How true!
Yes, Dougy was very, very ready! I have to take him seriously when he has this look. Also, as the bigger, heavier of the two brothers, it’s good for him especially to get some daily exercise.
Oh I see Dougy likes boxes like Ali does. He is such a beautiful boy and that face woul dmelt any heart.
I like the quilt your Mom made out of your bells. We used to get ours at General Jeans in the city, take them home, cut them up the sides, and add colorful patterned material to made them even bell out more.
I still have a couple pair of mine, although I will never fit in them. They bring back good memories.
Have a good week end.
I remember people (even guys!) doing that with bellbottoms! Do you remember the elephant bells? Bigger bellbottoms, and more flair, though I always thought they looked best on really thin people, which I wasn’t! Yeah, I couldn’t fit into the bellbottoms in the quilt these days, either. I was about 160-170 pounds in the army, a weight that didn’t last once I got out.
Either this was made from two pairs of jeans or your bellbottom jeans were VERY worn in patches…
I think there were four pairs altogether…! And they were very worn!