Clip found

Mum cleaned out a drawer in her hutch and found this garter clip she says was Grandma’s. It could be sixty, even seventy, years old.

One story about my Grandma that I particularly like is that she NEVER wore a bra. She wore slips. Mum says she tried to get her to wear one a few times but she was not interested. Go Grandma!

Bras became common in the UK after WWI when she was maybe 19 or 20. I suspect she may not have had a chance to try one until she was older. And by then she probably thought, omg, why would I wear this?

I used to stay with her when my parents were away. She would give me her bed and sleep in Grandpa’s room. I remember her sitting on her bed, unrolling her stockings. She preferred them to pantyhose. Neither my Grandma, my Mum nor I like restrictive garments around our middles.

In case you don’t know, a garter clip was/is used to hold a stocking to a garter belt. I was today years old when I learned the garter clip design is the same as an old style suspender clip. Pressing that little button through the metal holder has a pleasant feel. The button is made of soft rubber and is almost pillowy. It sort of blops into the metal loop. A gentle and firm pinch.

In 1998 Grandma was living in Victoria, BC. Her senior residence had a party for her 103rd and invited the media. The staff made her that incredible crown. This photo was in the local paper, the Times Colonist. She died later that year.