Four laundry numbers that are still out there!
Every St. John’s student’s Mom experienced sewing laundry numbers on her son’s clothing. Not every Mom had to sew numbers on for 4 sons! This photo was sent to me by one of such son – having found the numbers still in his Mom’s sewing basket after all these years!
Do you still have your laundry numbers? Or perhaps your Mom still does? Or maybe you re-ordered numbers for your suits?? Who has that story?
Send us your memory of the laundry numbers.
May 11, 2015 at 7:11 am
Perfect timing! I was talking with my mother on the weekend who had mentioned that she still has a few of my old laundry numbers in her sewing kit. We had a good laugh when she asked if I had any socks that needed numbers added. She’ll be bringing them out to me this summer when they come visit in July/August.
802
May 11, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Being on laundry crew helped me recognize those numbers immediately, Art, Pete, and Rudy. 538 must be the oldest brother who was before my time.
May 12, 2015 at 7:49 am
As a staff member working for peanuts, the laundry room post canoe trip was frequently my favorite store for clothing.
The laundry master would have a list of which kids were coming back, and which werent. Over the weeks stuff would get washed and sorted. If the kid wasn’t coming back, his stuff was up for grabs. (The clothing room mistress would snarf ‘loanable’ items like parkas and school jackets. Sometimes other stuff in my earlier days, like mitts, toques — anything skish where not wearing it was not an option.)
Anyway, I would pillage. Socks especially. Couldn’t have too many work socks. Wind pants, t-shirts, jeans. At that point I could wear a 32/30 pair of pants, and kid preferences in that era were for baggy, so a lot of stuff fit.
Occasionally I still find something that has a laundry number on it that hasn’t worn out yet.
May 12, 2015 at 7:55 am
Not a laundry number story, but a laundry story. Single staff had incredible hours. Having a ton of socks meant longer periods between doing laundry.
***
In the early days a wool mackinaw was skish. They were cheap, and came in a large variety of plaids. Some were quite pretty. And they were washable, as long as you didn’t use hot water, or a hot dryer.
One time I had a nice red and black one. I got it filthy on potato day. It was time to do a load of socks, so the socks and mackinaw went into the washer.
My socks all came out pink. I’d forgotten that the dye would run on the first wash.
Advantage: Never had to worry about finding my socks around the fire for the next two years. Tried to repeat it with a blue mackinaw. It sort of worked. Socks had a bluish tinge that made them a bit different, but not te same as pink pastel.
June 9, 2015 at 9:24 am
Well, I don’t have any laundry number tags. I do use my laundry number for a lot of thing like passwords and PINs. It is burned into my brain. In correspondence to an alumnus I’ll often just sign off using my laundry number.