Back in my younger days people owned very few clothes. You tended to have your everyday stuff and one "best" dress, coat and shoes. I recall lots of Mums, friends and neighbours making their own clothes, some better than others but usually cheap and cheerful. My Mum sewed, knitted and recycled for all of us kids and I wore many of my sister`s castoffs for years. There were itchy hand knitted jumpers for school, hand me down shoes just a tad too big, big sister`s old coats with the sleeves hanging over my hands and so on.
We had a double fronted shop in our town centre which was owned by a husband and wife. To my young teenage self they seemed old but they must only have been in their middle age during the 1960`s. My Mum told me they`d arrived here during the War as a young married couple and were Jewish.
As you walked through the shop door you turned right through an archway into Mr R`s domain. He was a tailor and he always looked smart in his 3 piece suit and when his shop was quiet he could be seen standing at the doorway nodding his head at passers by and wishing them good morning, afternoon etc. I never had reason to go into his part of the shop but you could see through the archway and there were bolts of cloth, mannequins with half made suits or overcoats on them, a very large table for his cutting out, his sewing machine and an alcove with a curtain across it for customers to change behind.
Now Mrs R`s side of the shop was bigger and where the magic happened. A kaleidoscope of colour in many forms. Rolls of fabrics in every shade, pattern books, twirly wooden stands on the counter holding plastic tubes of buttons, another at the other end holding bobbins of thread. Under the glass topped counter there were regimented rows of zips organised by lengths and colours. Rolls of lace and ribbon and every kind of trimming you could imagine.
Mrs R always had a tape measure around her neck, she wore it like a badge of honour because she was the go to for young brides having their wedding dresses and bridesmaids dress made BUT she had one stipulation, you had to have bought the fabric from her and nowhere else. She`d give the brides a small piece of their chosen bridesmaid fabric and send them to the cobbler around the corner to have their satin shoes colour matched and dyed by him. All the small businesses scratched each others backs by passing trade to one another.
I`d go into her shop with my Mum when she went to buy sewing supplies and Mrs R always had a cardboard box full of cut offs or roll ends and my Mum would look for a bargain piece at a knock down price and large enough to make into something useful. The shop always smelled of beeswax polish, thick carpet and windowlene. Every glass surface, every wooden shelf, counter, carpet was always spotless.
Mrs R had a room at the back of her side of the shop and I remember going in there to have my bridesmaid dress fitted for my sister`s wedding in 1969 and my sis had her wedding dress made there too and nobody except my Mum was allowed to see it until her wedding day, not even me.
The Rosemins lasted a few years longer but by the 70`s more shops had opened up selling fast ready made fashion in the latest styles, teenagers had more money in their pockets and wanted to follow trends and own more clothes. The likes of Burtons opened up and had their pay weekly facility for ready made suits and so on and many women gave up home sewing and bought cheap and cheerful off the locals markets instead.
Brides travelled into larger towns to buy their wedding dresses from specialist wedding shops and mail order catalogues were having a boom time. The Rosemins sold up, packed up and their shop was converted into 2 smaller shops, one side became a boutique, the other side became a carpet shop selling rolls of Axminster, Lino cushion floor and rugs.
It was the end of an era.
