When Mother Aloysia Lenders was a little girl in Maastricht, she and her sister Henriette (later S. Crescentia) got into no little mischief. One time, while returning from school, they came upon an auction at a local store. “Just for fun” they placed a bid on a bolt of calico which didn’t appear to be of much interest to anyone else. Down came the hammer and, to the horror of the little girls, the calico was theirs! Upon delivery of the goods to their home, the Lenders girls’ parents were less than pleased and decided upon a punishment sure to make their daughters think before doing such a thing again. The calico was paid for, but the girls were to have dresses made only from that bolt of material until it was exhausted!
Those who are familiar with sewing might have some idea of how many dresses the two had to have before the fabric was used up and some variety once again entered their lives. Of course, we don’t know how big the girls were at the time so it’s hard to say what size the dresses were. One might also consider that as they grew older and entered the convent, they once again had no variety in their wardrobe!