Vintage skills—are they a thing of the past? Have we lost some of the skills our ancestors, or even our parents, learned? The definition of vintage from the dictionary, which I quote from Merriam-Webster, is “of old, recognized, and enduring interest, importance, or quality. Classic, of the best and most characteristic.”
My mother taught me to sew, cook from scratch, and garden. She taught me to make bread and preserve fruits and vegetables from the garden. She taught me to sew my first apron; the rest is history. From high school, I also remember taking sewing classes in Home Economics.
It’s funny, but now many of these skills are considered a craft in our modern world.
I called my grandson, Zack who learned to sew in junior high school. I asked him what the class was called, he said it was called “Sports Sewing”. He learned to make a jacket and a gym bag and learned how to do it on a BabyLock sewing machine. He loved the class; he even said it was cool! When I was young I learned to sew on a Singer sewing machine. I now have a Bernina machine that I dreamed about having since I was about 26 years old.
I Love My Bernina Sewing Machine
Around that time, I was working part-time at a Bernina store in Logan, Utah. I was in charge of designing the display windows for people walking or driving by the storefront. I rotated the different fabrics in the store and sewed clothes with those same fabrics to put on display.
It was a thrill for me to sew clothes for this popular store. Looking back I guess I was a little bit of a fraud using my Singer sewing machine to sew the clothes at home. LOL! I would go “practice” on the Bernina machines, and I dreamt one day I would own one of those babies.
Well, when my mother passed away in 2006, she left me a little money, and I bought a Bernina! I was 56 years old, and it was a cartwheel moment for me! It took me 30 years to get one! It wasn’t top-of-the-line, but it was a well-made, sturdy machine.
I will never part with that sewing machine. I know my mom is looking down from heaven and is so grateful I bought it to honor her and continue to use one of her vintage life skills: sewing.
Vintage Skills
Sewing:
I have used my sewing machine to mend clothes for neighbors, family, and friends. The machine made twirly skirts for my granddaughters with matching appliqued t-shirts. I have also made quilts and embroidered towels for baptisms and christenings.
When I lived at home, I sewed all of my clothes. If we had a prom dance coming up, my mom whipped out her sewing machine to start sewing the millions of pieces of fabric for our dresses.
My friend JoAnn taught Home Economics when she was younger, and we would compare our sewing ideas as we raised our kids together. It was nice to have a friend who understood the joy of sewing.
My sister Carol has now taken her sewing to the next level, creating one-of-a-kind, perfectly sewn, appliqued quilts carefully quilted and bound with love. I have friends who make their own curtains and blankets and take pride in doing so. These are technical skills we take for granted, but skills the younger generation haven’t learned, in many cases.
Cooking from scratch:
I have to laugh because I know that when I was growing up, we had creamed tuna on toast at least once a week. I also remember having goulash, fried liver and onions, and other entrees you don’t see as much now. Our family ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread—I know that!
We also ate a lot of beans, rice, soups, and chili made from every kind of bean known to man! We loved to make creamed chip beef on toast. Sloppy joes were one of our favorite meals.
Many nights, we had peanut butter and jam sandwiches for dinner. We usually had cans of green beans and corn or some kind of vegetable to go with meals. Breakfast for dinner was a highlight, with pancakes, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns with syrup. Tacos with homemade salsa was my all-time favorite meal and one I cherish to this day!
Potatoes were a staple at our home. Oh, how we loved homemade French fries and twice-baked potatoes. Sometimes, we had open-faced sandwiches with melted cheese on top, broiled in the oven.
I vaguely remember a drive-through with girls on roller skates at a drive-in restaurant. It was way too expensive for our family’s budget to eat there. I know when I was raising my daughters, we rarely ate out for meals. We didn’t do it. It wasn’t until my girls were grown that Mark and I ate out often when we were both working long hours.
Gardening:
My great-grandmother would be delighted to see organic grocery stores. Oh, that’s right. She grew organic food back when it wasn’t called organic. It was homegrown food, or as we call it today, a garden. No pesticides or herbicides. Just the earth planted with saved seeds. Imagine that—seeds that are produced year after year so you can harvest your own food.
We used a hoe and shovel and replanted seeds year after year. There is something magical about tilling, planting, watering, and checking the garden every day for a sprout—any sprout. Then, when we saw flowers on the fruit trees or vegetables in the vegetable garden, we were elated! We couldn’t wait for that first fresh tomato or peach.
We didn’t have much financially, but we did have the resources to plant, harvest, and preserve.
Canning/Preserving food:
My mother taught me, as well as my sisters, to can, dehydrate, and use every morsel of food that was purchased or grown. There was no waste, ever. I carried on the tradition by teaching my daughters food preservation as well. We lived in towns that sold fruit pretty cheap, and we canned and dehydrated everything we could get our hands on, enjoying the fruits of our labor for the year.
Then we started again the next year, and so on. I know this lesson taught my four daughters to be self-reliant and to value hard work to get needed things done.
I can still see the canned fruits and vegetables in mason jars filled with items from our home garden lined up on basement storage shelves or in our pantry. Having peaches with breakfast was a favorite canned fruit recipe for years. Preserving food is one of the technical skills I was glad our daughters learned at a young age.
Bread Making:
By now, you know I love to make bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, or whatever, using my white bread flour or freshly ground whole wheat flour. I have taught hundreds of friends, neighbors, and fellow church members to make their own bread over the years, and it always brings me joy to feel the bread dough in my hands. I’d have to say, being able to bake bread and enjoy it fresh out of the oven with some homemade jam is a favorite pastime!
My daughter, Heidi, makes the most beautiful loaves of bread, and I have yet to form my loaves to turn out like hers. Kudos to my daughter. It makes a momma proud to see her daughter, or daughters, make bread, cinnamon rolls, or dinner rolls. That’s how we roll, no pun intended.
Other Vintage Skills of Value
Other vintage skills seem to have been lost over the years, at least in our modern American culture where modern conveniences are prized:
- Knitting: like knitting a sweater, shawl, or baby blanket.
- Soap Making: in my archive, I have a post about how to gether the ingredients and make your own laundry soap.
- Making Your Own Candles: I worry about having candles as a light source during blackouts, but many still rely on them.
- Basket Weaving: I’ve never learned how to do this, but some people make beautiful baskets.
Final Word
Let me know the vintage skills you remember as a child; I love your comments and thoughts. May God bless us all and help us all be self-reliant. May God Bless this world, Linda
Copyright Images: Portrait of Woman Sewing Depositphotos_12291465_S By Everett225, Vintage Sewing Machine AdobeStock_78154798 By Maciej Czekajewski, Young Woman In Apron Depositphotos_12294205_S By Everett225
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