Ah, The Sixties and Seventies

If you want to date a 1960s pattern, just look at the hem length. Look at this gorgeous Advance pattern from the early 1960s. The model's knees are covered! As the sixties progressed upward into the 1970s, so did the hemlines. First short skirts, then miniskirts, then microminis. At the very end of this trend, patterns had dresses with a shorts pattern added in since the dresses barely covered the panty line.

When I got married, skirts had already reached their highest and were on their way down in a dramatic way. Suddenly maxi coats and skirts were all the rage. I made a double-breasted plaid maxi coat with flannel lining. It was quite a project but I was really too tiny to find a coat that fit in the stores. And I was determined to have something in the new more fashionable length.

And really that was the beginning of a new era when women could choose the length of their skirts. My mother remembers how suddenly the skirt length dropped after World War II and how her mother added contrast hems to her pink suit that went in her trousseau. And in the sixties it was painful to watch older ladies having to choose between being stylish and showing off sometimes chubby knees and thighs or to go longer and look dowdy.

Today it's all good. If you want to wear a micromini, you can. And if you choose to put your skirts at a more modest length as in this Advance pattern, you can do that too. And if you want to wear skirts that brush the ankle, you can do that too. I hope that we never go back to the day when hem lengths were strictly dictated by fashion.

1940s Fashion

I love the number in Funny Face where every woman in America starts to "Think Pink!" So my blog got a makeover for spring.

Advance 3883

Today's pattern is an Advance pattern from the 1940s. I'm pretty sure this is a wartime pattern. World War II patterns are so interesting to me historically. The envelope paper is very cheap for one thing. Good paper was needed elsewhere. This one is in amazingly good shape considering.

And look at the styles. Remember that the skirts got shorter in the 1940s, a sacrifice women made to the war effort. It took less material to make a short skirt. And look at how conversative this pattern is in use of fabric too. A dress from the 1930s took yards more material. (But not as much as the dresses to come in the 1950s!)

These young ladies probably were not wearing hose. Silk was a high demand item for the military. So silk stockings were very hard to come by. Today women gladly go without hose when they're wearing dresses but at the beginning of the war, it was unthinkable to do so. My mom tells of how she and her friends used leg makeup instead of hose when they got dressed up. She says they sometimes even painted the line down the back of the leg to mimic the seams in hose.  In one of her most poignant stories, a boy she dated briefly at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana went off to war and was killed. His mother sent my mom her son's parachute. He had told his mom he wanted my mom to have it. My mom says she made lovely lingerie from that parachute silk.

There are so many things I like about this pattern. Look at that contrast panel and sweetheart neckline on View 2. And the lace trim on view one is just amazing. Even little bitty woman in View 3 is wearing a lovely dress.

But even though times were spare, women still wanted to look beautiful. I particularly like the hairstyles on this pattern cover. The flowers in View 2's hair are so beautiful and I think many, many women would die for that handbag she's carrying.

What I Find in Vintage Patterns

I don't know any other vintage pattern sellers personally. I've talked with a few of them via email. But I can tell you one thing we all share: a vivid memory of things we have found in patterns. I just bought a huge stash and here are some of the fascinating things I've found so far. Click on the first photo for a closer look. The ornament was in the box. But the rest were hidden treasures I found as I started to count pieces. They are:

A lab receipt.


I hope Stan and Steve didn't break anything in Chemistry lab in 1965.

Part of a 1939 calendar. A 1964 postcard posted at sea. The writer says she had a rough crossing. At first I thought she said that she had eaten "on land for every meal." But on closer inspection I see she was "on hand for every meal." A baby gown pattern made from a 1950s newspaper. One side has the classical and opera radio offerings, the other some fabulous dinette suites. And my personal fave, the baby shirt pattern made from the clipping of the wreck of the Andrea Doria which as you all remember sank in 1956. Oh the humanity! I think I would have chosen another part of the newspaper to use for my pattern.

And there are always the pins. Long pins, short pins, colored pins, safety pins. And I throw them all away. My neighbor was surprised at the waste, but they are all going to be either rusty or dull and there's no sense ruining a new piece of fabric on an old pin. 

Sadly, I could not find the sleeve pattern made from a wonderful set of 1930s comics. But I know I saved. it. I'll post it when I find it.

The bottom line is that these old patterns are  great historical documents, but so are the things I find inside.

Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake

Rainbow Brite shines again!

