More Quirky Vintage

Pottie Pals.

For the discreet kind of decorator. The pond is, of course, the seat cover. The boy and girl are spare toilet paper holders. The turtle, a holder for the spare bar of soap. The skunk? For your room deodorizer. Aptly named Little Stinker.

Quirky

According to Craft Magazine, August is Quirky Crafts Month.

And I certainly have seen a few of those. Not just online, here at my own house.

While perusing through all my vintage craft magazines, I have come across a few we'll just say interesting creations.


Knit Wit made a series of bottle cover kits. This fellow was one of them. The Ubangi.

Vintage Patterns

I have been obsessively collecting vintage knitting and crochet patterns (among other crafty things) for years now, and have quite a growing stash. 


Over the last few years, knitting and crocheting vintage items has become popular again. 


And it is so easy to see why.  


I think my favorites have to be from the 1940's through the 1960's.


The 1940's: Clothes were simple and practical, but women still managed to look attractive even during the war. Fashion in the 1940s combined style and practicality. The "make do and mend" mentality was born. The clothes had to be practical in work environments and allow free movement as well as be made to last. 

1950's: Not poodle skirts and saddle shoes, the clothes for girls and costume shops...but the clothes designed for women. With the war being over, women began to want prettier clothes again. Leaving behind the utilitarian look of wartime rationing. Flowing skirts. Pencil skirts. Sweater sets. Bright colors. Plaid. Dresses for daytime, for the evening. The outfit incomplete without gloves. Scarves.  

1960's: Not Hippie. Think Mad Men. Jackie O. Audrey Hepburn. The suits. Pillbox hats. The hemlines getting shorter. The empire waist. Shift dresses. Pleated skirts. 

I have been thinking how cool it is to knit or crochet using vintage patterns. You get the double advantage of new materials with an old design.  Plus, you’ll likely have a one-of-a-kind garment, as so many of these patterns are no longer in print...and it dawned on me that I should share them. I still want to keep them, so I shall be scanning all my old patterns into PDF.


While I have finally learned to knit, I think it will be a while until I can master these lovely designs but they are all on my wish list!

Out With the Old

but not yet a new. Sewing machine.

Nope, never got the grasp of the machines I had acquired. No manuals to be found, no classes on the schedule anywhere. This is one time when vintage just won't do the trick for me.

So, for the moment, I continue to sew by hand. Occasionally perusing the offerings of my local department and craft stores, but so far nothing has struck my fancy.

Well, aside from this gorgeous thing. She was not in the store, but at the recycling center.

What is it with me and vintage machinery?

(To those of you not familiar with such a thing, our recycling center is just that. A recycling center, also a dump, a transfer station. But ours just so happens to have a wonderful thing in addition to all that; the free table.) Local residents can leave things not quite ready for the trash at the free table. Think rummage sale, but free. You never know what you will find there.

Alas, I did not bring home this beauty, but I almost did. Several times, in fact. But in the end, she became someone else's treasure.

I am addicted

to craft books.

My collection could very well rival that of a small book shop. Sadly, my collection does not reflect my level of expertise with the needle.

I am a new knitter, and a fledgling crocheter....but I have high hopes that I will eventually become an expert at both.

Sewing? I still sew by hand, as I am scared of my machine. Or I should clarify that I have a machine that I just cannot figure out. My sewing machine was a castoff that I adopted. Okay, both my machines. I have rescued two, we'll just say, vintage machines.

The first is a 1950's Dial n Sew, complete with attached table. The second, my guess is from the 1970's. There was no manual with either and I cannot find the right one online. The local machine shop will teach me to operate it...for the cost of a tune-up...($100+) So I am beginning to think I should just buy a brand new machine....I imagine it would be a lot less complicated.

Cross Stitch is the only needlecraft I can comfortably say I do well. I learned in the 80's....when my mother and her sisters all did it. I have inherited their old patterns. My current project is revamping some into newer patterns. I mean, come on, you can only have so many Home Sweet Home samplers.

I ended up joining Facebook....honestly, aside from the Mister, who isn't on Facebook? (My mother even has an account...)

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