When a man bought a shirt in the 40's, it had a one inch wide neck-band connecting the shirt to the collar.  If you couldn't afford to buy a new shirt every time your husband's collar became frayed (which no one I knew could) you learned a trick.  When we first got married, Ken and I were in that "no money" position, so his mother taught me what to do.

You take a razor blade and disconnect the collar from the neck-band, then you turn the collar over and reinsert it into the band and sew it all back together.  The frayed side is now underneath and doesn't show.  I turned many collars when we first got married.  And made children's clothes using fabric from adult things that had worn out elbows and knees.  Amazing what you can do when you have no money.  Today, we just throw things out.  Back then, everything was re-purposed.

I was really proud of the first Sunday-suit that I made for Scott (yes, I made some of his clothes, too).  It looked professional--if I do say so myself.  Problem was, when he put it on, I had put the buttons and buttonholes on the wrong sides.  I had never made a man's shirt or jacket from scratch before and I honestly didn't know that men and women's clothes had buttons and buttonholes on different sides.  Needless to say, he wouldn't wear it.

Most people in the 40's and 50's didn't have very much.  But since everyone was in the same boat,  it felt normal.  We never went hungry and we were never unbearably cold in the winter.  Summer, however, was a different story.  I didn't know anyone that had air-conditioning.  Everyone sweltered.  Now, when I say my prayers and get to the thanksgiving part, I have "Thank God for air-conditioning" on the list.  I do hate to sweat.  I don't want to go back to the good old days.

1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV)
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith...1 Timothy 5:8a   I guess that means we are to keep at it using whatever we can muster.