The Seven Sprites

For those of you who think Sprite is just a drink, this post won't be that interesting. But one of the most unique fabric trends was the printed doll era. These are all from 1983 in the big middle of my girl child raising years. Which is the reason why I still have the Strawberry Shortcake theme song running through my head.

One of our daughters had a Strawberry Shortcake doll that breathed fake strawberry smell when you squeezed it. I remember that she always brought it with us to take us up in the mornings. A very evocative smell.

I only remember the youngest having Rainbow Brite anything. She had the doll which was very cute. 

I just purchased a huge stash of Strawberry Shortcake fabric. And in the same box were these dolls as well as several Cabbage Patch printed pillows. Sadly, the Smurf fabric seems to be damaged. I may try washing it again today.

 You can find the Strawberry Shortcake dolls from time to time but the two Rainbow Brite ones  are too rare and fun to list in my shop. I have no idea what they're worth. So we're letting eBay decide for us! (Rainbow Brite Sprite auction and Rainbow Brite auction). You can follow along. As with any eBay auction this could be exciting or really boring.

 In other news, I've just gotten a box of sixty patterns, mostly for men, which I love. Look for a post on mens' patterns soon. And I'm set up to make a deal on 545 more patterns tomorrow. Can't wait!

Vintage Fabric

Having lived through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and the aughts, I can tell you that nothing defines a period more clearly than the fabric. Sure, we all want to use that vintage pattern, and some of them are really evocative of their era. But a straight skirt is a straight skirt in any era. And so, to create something vintage, you have to have the fabric.

This piece screams 70s. In what other era would you find plisse (this is a chemically treated fabric that puckers like seersucker) in a diagonal orange yellow and green print? I even have patterns in my shop that call for diagonal print fabric. I have to wonder what this was intended for. Pajamas? A dress? In any case, it's a wild piece that is really, really fun. From the way it wrinkled in the dryer, it's obviously 100 per cent cotton so I'm guessing nightwear was its intended use. I think I'd have trouble sleeping!

Or how about this piece? It's 36 inches wide which is a big clue. But it is also in the penultimate colors of the 1950s, aqua and navy blue. (The ultimate color of the 1950s would have to be pink.) I have a set of Fashion Frocks cards from the 1950s and these are the most popular colors by far. This gorgeous piece is obviously 100 per cent cotton (as were almost all cottons of that period). You can just see this one in a gorgeous tailored blouse or perhaps sheath dress.

 These two pieces of fabric are a pretty good contrast between an era of extremely good taste and one that was characterized by extremes and loud fashion statements. I loved them both.


I'll be listing these fabrics and more in my Etsy vintage shop called Coconut Cake.

Let's hear it for lingerie

Do people even wear peignoirs any more? Or how about gowns like that Grecian model on the right? Looking at this pattern reminds me that my dad used to wait until Christmas Eve to go shopping for Mom. (He always worked a half day on Christmas Eve too.) Used to drive her crazy. But, back then, the stores didn't sell out and there was still plenty of gorgeous merchandise left if you had enough money to pay for it (which evidently Dad did.)

Some Christmases Mom got clothes from Selber Brothers in Shreveport. But sometimes she got lingerie. Beautiful peignoir sets. I was always impressed by all that gorgeous nylon and lace.

We were watching "Bachelor Mother" the other day and Ginger Rogers plays a relatively poor girl who works in a department store. On New Year's Eve, she doesn't have a date but is listening to the radio in her robe. Michael noticed that she had on high-heeled satin slippers. Totally believable. I remember slippers like that. Oh, the elegance of that era.

Shameless plug. Click on this link to find this gorgeous item in my my pattern shop on Artfire.

What is the strangest thing you have made from fabric?

I love the old patterns that taught you to make cool stuff like hats, gloves, purses, home decor, stuffed animals, etc. I get the feeling that there were lots of women back in the day who would try any project if it involved fabric. My grandson recently was pleased to get his birthday gift from my daughter and said, "It's not made of fabric!" Hm-m-m. There's a young woman who makes anything she can from fabric.I love this one on the left because of that cute big cap from the seventies. The smaller hat is cool too as it isn't made from fleece or anything stretch but from cotton or wool type fabrics.

I think one of the strangest things I ever made from fabric was a new boot cover for my son's car. That's that vinyl goodie that wraps around your gear shift knob. Another might be a valve cover for my husband's tuba. It catches the drips that otherwise would land on the floor. So what's your weirdest project?