Fabric Diary Years 1921-1954

Inez and baby sister Gladys 1914

     A few years ago I was contacted by a gentleman who had purchased a diary once owned by Inez Worden.   I don't know how to begin figuring out what my relationship to Inez is.  My family tree on Ancestry says she is my second cousin twice removed, but I think we are also what I would call double cousins.  My third-great-grandfather Paul Worden is Inez's grandfather and another of my third-great-grandfathers, James Warner, is Inez's great-grandfather.

     This diary isn't a typical one, rather it's a record of fabrics which I assume were used by Inez in making garments for herself and family members.  The new owner didn't buy the diary because Inez had owned it, he was interested in the fabrics but then he grew curious about Inez and in searching the net for her came across my blog.  The gentleman generously offered to photograph the pages for me and I have to say he outdid himself.  Every single page is photographed and he took the time to do many closeups of the swatches.  He sent me 91 attachments! I can't imagine how long this took him, but needless to say I'm very grateful.

Inez's lacy graduation dress

     As I was doing some organizing in my computer files today I came across those images again.  There isn't much in the way of narration in this diary, but most of the swatches are labeled as to what they were used to construct.  Many were aprons for Inez, her mother and her two younger sisters, along with dresses and skirts, even coats and hats.  In spite of a lack of narration, the diary does tell a story of sorts.  For instance, from the page above I see the fabric Inez wore on her high school graduation day in 1925.  The detailed notes she made indicate two years later she dyed the dress yellow.  I don't know what the 1945 date signifies.

Blue guitar playing dress

     Inez and her sister Gladys, who died tragically at the age of twenty-two after an operation, were members of a band called the Hawaiian Serenaders.  Inez played guitar in the group, and here we see her, "guitar playing dress", and the pink fabric from which she fashioned a lei.

     Below is a sample of the fabric Inez used to make a shirt for her "Pa"

A shirt for Pa

     There are forty one pages filled with swatches; it's interesting seeing the sort of fabrics that were used in the 1930's and early 1950's.  In many instances, Inez went back years later to make a note as to what became of the item made from the swatch, like, "gave to Mother", or, "donated to clothing relief".   Inez lived until 2001, passing away at the age of 96.  Surprisingly, I never met her even though we lived in the same small village.  I'm  willing to bet that over the years our paths crossed while shopping or doing our banking and I would recognize her face, but she was never pointed out to me.  Of the three Worden sisters, none had children so the line has died out, but a wee bit of Inez lives on in this diary.