The Internet is for Kitties

I shop at thrift stores a lot.  Really, a lot.  Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops.  This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or really high quality kitchenware for a bargain, and sometimes the value of a find is because it was created for or by crazy cat people:

Go ahead, name as many as you can.  I'll wait :)

This lounging cat portrait was painted on black velvet, and is at least 3 feet tall.  Somebody clearly loved Fluffy very much indeed. Fluffy looks less than impressed with being told to hold the pose. 

The cookie jar just makes me smile.  Something about a looking at a contented sleeping cat can always make me feel a little better.

Unless he's contentedly laying on what I'm trying to work on, that is...

Vintage Craft Book Feature: Art of Dressmaking (1927)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Art of Dressmaking- 1927

A fair bit older than most of my craft book finds, this one is a real treasure.  This book is small, but filled cover to cover with good advice and instruction on many topics of sewing and dressmaking, and step by step guides for many types of beautiful detail work. It is also filled with wonderful illustrations with a good dose of 1920's charm.

I feel like Paris wasn't then and isn't now the only place that people do this.  Although our dressing rooms are probably a lot less fancy now.

I wish my sewing room and table were this neat and organized, and that I had such a large cutting table to work on.  These illustrations accompany a chapter on how to set up a good sewing space, tips for how and where to cut fabric, and how to hand sew without getting a crick in your neck.  All very good information that I feel a lot of modern books leave out.

Also among the things you won't find in a modern book unless it is specifically about cotoure dressmaking is how to do things such as sewing a rolled seam in sheer fabrics, and gathered darts.  Lots of little dressmaking tips and tricks like these are spelled out with illustrations, and surrounded by guidance on how and where to use them.

While a lot of the fashion advice is nearly 100 years out of relevance, the techniques and instructions are not, and there is a lot of good information to be found in this little book.  Much less of a coffee table visual than some of the other books I've featured, but much more of a solid resource of instruction.

I imagine it was much easier to make dress forms back then when nobody had any curves.

New (to me at least) Supplies!

The latest haul of vintage craft treasures!  Thanks so much to my lovely friend for passing all these lovelies on to me! I love spreading out my newest acquisitions across my worktable, sorting and dreaming about what they could become.

Though it's hard to tell with the sunbeam lighting them up, that bag is full of bits of old lace: collars, cuffs, unfinished trims.  It's a treasure trove!

Each of these little bundles of yarn was hand dyed with some natural plant: purple cabbage, walnuts, onion skins, etc.  Way cool!

In amongst the lace collars was a stack of hand embroidered baby clothes and crocheted doilies. Not sure yet what those will become, but they are lovely all the same.

The bag holding all these goodies was sitting on my table for a few days before I got it all out and sorted.  Can you guess why my cat kept hassling that bag?

Free Pattern Collection III

Here's the past few weeks' free pattern tracings collected together for your convenience, Enjoy!

Vintage Craft Book Feature: Golden Family Craft Treasury (1975)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Golden Family Craft Treasury- 1975

 

I found my copy of this book missing it's dust jacket, so I don't have a good cover image.  This, however, is a pretty good representation of most of the photos in the book.  They are filled with garish color and busy patterns, and many quirky, wonderful projects.  This book has instructions for everything from leather working, beading, and sewing to bookbinding, printing, and furniture making. The sheer breadth of projects makes this book a very worthy addition to any crafter's shelf.

That said, there is some very goofy stuff in here. The presentation of many of the projects is delightfully whimsical, like the crochet tie modeled by a sand sculpture. There are a lot of 'reuse everyday objects in a weird new way' sort of projects too, like the flowers made from feather dusters. If nothing else, this book will certainly have you looking at mundane items in a new light.

There is a lot of useful technique guidance throughout, even if the designs are a bit dated. The instructions for replacing book covers and printing fabrics are just a few of the countless bits of useful knowledge among the kitsch.

Maybe it's just me, but a lot of the projects and pictures in this book just sing to me.  Reusing old bed sheet fabric, using a paper cup as a circle template, filling a shadow box frame with random bits and bobs (I have something of a collection of old empty bottles...) is all exactly stuff I would do.  I even have that exact same embroidered ribbon in my stash somewhere!

Before and After: Inspired by Erte

If you've never heard of him, Erte was a 20th-century artist and designer in an array of fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor.  

