Ruffle Forward

September, 1960


Getting onto my school bus, I see Mammaw running down the driveway yelling "GINGER, DID YOU CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR?"  Of course, I shouted back, that YES, I had indeed changed my underwear. "YOU BETTER NOT BE LYING TO ME OR I WILL GET THE SWITCH!" Well we both knew that it was a lie but that is how we started each day  the fall my of first year in grade school. I was living with my grandparents at their farm outside of Disney, Oklahoma while my parents were moving to Illinois. I went to an elementary school about 15 miles away and had to take the school bus. I actually felt kind of special as my Pappaw used to be the bus driver on this particular route so I was proud knowing that he had sat in the big seat on our bus.  I guess it did not bother me so much having her ask  me if I hand changed my underwear because as the bus stopped at different houses along the way,  there was always another mother or grandmother running down the driveway asking their child the same question.  The only thing that did bother me and I could not figure out why until I was much older, the kids on the bus would always chant "WE, BALL    WE, BALL"  "WE BALL"  I went to school with much older kids so I just figured it had something to do with baseball or some other  type of sports. Well my Pappaw's given name was William Earl Ball and in letters as big as the eye could see, there painted on the side of his mailbox  was "W.E. Ball"!  If I had known that I definitely would have change my underwear!

Two weeks earlier......

I was watching The Carol Burnett Show while Mammaw was in the kitchen fixing dinner and Pappaw was outside smoking a Winston cigarette.  I had noticed something different about Mammaw's purple and red flower printed apron....part of the  ruffle had been cut out.  I did not ask her why because I was sure she had a good reason. Then a couple days later I noticed that her pink and green house dress that had tea cups and saucers on the print had a tea cup cut out it. Again I just kept quiet.  But on the next night I noticed that the blue and red ricrack that she had sown on her  orange blouse was missing!  What was going on?  Was someone taking her clothes and destroying them? And didn't she notice?  I bet it was Billy Bob!  He always liked to play practical jokes.  As fate would have it I found out the answers to this mystery not a day too soon because there on my bed the next morning were two of my  old, worn out panties completely embellished. The first one had the purple and red flower printed ruffle sown around the waist band and the ricrack around the legs. Not only that, she had an embroidered an owl on the front where there had been a hole ! And yes, the tea cup print managed to get on the other pair. She took a lot of time on this pair as she had used a special cross stitch with yarn to make it look real special. Mammaw was so proud of her designs and did not care that she used part of her own clothes so that I could have nice new underwear. She could have been an "Underwear Designer"! There was only one problem...No way would I ever wear these...NEVER!  What if I fell or got in an accident ? Plus, the ruffle  was so big that it stuck out of the top of my pants!  Everyone would see that I had ricrack around my legs and a tea cup on my backside not to mention the smiling embroidered owl! I hope she never wants to use her animal print robe because I sure don't  want to find an elephant in my underwear!  Thank God, I still had one more pair of perfectly good panties. I was going to treasure and take care of them as long as I was staying with her on her farm!

25 years later....

What a cute dress?  Kind of country, kind of sexy. It would look good with a goucho hat and cowboy boots. Black tight bodice with a red rose applique and sequins. Long purple, gold and red ruffles cascading to the floor. Sure, I will wear it!  It would be perfect on a hay ride or at a dinner party in Aspen. Or how about at a sqaure dance? I'm sure the guys would like it. OK, I will buy it
Well I paid $200.00 for this dress and it sat in my closet with the tags still on it for long time!  Then....

A few years later...

I had just moved into my new home in Arizona and my mom was helping me make drapes for my dinning room window. It is a big,  long window so it was hard to come up with a design that I liked. Chenille, silk and fringe was really big back then so I found the material I liked but did not want to
pay the additional funds for the fringe. As we are pinning this up I decide to go to my closet (the best flea market ever!) to see if I had some kind of trim stashed away. Looking through all my stash,  there in the back of the closet was my hay riding, square dancing dress with the cascading purple, gold and red ruffles, price tag still intact.  My closet has moments when it is clean and moments when it is not. This particular time it was not. Tripping over a box of pictures to get the dress, out flies a picture of me when I was six years old sitting on Mammaw's lap. And you will never guess what I had on? The underwear with the purple and red ruffled waist band, blue and red ricrack and embroidered owl!  Looking at the picture I start to zone in on the ruffle. It was kind of cute. In fact it was down right adorable. Why had I not seen the beauty of Mammaw's design?   Hmmmm,  you don't think that I could cut off the ruffle from my square dancing dress, sew it in between my rust chenille and golden dupioni silk fabric instead of paying $20.00 a yard for fringe do you? Why not!  It might be cute or it could even be elegant!  After all the drapes were going to be hung in the dining room. Before  I could stop myself, I cutoff the ruffle, pinned it in between the two different fabrics and and hang in next to the window. OMG, it is fantastic! I call my mom over to get her opinion and we are both in agreement.   The ruffle was what the drapes needed!

One day later...

I am looking at my new drapes and am quite happy with my design.  So girls,  be creative!  Go search out your closet for something that has been hanging there for awhile and give it a new purpose!  I actually had enough ruffle left over that I embellished another set of drapes!  So come on girls, have some fun, use your imagination and be different.  Would you believe that I do still have parts of that dress hanging in my closet?...... I know!  I will take the remaining ruffle, buy some red and blue ricrack , embroider an owl and embellish a pair of my old worn out underwear!   Now if I could only think of what to do with the sleeves!