Northwestern Knitting Company Factory Minneapolis, Minnesota

When we moved to St Paul in the 1950s, we made friends with a family across the street. Loree was a year older than I was and her mom Julie was a wonderful seamstress. One Christmas Loree and I got a Madame Alexander doll and Julie showed my mom how to make clothes for it. The next year we both got Barbie dolls with the most fancy "silk" (read: nylon) dresses, nightgowns, underwear and more. From making doll clothes Mom learned to make nightgowns, robes, slips and underwear. Every bridal shower there would be some kind of sexy outfit made from nylon! I loved the silky feel even on a cold Mn winter nights and refused to wear anything else for many many years.

Julie got the nylon from the Munsingwear factory and showed Mom how to get there - a bus to downtown Mpls and then transfer to another bus to the factory. As she got more comfortable going there, she started taking me there sometimes. These were fun trips for me - although I am sure I complained about the long bus rides! I think I was about 9 for the first trip and we continued until I was about 16.

The factory was a large building that had a surplus sales room with huge bins full of bright jewel colors of silky smooth nylon pieces. You never knew what you would find. Some were just strips but had embroidery on them – some were small pieces and some were large. I remember the bright colors best but there was a lot of white, cream and pastels too. We would come home with bags and bags of nylon and ideas of what we wanted to make with it. Good memories!