I stumbled upon a book of his fashion illustrations in a thrift store, and immediately fell in love with his elegant art deco fashions.  I wanted to be the models in his drawings, draped in swathes of rich fabrics.  Inspired by his sweeping lines, I tried to recreate a few of his pieces in a more modern mode, from all upcycled materials.

 Taking the basic idea of two squares of fabric joined to a triangular top, I updated the drawing at left to produce a ruffled and lacey dress.  Folding the squares gave a two tiered look, and the lacy dangles of the scarf turned bodice accented the drape and flow.  A strappy sleeveless look gave more freedom of movement than the original, and a good backdrop for accessorizing with a shawl or shrug.

 Repurposing a tank top into the bodice for this dress smoothed out the gathers and sleeve accents of the original, drawing all attention to the dramatic swoops of the skirt.  I kept the rings, but eschewed the tasseled cord in favor of cute velvet ribbons.  Most of Erte's drawings are only available in black and white, but I like to imagine them in rich tones like this.

 Erte came up with some fabulous accessories too.  Instead of stripes of ebony and orange, I appliqued a vintage doily to a panel of black velvet.  The dark fabric shows through the cutwork in wonderful contrast.  The cord and tassels became a black and silver chain, zigzagging through loops of satin cord.

History in the Finding

I shop at thrift stores a lot.  Really, a lot.  Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops.  This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or really high quality kitchenware for a bargain, and sometimes the value of a find is in it's history:

This snazzy old polyester tie is from a Clothing shop less than 2 miles from my house.

I don't know who anyone in this wedding party is, but I love this sort of old record of style.  From their clothes to the very frame, the style and taste of the era is readily apparent.

I know nothing about this book or it's author, but like the wedding photo above, I love what the styling of the cover says about the time it was written in.  .

Vintage Craft Book Feature: Around The World in 80 Sweaters (1988)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Around The World in 80 Sweaters - 1988

As the name suggests, this book is filled with designs inspired by cultural art and fashion from many different parts of the globe.  The designs are grouped by region, and each section begins with a two page spread describing the following designs and their inspiration.  Bordering the write up is a wonderful collage of vintage photos, swatches, fashion drawings and other objects that give a clear idea of the designer's creative process.  

More fashion drawings accompany each set of patterns, showing off possible variations of every sweater.  The artist clearly had a type she was designing for, as every drawing in the book features the same square faced, block shouldered blonde.  At the back of the book is a really helpful collection of diagrams showing all the measurements and pieces of each sweater.  These are wonderful to have when making sweaters like these to help ensure a good fit.

Overall, even though some of the designs are quite dated, I found a lot to like in this book.  Some of the colorwork and construction techniques were very neat and could easily be adapted to more modern designs.  My only real complaint was that in many of the photos the models were posed in ways that hid most of the sweater they should have been showing off.

                       

Free Pattern Collection II

Here's the past few weeks' free pattern tracings collected together for your convenience, Enjoy!

Vintage Craft Book Feature: Needlework Patterns From The Met (1976)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Needlework Patterns From The Metropolitan Museum of Art - 1976

Apologies for the fuzzy edges, this is a BIG book and it didn't fit well on my scanner.  As the title suggests this tome is filled with patterns for needlework derived from textiles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The beautiful crewel on the cover is one fine example.

One thing I really enjoy about this book is that it has a photo of the original alongside the modern derivation.  Sometimes the modern interpretation is only a small part of the original design, or uses different techniques, but it is always wonderful to see where and when the original came from.

This Pastoral Landscape is one of the first patterns in the book and initially I was worried they would all be needlepoint recreations.  I think needlepoint is lovely, but I do like some variety in my needlework.  I was not disappointed with this book.

From amazing crewel bed curtains, to intricate Chinese silk embroidery, to Peruvian needlework, this book certainly has variety.  Even just from a textile art history perspective, this book is packed with treasures.  To have modern interpretations of these patterns as well is an absolute treat.

I think my favorite thing about this book, however, is the stitch glossary.  Not only is it extensive, covering every stitch used in the modern patterns and then some, but it also has an example of a historical textile for each stitch.  Clear instructions and illustrated diagrams make the stitch easy to learn, and the delightful pictures of it in use are perfect inspiration.  All in all this book is a feast for the creative mind of any needle artist or textile enthusiast.