I also hooked mats by the dozens. I'd start with a piece of brin, which was likely to be a brin bag. Then I'd rip it open and sew it in a frame and make a border around it. Then you put your pattern on it and mark it out yourself. We used anything that we had such as old clothing, whatever, even our stockings to make the mat. We made all different kinds and sizes. We even had some for Sundays - took up what you had on the week and had good ones to put down for Sundays. The clothes material, you would probably get some down to Battle Harbour in the store, or wherever else you would get it. If you wanted to get material to make clothes for the children, sometimes you would have to cut over a bigger garment to make a small one out of it. You did not have an electric sewing machine. I never used a electric sewing machine. I had a hand sewing machine which I gave to my grand daughter when I was finished with it. The men used to have seal skin mitts. Most of the people used to make seal skin mitts. We made our own patterns. We didn't go to the store to buy a pattern. We use to cut out patterns, what ever you wanted. If you wanted to make something, you took any old garment and you cut it out by that. Nothing was wasted. You didn't have anything to throw out, didn't need a garbage dump. It got passed down from one to another after you cut it over and made something new. So that was it. I had eight children so I had nothing to throw away. I was married in the dirty 30's. That was the poor times. I lived out to Cape Charles then. A few winters we went away to Newfoundland just for the winter but we always came back because all my husband ever did was fish.