Author Topic: 'Sewn in' for winter ??  (Read 49125 times)

Offline 1l2e

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #18 on: Saturday 09 September 17 22:44 BST (UK) »
@iluleah Thank you for clarifying. I just wasn't sure if you meant what happened to me or something else when you wrote that. Thanks for trying up the loose ends.

Offline groom

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #19 on: Saturday 09 September 17 23:01 BST (UK) »
1l2e, did that mean that for 7 months you didn't have a bath, all over wash or change of underwear? Was that both sexes? I was just thinking about the difficulty for girls when they reached puberty.       
             
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Offline Ayashi

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #20 on: Saturday 09 September 17 23:19 BST (UK) »
I hadn't thought about that part Groom... I was still reading this with a fixed look of horror about how one goes to the toilet...

Offline groom

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #21 on: Sunday 10 September 17 00:02 BST (UK) »
And I thought it was bad enough wearing a liberty bodice when I was at infant school.  ;D ;D
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Offline 1l2e

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #22 on: Sunday 10 September 17 00:08 BST (UK) »
@groom 1) Yes indeed the custom was going into the 1970s but I think it was more covered so people didn't really know it was going on. I remember at my primary and secondary school, a few children with me also turning up sewed into their clothes in the colder months (although of course it was top secret from the other kids!). In fact, even this century about 10 years ago, I remember my half-sister saying that for the Christmas she was going to sew in her children (aged 8 and 14) for the Winter as it was a very cold one that year and she was living in the countryside with not so great heating (I think she had a better time with the sewed on underwear than me and my other siblings did!). Unfortunately me and her don't get along very well, so I wasn't abel to dissuade her...

2) Fortunately, taking a bash and shower were very easy, as the water would just go in-between the clothes and on the skin (the water could just about pass through the stitches into my underwear area and below) and so could wash out dirt. That being said showers were very rare about once a week because my mother thought it better that way for some reason.

3) There was no change of underwear over the 7 months whatsoever, just the same thing for over 200 days (I did try to use deodorant to help the smell though).

4) Yes the treatment was the same for both sexes. For my half-sister, not that I know how she dealed with her pubertal bodily functions, but I presume she just pulled up her knickers and did her business.

@Ayashi 1) One could in fact go to the toilet fairly easily: for a number 1, there was the normal opening in the underwear, and for number 2 it was possible (although with some effort) to lift up the underwear high enough until you could do your business without it getting everywhere (as the stitching was along the top of the underwear where it met the pyjama top, pyjama top tucked into underwear).


Offline Ruskie

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #23 on: Sunday 10 September 17 01:44 BST (UK) »
I've never heard of this!  :o

I would have thought the embarassment of having to wear the same underwear for months and go to the toilet in a nappy at age 13 would be far worse that getting a cold bum in winter when using the toilet!  :o It is beyond my comprehension that this ever happened let alone continued into the 70s/80s!

If older people could cope with the cold, why couldn't a 13 year old?

Offline Erato

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #24 on: Sunday 10 September 17 02:00 BST (UK) »
"It is beyond my comprehension that this ever happened let alone continued into the 70s/80s!"

No kidding.  I thank my lucky stars that my English mother never heard of this revolting custom.  Indeed, she led us to believe that English people are TOUGH; they just put on an extra sweater and, if necessary, wear mittens and a wool cap to bed.  That's how it was in our household and we got moving fast in the morning because the bedrooms were only barely above freezing and our underwear wasn't sewn on.
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Offline Ruskie

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #25 on: Sunday 10 September 17 02:55 BST (UK) »
It would probably be a punishable offence today.  :)

Offline Rosinish

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Re: 'Sewn in' for winter ??
« Reply #26 on: Sunday 10 September 17 05:31 BST (UK) »
"It is beyond my comprehension that this ever happened let alone continued into the 70s/80s!"

No kidding.  I thank my lucky stars that my English mother never heard of this revolting custom.  Indeed, she led us to believe that English people are TOUGH; they just put on an extra sweater and, if necessary, wear mittens and a wool cap to bed.

I personally don't think it was 'custom' but probably by the minority (in certain circumstances)  ???

Scotland has far more countryside locations/residences (on remote islands with no access to mainland towns) & I have never heard of such a 'revolting' thing either.

Maybe the fairly new fashion of 'onesies' is a 'flashback' invention  :-\  ;D

Annie

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It would probably be a punishable offence today.  :)

For sure Ruskie & I can't actually imagine how those kids didn't suffer from (what we would call) 'nappy rash' as that can cause blisters & all sorts.....I feel sick at the thought  :o
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