Back to school swap things I made

I had no idea what to make for the Back to School Swap until my swap partner (Betty B in the USA) told me that her Caleb wanted a school uniform. She sent me some photos of him and it was none other than the intrepid Caleb who took to White Water Rafting at the 2011 Sasha Festival. A sporty, loving boy making the most of his opportunities.

Betty's Caleb at the 2011 Sasha Festival

Betty's Caleb having fun playing with one of the babies

My mind went to my primary school and I got on with the fun and pleasure of researching and creating. I was gratified to find out that the uniform has hardly changed since I was at the school.

knitting the school socks, from page 132 of the 3 Ann's book

Pinehurst school socks in progress

Nicholas James modelling the partly made blazer and socks

This is the letter I sent with the items for Betty :

When you told me your Caleb wanted a school uniform I thought not of English public schools which have uniforms (though the state schools have uniforms too) but of my own primary school in Cape Town, South Africa. 

When I went to Pinehurst Primary School (http://www.phps.org.za/) in Pinelands during the 1970s it was a very new school, white children only. This was the height of the apartheid era and schools were strictly segregated. My family were very anti apartheid (but as my parents were British Passport holders resident in SA, they couldn’t vote, though we had considerably more privileges than Black, Asian or Coloured families including access to some of the best education in the state sector). I am extremely proud of the fact that at the earliest opportunity both my primary school and my high school (Pinelands High School http://www.phs.org.za/) decided to admit children of any race, but this happened after my school days. Both schools go from strength to strength which is wonderful. 

The uniform I have made is the boys Summer uniform for Pinehurst Primary School and the cricket clothes (your Caleb seems a sporty boy as he likes white water rafting). See http://www.phps.org.za/school-information/school-uniform. This means there is no school tie (they only use a tie in the winter). All items I made myself, except for the cricket ball and bat which I bought in the UK. The cricket pads I made from lolly sticks and fabric. I did all the hand embroidery. The blazer is made from my elder daughter’s old school blazer (I was able to make three from the fabric, as I'm making the boy and girl Summer uniforms for my own Sasha family). The socks I knitted from a pattern in the second 3 Ann’s book. The main uniform is virtually unchanged since my days at the school and I can remember wearing those socks with their distinctive stripes. I haven’t made shoes as this is next on my list of things to try and learn how to do. The uniform requires black lace up shoes and the cricket outfit requires white sports shoes (they’re called trainers here and ‘tackies’ in SA). I haven’t knitted the sports socks (they should be black with yellow stripes).

The blazer badges (I made 3) with my original blazer pocket and badge,
the cricket shirt and sock in progress

The 3 blazer badges and my original badge, along with the school logo

The embroidery on the cricket shirt

Reuben and Nicholas James helped model the clothes as the outfit came together.  Reuben was glad to pose for the photos when everything was finished.  The photo session which would have been outdoors ended up coming inside when the rain began to fall.

Reuben in the cricket outfit

cricket pads I made from lolly sticks

Reuben indoors in the cricket outfit

Reuben in the cricket shirt

Reuben wears the school shirt, shorts and socks 

with the addition of the completed blazer 

close up of the blazer and badge 

close up of the socks 

The Pinehurst cricket set 

The blazer was fully lined
(from the school jacket pattern in the 3 Ann's book)

Miniature Pinehurst blazer, socks, shorts and shirt

the complete set ready for Betty and her Caleb 

Betty's parcel took a bit longer to arrive than mine, and I was relieved to get a message from her today confirming that it had got to her at last. She said "I have received a most wonderful school uniform, the cricket ball and bat is something I have never seen before, what a delight."  She went on to explain that she knows nothing about cricket so I've sent her some information about the game, which is a distant cousin of baseball and rounders.

Remembering Reuben

Early childhood is a mysterious thing - many meetings, impressions, connections made but also many lost forever because of circumstances beyond the control of a small person. Memory plays tricks too, but some things seem to remain to be recalled years later in the most unexpected of moments.  This is what happened to me when I saw a blog post in February this year on Sasha Doll UK blog.  The last doll shown on this blog post immediately made me visit Shelly's site to find out more details. His cheeky face and pose reminded me of the characteristics of many small Cape coloured boys, but particularly a lad I knew at Sunday School at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town in the early 1970s.

