Should I apologise ?

Coincidence Ana mine was inherited from my granny-in-law. I wish I still had it as it was much more controllable than these electric ones that run away with you.

Me too, Aka - I inherited mine from my granny and still can't get on with electric ones so well.

Tegan I used an old treadle machine.

I was pregnant for part of 79/80 and 81/82. I was lucky to have two Laura Ashley smocks bought for me as Christmas presents, the rest of my maternity wardrobe was borrowed or made by myself with fabric bought off market stalls.

When I was heavily pregnant I wore a turquoise, crimplene maternity dress. I also wore a pair of DH's Y fronts for comfort.

I wouldn't have had time to make mine. I was a full time GP (ie nights and home visits) until 2/52 before DD was born

During my first pregnancy I worked in an office next to a crimplene factory. They had a shop selling remnants so I had a wardrobe of rather dreadful crimplene maternity clothes in very 70's colours. I did buy a very beautiful black and white maternity dress from Biba, but it was so very stylish that I rarely had the nerve to wear it.

Oh AnaI would have had to sew two pairs of trousers together to fit into them when I was pregnant! I made the tops.. fabric from the Monday market was cheap! My Noana was a seamstress and my mum made all her clothes and mine . I thought that was what everyone did until we came back to live in UK and I discovered C&A!

Yep we were the same - didn't seem to matter though.

When we did sewing in Domestic Science at school I was too embarrassed to tell the teacher we hadn't got a sewing machine at home so I never learned how to use one [electric ones still scare me]. I always assumed that everything was because we were poor; never dawned on me that some of the other girls may not have had sewing machines either because they were rich enough to buy clothes.

Well, I could, just about, from the local market. I also altered and adapted clothes I already had - never bought maternity trousers/jeans for example.

Yes but you had to be able to afford the material

I made my own maternity smocks and dresses. Surely all of us could sew in those day...?

Oh I had one beautiful new maternity dress which DH bought for me (I was not even with him) We were going to a January wedding and I had been feeling sorry for myself having to wear one of my 2 pairs of elasticated cord trousers and a home made red smock! The dress was an expensive Xmas present! My 9lb 3oz DD1 was born 10 weeks later!

Galen there's posh!

I remember sitting in the bath on the morning of our wedding, hair still in curlers which I had kept in overnight and putting the finishing touches to my Biba style hat which I had designed to match my dress. Didn't have a Hen's night, not my thing anyway but certainly not a week in Ibizia as is the done thing now.

1975 - I was lucky that Chelsea Girl and Laura Ashley were making smock type dresses /pinafores then and these were suitable for maternity wear.

I had a bright yellow one with white flock spots and a very thin plain yellow over pinafore. The dress had a ruff styled neck.

I do remember that they were mini- smocks!! All were winter weight which was fine to begin with but my daughter was born in June and I do remember feeling absolutely boiling for the last couple of months!

If one of them was black cotton with white spots then it obviously worked it's way to me eventually [or from me to you...]...I did have a new black corduroy smock that did me through both pregnancies [at least, I think it was new ].

tegan I'm with you on all that. Can so remember when our children were growing up thinking how rich people must be to take their children out to eat and go on holidays abroad. When I was expecting my first every one of my maternity outfits (and they were in those days - no showing a huge bump but a bit of discretion) was given to me by a neighbour who had them given to her - I in turn passed them on to the lady across the road!!!

We had camping then caravan holidays; wedding was us two and three friends at a Registry Office with me wearing my friends leather boots [although I did have a new dress and then was mortified to see it in the sales soon after and realised I could have paid less for it]. Kids wore clothes that had been passed round the village; I was overjoyed to be given a suitcase full of clothes belonging to my friends sister who no longer fitted into them. Car [only one] was repaired and resprayed by my husband until the dreaded red MOT certificate became inevitable. Never had a cup of tea or cofee when I went into town [still can't get over being able to afford to do so which means my pension is far too much].I could go on....However, apart from our mortgage we never owed anyone anything [still don't].

I identified with every line [Elegran]. So true but funny isn't is how it is conveniently forgotten the fact that it's the baby boomers who are saving this generation and government a fortune in childcare support and from what I hear and read, in many cases, financial support?

We rented a place for £5 a week. My husband earned £63 a month and I was still training as a teacher. My parents kindly continued to pay me £5 a week 'subsistance' (supposed to pay for books etc to hep me complete my teacher training!) All our furniture was secondhand, hand me down except our bed which my family clubbed together to buy for us. My in-laws bought the bed linen!

We were married 5 years before DD1 arrived and we were lucky enough to get 100% mortgage from the GLC as we both worked for the ILEA. However we had to buy a property no other lender would give a loan on!

Shall we take our hard-won savings with us, or leave them to pay for - well, for everything that everyone wishes they could afford and think that it is our fault that they can't. Like -

The house we bought on a mortgage (only one income considered) with astronomic interest and have almost paid up.
The holidays at the Great British Seaside in ratty boarding houses.
The modest wedding catered by Mum, Auntie Jean and Mother-in-law in the church hall.
The wedding dress made by our own bleeding fair hands.
The wardrobe full of clothes that lasted for years, partly because we didn't change them five times a day and beat them to death in the washing machine.
The nylons that we darned with a minute crochet hook and a wooden egg. Or painted with nail varnish so that the run didn't keep going all the way up.
The Vesta meals that we bought when we couldn't face cooking yet another meal from scratch.
The terry nappies soaking in the bucket until we wrung them out over the loo.
The weaning meals we made by mashing some of our own food and adding gravy.
The cane basket that we took with us to the shops, laddering our nylons again when it brushed against our leg.

Well, I think the government should buy a Caribbean Island [I bet Tony Blairs got one to spare] and ship us all out there so we can't annoy anyone any more. OK the free childcare we provide would grind to a halt but we could grow our own food; aches and pains would disappear because of the climate so we wouldn't need the NHS [on which we're such a drain]. We could sit on the beach with our Kindles all day long and not be a constant irritation to everyone under the age of thirty . Who wants to join me?