My late father was an engineer but he also loved photography. All of these pictures were taken by him in the sixties, he and my mother were married in 1962. My mother made all the clothes herself using hand-cranked sewing machine. Later my late father bought her the white Janome, who had pretty advanced technology at that time.
Polkadot dress with full skirt
I guess this is a must-have pose in the sixties. I love how simple the dress is, a fitted bodice with full skirt and zipper at the back. My mother said that they only had metal zipper at that time, so the zipper would get rusty after some time and needed to be replaced.
These are pictures of my mother in her parent’s house. The pants look very comfortable! Picture on the right shows her in traditional Javanese outfit. The top is called ‘kebaya’ and the bottom part is batik cloth worn with pleats on the front, as how traditional Javanese women wear their batik.
The dress on the left is my favorite! I love the wide neckline with collar. The pleats on the skirt are not full around but only on several points on each side.
I also love this check dress. And look at the scallops on the front of her maternity dress! The last picture is my mother and my eldest sister in 1964.
When I was a child, I used to see these as pictures of my mother and didn’t pay too much attention to the details. It is refreshing to see them now with ‘new’ eyes. Every details and patterns now stand out and I found myself wishing that all of these clothes still existed or at least can be recreated.
absolutely beautiful, thank you
you have a very clever mumma. she makes beautiful clothes
The dresses are so wonderful!
This migt be the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen! You look so much like your mother!
What lovely pictures! You mom is beautiful- what a smile! I can see where you get your looks from. Love some of those dresses she’s wearing!
The clothes are beautiful, and your mother is a beautiful lady, such as yourself. I have been reading your blog for sometime. I show it to my husband. Your sewing is amazing.
Keep it up.
Love Linda
Wonderful!!! Your mother is amazing!
how beautiful! your mom’s dresses scream kate spade to me. love! (glad i found your blog)
Your dad’s photographs are really lovely and your mothers garment are wonderful. It is interesting how we are so influenced by our parents hobbies. A heart warming post:)
You are lucky to have such great memories!
Thanks for sharing these, they are beautiful and inspirational! Creativeness runs in the family… : )
ooohhh bakat turunan toh! i like your mother’s picture..
Love love love the batik and the kebaya! In Singapore, we had a group of people called the baba, from history they are mixed race, usually malay and chinese who speak malay and wear sarong kebaya. Was always intrigued by it. Your mother looked so beautiful when she was young!
Those are great pictures. I love old pictures! My favorite one is of her on the rocks, looks like she’s laughing and having a good time. Thanks so much for sharing!!
great pictures!! Thanks for sharing them with us
My favourite is the dress with checks – wanna to make one like this myself!!
Dear Novita, thank you for sharing these two beautiful stories with us. You are just as pretty as your mum and both very talented. What a wonderful pictures! Best to all of you from the Netherlands.
Oh Novita, your mom is so beautiful and very talented!! I love all the dresses! Thank you for sharing these great pictures!!
Your mother is so elegant and has such great poise! I think you’ve inherited her stunning smile as well as her sense of style, lucky you!
[...] of the dress in action! **I’m loving Novita’s post from Very Purple Person about her mom’s handmade clothes from the 1960’s. Amazing! **Tasia from Sewaholic is hosting a sew-along for her newest [...]
Your mother is beautiful, really stunning with such a lovely smile. I love her style, thank you for sharing these photos!
I have recently become quite interested in sewing some vintage 1950′s-60′s dresses. Of course I now have another 100 blogs to read dedicated to that style of sewing. There are so many exciting blogs to read out there on older pattern sewing. Guess my kids won’t have clothes for a while! Time for some poufy skirts!
She’s so beautiful and looks amazing in all of the pictures! Thank you so much for sharing; I love seeing one’s heritage, history, and the mystery of another’s life all rolled up in such pictures. The pictures are super inspiring too, they’re just the sort of vintage look(s) that I feel fit my own small stature and style.
Your mother was beautiful, her clothes were so pretty also
your mother had a great sense of style! I love seeing old pictures of my mother and grandmother, neither of them sewed though.
What a beautiful woman and gorgeous garments. If anyone can recreate these it’s you.
Beautiful dresses and photos (and mum
), so inspiring!
You can see where you got your sewing from. You & your Mum are both very talented seamstresses. I love the clothing that you have both made, very stylish. Your Mum looks so young in the photo’s.
i love all the dresses. They are very elegant and have this classic vibes that will never go out of fashion. Love!
Wow, thank you for sharing these photos. They are truly special. Your mom has a wonderful sense of style, I see where you get your eye for fabric and fit from!
Such lovely photos, your mother’s dresses were so beautifully stylish and wouldn’t look at all out of place today.
Your mom and her dresses are truly beautiful. I like the 60s fashion. I find it much more elegant that many of today’s RTW options. I also love the checked dress. It’s a classic.
Oh Novita, these photos are gorgeous! They must be very precious to you. I’ve tried on my Mum’s old kebaya, and it was sooo tiny around the waist! Haha. I’m going to Japan soon to visit my grandma, who was a seamstress. Maybe I’ll be able to find some great pictures too.
Your Mum is soooo beautiful. It’s easy to see where you get your fashion sense and your talent from obviously both your parents were very artistic. Thanks for sharing.
I love that dress on the left too – I think I found your blog by a link to the pretty lingerie you sew – it’s been lovely to see your Mum’s machine and these outfits are a wonderful testament to her skills. It would be fun to try and recreate some of these and I’m they would be delightful – your sewing is wonderful too.
Those are absolutely lovely! I am a huge fan of the wide-neck, collared, pleated dress too. Now I’m inspired to go back and look at my mom’s photos, as she was also a seamstress.
Lovely! =)
your mom is as beautiful as you are. Thanks so much for this; I love seeing real people in clothes from the past.
Beautiful and sweet! The checked dress is indeed very stylish!
These dresses are so so so lovely!!! Thanks for sharing!
These photos are so beautiful! I see where you get your talents from!
Your mother is beautiful! I love seeing old photos. Thanks for sharing.
1st and 4th pic are my favorite – such sweet expressions!
Your mami is stunning. I love posts like this. Thanks for sharing these.
Our elders had an elusive beauty and style that is nonexistent in our generation. Look at the fourth picture, and the attention to detail: the foot is gently positioned forward, just so. They really had an amazing understanding of style, they understood that beauty isn’t how much skin you can show. Does your mami still have these clothes in her possession?
I love the checked dress- If I were you I’d totally attempt at recreating it!!!