The Architect of my Childhood Wardrobe on a Shoestring Budget -- Cecilia V. Jones.

My Mom graduated from Abilene Christian College & Texas Tech University with a degree in Home Economics. That degree served her well during our early childhoods and into adolescence. She was a meticulous seamstress (like her mother, Juanita Puckett) and she created many adorable designs for her children: Dana, Melanie, Virginia, Harold -- during our youth. She often chuckled and said she especially liked bright colors as illustrated by the picture above, and HOW she impossibly afforded her daughters’ Go-Go Boots (as Tod affectionately calls them) on a very tight Missionary Wife Budget is beyond me. And yet, there we are -- the Jones Kids -- looking pretty spiffy and on a par with our peers, at least, at those ages. To focus on a few she sewed for me: a deepy burgundy dress that could have sold in Neiman Marcus, a light-blue dreamy dress like Julie Andrews’, striped bell bottoms with a tunic top and CLOGS (which I adored), and various other really cute pieces. She was thrifty, Scotch-Irish, and she counted pennies from her childhood onwards into her status as Stuart Jones’ Missionary Wife. I wish that I had all the clothes my Mom sewed for me -- even the ones I thought were perhaps duds. She put love into her stitches and she had a better eye for the individuality of each one of her kids than we often give her credit for, as her youngsters. In the kitchen, she tended to serve fairly well-balanced meals, and my favorite meal was Swiss Steak with Appletiser and Fresh Strawberries from our own garden on Cranko Avenue. Our Daddy made all the decadent carbohydrates, although he created incredible Homemade Mayonnaise, too! We were well-fed Joneses!