Hand-Me-Down Dresses

We had a visit from the cutest little Mennonite sisters today. The seven and eight year old girls were sweet enough to be pictured in a country magazine. 

Each had on a lovely colorful cotton print dress that touched the tops of their socks and covered their shoulders. Their long blond hair was braided in an intricate design that only a loving mother could do. 

When I took them on a tour of our "rummage" rooms upstairs, they giggled and said they had rooms like that at their house. When we were in my sewing room, they told me that their mother made their dresses. But they were most proud of the fact that they sometimes got hand-me-downs from an older cousin. And the older sister was proud that the seven year old sometimes wore her outgrown dresses.

I remember that happy feeling when my older cousins or neighbors passed on a brown paper bag full of new skirts and dresses to me. What a treasure that was! Opening that bag was like opening the doors of the most exquisite dress shop on earth. ;)