Patchwork stories
<p>Alice Rolfness, of Coeur dÕAlene, still has a handful of quilts made by her father, an area tailor, with scrap pieces of fabric from menÕs clothing in the 1950s, Ô60s and Ô70s.</p>
<p>The various types of fabric used in Alvin Bauernfeind's quilts provide clues to the fashion sense of the tailor's clientele.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Any man who had pants hemmed in downtown Coeur d'Alene during the 1950s, '60s or '70s, probably knew Alvin Bauernfeind, better known as "Al the Tailor."
Al died in 1986, but his legacy and connection to Coeur d'Alene continue in a unique way - in quilts. He made the blankets from strips of fabric he saved through the years, material left over when he cut men's pants to be hemmed.
Al's daughter, Alice Rolfness, 70, is now the keeper of the quilts used by her family as she was growing up in Coeur d'Alene.
"One was made entirely out of khaki pants. I called that our beach blanket. We threw it on the sand," Alice said.
The other two quilts were placed on the family's beds.
Alice was 5 when her family came from Anaconda, Mont., to live in Coeur d'Alene. It was 1949.
The Bauernfeinds moved into house No. 614 on Foster Avenue, which was not yet paved.
Soon after, Alice's father bought a Studebaker. He wanted 614 on his license plate, Alice said, but he was told there would be a long wait for that number.
"In Kootenai County, there weren't even 614 cars yet," Alice said.
She recalls the cold winter days they experienced in 1950. It was one of the chilliest winters on record for Kootenai County. Back on Jan. 30, 1950, the temperature in Coeur d'Alene dipped to 30 degrees below zero.
"Our house had no insulation and single-pane windows," she said. "Now that was cold."
For many years, her father did alterations for Gridley's Men's Store on Sherman Avenue. Located between Second and Third streets, the shop sold upscale suits. In the '50s, it was the go-to place for menswear in Coeur d'Alene.
"Those were the days when you had your clothes tailored," Alice said.
And when ladies' full names were seldom published in newspapers, she said.
"They always referred to women as 'Mrs.' You never knew the woman's first name," Alice said.
Al the Tailor later opened his own shop on Fifth Street, and then, when Alice's mother became ill with multiple sclerosis, her father moved the business into their house.
Al saved the cut-off trouser materials during the '50s and '60s, and made the quilts in the '60s and '70s.
"My father and mother grew up during the Depression, and they saved everything," Alice said. "Mom used to save string. You didn't buy foil or paper. You just used what you had. The only things that came into the house were groceries."
Alice attended the now-closed St. Thomas Grade School and Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy.
"There was the old Central School on Garden and Sixth. It was closed for many years. We'd climb up the fire escape and watch the fireworks," Alice said.
Alice remembers sitting on the curb and watching as Foster was paved. "It was great growing up here," she said.