A Memory of Purses of My Youth

What was the very first purse you ever owned? Did you buy to wear on Sunday when going to Church? Did you keep it well until you were grown up?
I am sixty years of age. I bring this up, as a point of view for the young ladies as they remember their first handbag. Needless to mention, growing up in my youth is definitely a lot different than the past twenty years. Thus I did not have specific on the “fashion details”. As another point of view, I must present my background to make out the “purse” choices I had to make.
My family lived in a small town about 1/2 hour north of Toronto in a “new” section of homes built in late 50′s. They were semi-detached homes starting at $12,000 and we lived in a 4 bedroom home, as there were 3 boys, 2 girls and 1 set of parents. Most of the families living on our street were what I call “boots” or “blue collar workers”, my father in 1958 earned an average of $8800 per year. With all the basic essentials to raise a family of 7 people, there wasn’t too much left over for “luxuries”.
Every Easter, the Easter Bunny usually gave the boys marbles and the girls received skipping ropes. In some years, depending how much money was available, some times my sister and I received white patent shoes and a small patent white purse for Sunday School. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. We couldn’t wait to wear our shoes and carry our purse and it didn’t matter if we weren’t going to Sunday school, we wore them anyway. Invariably, the shoes would be scuffed and the purse would fall apart. We weren’t too upset by this as life just carried on! But for a while we did think we were the cat’s meow of fashion on our little street.
I also recall one time, when I was about ten, during an “art” lesson; our teacher decided we would “make” our own “coin purse”. I remember it like it was yesterday because it was my first attempt with a needle and thread. The basic material of the purse was a vinyl material that was decorated as “blue gingham”. The teacher had cut out the pattern pieces. One piece looked like an envelope while the other piece was just the rectangle. The “flap” would fold over. I honestly can’t remember how it would close or stay closed. But the challenge was we had to sew it together. She had punched holes along the edges and using some wool (I think I chose red) we had to use the blanket stitch to finish the edges. I seem to recall that I had to take it home to finish it. It was the most excruciating exercise that I had ever encountered. I couldn’t quite get the hang of this stitch although I did finish it. But, alas, it ended up somewhere, not sure where, because I never saw it again.
During my youth, by high school, a handbag was considered part of your wardrobe. My first handbags would have been shoulder bags as this made it easier to carry your homework (text books and notebooks). As our “back to school” budget was very limited, my “boutique” of choice was S.S. Kresges (now Kmart). Choices were extremely limited so I had to do with one purse for all seasons and occasions. When I had some part time jobs, I was able to purchase more expensive handbags to augment my high school wardrobe.
As I have grown up, my tastes in purses is the same as my taste in the past. I still only buy a purse that suitable for all seasons and occasions. If you ask me to count the number of handbags in my closet, there are only 3 handbags in my life, but I only use one all along… I can’t absolutely bring myself to buy more purses to satisfy my outfit need. But I guess I am happy with that result!