It was the height of the apartheid era.  The Cathedral in the heart of the city had a really mixed congregation - white people, black people and mixed race people (who had developed a very distinctive, vibrant and warm culture of their own).  Somehow we all got on fine even though the government across the road from the mother church was intent on separating us.  Close to the centre of the city was District Six, a very mixed settlement of people who were mostly not very well off but whose families had been in the area for over a 100 years.  Quite a few of the Cathedral's coloured congregation lived there, including my young friend Reuben.  He was probably one or two years older than me and was full of fun and mischief.  He had an older sister and two younger brothers. His parents were stalwarts of the Cathedral, much loved by everyone there.

When the apartheid government ordered the clearing of District Six because it was an affront to their 'Group Areas Act' the family and many others were faced with the prospect of moving away from the heart of the city out to the Cape flats.  This was at least 25 minutes drive by car to the Cathedral if a family was fortunate enough to own a car, which I don't think they did.  I recall visiting Reuben's house in District Six once before they moved, it was an old fashioned double storey housing block with a verandah - it housed several families. I was too young to take notice of the street name.  It was probably bulldozed as were most of the houses in that area.  Soon after that we said goodbye to the family and I have never seen them since, they probably found a church near their new home (probably Mitchell's Plain which was a coloured area).

The Cathedral continued to have a mixed congregation despite the erasing of District Six, as there were other places in the city where black and coloured people lived, and it later became known as the People's Cathedral during the final days of apartheid, due to the inspirational leadership of the Dean and a very famous Archbishop.

More than 36 years later a photo of a doll brought back my memories of Reuben my friend.  The doll was described as a late 1970s Caleb in his complete outfit with the addition of an orange Gotz hoodie (a bit large for him) and a grey fleece hat.  He arrived in May and I kept him under wraps until June when I made his shirt and took him to Dawn's Sasha day.  He went back into hiding again until a few days ago.  It is good to have him on display with the others now.

Reuben, as pictured on Sasha Doll UK (Photo: Shelly B)

Nicholas James, Miranda, Reuben, Laura, Florence and baby Mabel

And in case you were wondering, I did go looking on-line to see if I could find out whether my childhood friend was still alive and am fairly sure he is fine and doing well.

Welcome Reuben

No, my Reuben is not the new bear who lives in Dee's Sasha Village.

Nicholas James stood on Mum's open Sasha book and
asked why the girls were all trying to hold baby Mabel at once

The girls put Mabel down.
Laura stepped on the book and told NJ to get off the book!

Baby Mabel was interested in the book

Laura and NJ continued to argue

Laura made NJ step off the book (and stepped off herself) but no one was watching baby Mabel...

... who had crawled beyond the book and was climbing off the chair!

Laura suddenly spotted what Mabel was doing

when Reuben arrived to rescue Mabel who was in danger of falling

Reuben grabbed baby Mabel

and gave baby Mabel a cuddle to reassure her that she was safe

the others were all curious about the new boy who had arrived just in time for baby Mabel

and, argument forgotten, climbed down from the chair to meet him

Baby Mabel saw Florence and put up her arms

"Hello, what is your name?" asked NJ

Baby Mabel jumped up and down with Florence

while Reuben shyly introduced himself
"I'm Reuben and I've come to live here"

"I'm Nicholas James, and these are my sisters Miranda, Laura, Florence and baby Mabel."  

NJ, Miranda, Reuben, Laura, Florence and baby Mabel with the Sasha books now carefully closed

This story line was made up by both my girls.

Reuben, a later Caleb, arrived a couple of months ago and went with us to Dawn's Sasha day in June.  But for various reasons I haven't had a chance to take photos of him until now and kept him under wraps.  For the past week he has been patiently standing on my sewing table waiting for me to reveal him officially.

I saw him on Shelly's site some months ago and bought him on layaway (officially I had no doll cash handy especially as we were completely redecorating two rooms which was horribly expensive even when doing most of the work ourselves).  As soon as I saw him he reminded me of a boy I once knew (more about that in another post) which is why he is named for my long lost friend from early childhood.  He came in his original clothes (plus a couple of additional clothing items) and I have made him a shirt from shweshwe at the same time as I made the elephant shirt for NJ.

The two union flag dresses are a repeat of the dress I made for Erica Mcleod.  Florence is wearing a Dollydoodles outfit I bought at Dawn's Sasha day, baby Mabel is wearing the knitted swim suit my girl insisted we bought at the same time.

I was very lucky to receive the first of the three Anne's Sasha book for my birthday (Sasha Dolls: The History by Anne Votaw, with Ann Chandler and Susanna Lewis), I had received the second book for Christmas (I wanted the pattern book first).  Both books are great, so full of interesting details.