Moving On To Something Vintage: Vintage 1935 Clark's O.N.T. Fashions

I had to blog about something if only to shake off the lone Japanese spammer who continues to log in, fill out the word verification and make completely unrelated comments (mostly a series of ellipses linking back to his/her site). Several times this persistent person has commented and I've deleted his/her comment. So I'm thinking it's time for a new post, if only to get rid of this blogger off and his/her obsession with my post about Lady Gaga and her hair hat. I hope. Fingers crossed. So I'm linking to this Ebay listing, which actually appears to be an original pattern unlike so many of the PDF reprints I keep seeing when I type in the words "vintage hat pattern" on eBay. What's really nice is this booklet is a combination of crochet and knitting. So if I were to get frustrated with any of the knitting projects, I could unravel and start up something crochet. Like the cover. Doesn't the model look like a G-man's girlfriend? She's cute. Smart. Ready to go in her hat and gloves.

I'm not going to bid on this pattern. I'm busy with a crochet skirt (the third rendition of a project from the Happy Hooker book plus I'm about to dive in head first (no, I won't get injured, I'm talking figuratively) into the 1937 Sun-Ray ribbing sweater from A Stitch in Time Those two projects alone should keep me busy for at least two months. The skirt should be done within another week or two. The sweater? We'll see how complicated it is and whether I need to take Rogaine after I'm knee-deep for a week or two. However! I'm thinking optimistically. I'm counting on this sweater not to be terribly difficult. But easy. Yes, easy. That it will work up (and down) without pain. I've got 10 skeins of a vintage Fleishers Evermatch in a pale yellow and my 2.75 mm (U.S. 2) and 3.25 mm (U.S. 3) needles. Need to swatch and I'll be good to go VROOOM soon.

Because I'm a Sucker for Two-Tone Tops: 1932 Bear Brand Crochet Pattern

Add a bow such as this pattern, and I'm a goner. This short-sleeve sweater is so adorable, and it looks so easy to make. It's just a bunch of crochet circles connected with ribbing. Kindergarten easy. Now I'm totally curious about the yarn. Two-ply? Three-ply? Something else. Because I want to make this sweater and I'm an ace at crochet in way that I'm not at knitting. Can I also I say this sweater would be most flattering to someone who doesn't have to make bust adjustments (I am speaking about myself) when you sew? The bow, the sleeve hems all hit at the bust line so anyone who doesn't want extra attention in that spot would be best to ignore this pattern. And if you leave off the bow, that just knocks extra points off its cuteness, and makes it look less retro.

Now, all that said, I'd probably wear these with a pair of jeans, and eschew the gloves, which I do like, but I don't make a habit of wearing. But a hat would definitely heighten the retro effect, although a short hairdo of any sort will work too. Gosh, put something like this on, and I half feel like doing the Charleston (which I sort of know how to do properly, thanks to Big City Swing). Or a couple of swing-outs since the lindy-hop was beginning to become popular right around the time this Bear Brand pattern was published.

I don't like to buy a pattern book unless there's at least three sweaters and/or accessories in it begging to be made. This beginning bid on this is $14.95, not bad compared some newer books on the same topic at the local bookstores. We'll see. I'm not sure. I'm watching it for now, and since it's a copy, there will be other opportunities to purchase it in the future if I don't nab it this moment (isn't that a more accurate description of the Buy It Now button?), I can always try again in the future.

Now about color choice. I do like baby blue and pink. That's quite girly. Chestnut brown and mustard yellow would be more retro. Black and fuschia would be striking, particularly for night. A little sparkle in the yarn would make it even more beautiful. What colors would you pick if you were making this top?

Mad Men Fans Take Heart : Crochet Today, Nov/December issue

It's a little too early to think about my birthday month (November), but I adore this cover. It looks like some of the vintage Good Housekeeping or Lady's Home Journal magazines from the 1950s that you see on eBay. So green and white dresses with a bow are in! The 70s-looking Christmas tree skirt - hurrah! I'm not nearly thrilled with the content but the capelet/cardi is up to my speed. It would match my winter jacket, also white. I'll blend in with the snow, which we're expecting a lot of this year. Anyhow, this is just a slapdash intro to my other topic: hats. Here's a story from the SF Gate that gives me hope for the future...A local (for me anyway) story on a fun, hatty bash...One great 1932 crochet cap and tie pattern, and instructions for a funky 1960s interpretation of the tyrolean hat. Enjoy!

Hat Love: the Crocheted Tyrolean, circa 1939

I'm just going to say I have this pattern in my bedroom drawer. The original, pre-War II version. Yellowing, loosened staples and all. I was reminded of whereabouts when I spotted the instructions for this loony-balloony hat on eBay. Oh yeah, I thought, I have that already along with some pretty nifty pretty nifty 1930s hat projects that I've yet to see online.

Anyhow, back to the tyrolean you see above. Just about as easy to make as it is to peel a banana, especially one that's really ripe and must be used for banana and not impromptu eating. I'd have to read the fine typeface, but I'm betting this pattern calls for the cordet, which was popular for handbags and hats in the 1930s and 1940s. I have a full box of the original unused stuff in my front closet, bought expressly for retr0 millinery, but I haven't gotten around to using it, although I did try my hand at a popcorn-stitch handbag that I promptly unraveled. I should have just finished it as it was because I haven't touched the cordet since. That I bought on eBay.

So the tyrolean. It would be fantastic to wear on a day such as this, although it could blow away it's so windy out there. However, it would be cool (as in comfortable to wear). Now the model above is wearing hers with a wool jacket, this hat isn't strictly for fall. Actually, it's fairly all-purpose, although I have a sneaking suspicion that it will not protect the ears when the sun's further away from the planet, and the digits begin to freeze. It's just an idea I have, nothing I've confirmed and actually experienced, especially since I haven't made this hat.

But if I did make this hat, it would go quickly; like it would be done in a weekend. Maybe not the wiring the brim, and decorating the crown with a petersham ribbon and feather. That part might take another full week to address, but the hardest labor would be done. It's all done in a circle, for those of who've made caps. You increase here and there, at some point begin the (I was going to say the Beguine, but that's not correct) the brim. Before you know it (yes, I watched a Carol Burnett retrospective last week, and I can't help recall her signature comedy show sign-off), you're done. Tie off the knot, and contemplate your workmanship, become addicted to making more of these hats.

Now that I'm writing about this hat, perhaps it's about time to start it. I've procrastinated long enough. It's been years. Children have been born, elders have died, it's high, high time to break out the crochet hook and just make a loop already. I can convince myself it's the perfect purse project. It's not heavy like the cotton tank I'm about to finish sometime soon. It'd be lightweight in a sock sort of way. I'd almost wouldn't even feel it. My phone and the handbag hardware would be heavier. Significantly.

What do you tell yourself when you see a hat that's seriously cute, but are hemming and hawing to start? What little tips push you off the iceberg and into the freezing water that we'll call "Craft Purgatory"?

Portable Projects*

Aah. The Portable Project. There's a lot of talk about that now, along with great books to read while sitting on the beach, hanging around for the endlessly delayed flight or on a sidetrack while waiting for a far more important freight train to pass by (this is for American train passengers idled on an Amtrak train).

Consequently, the project becomes hugely important. It's something to do after you're bored watching movies on the laptop, when it suddenly it becomes urgent to do something challenging with the brain. If you've get a well-thumbed paperback, you're set in the grey-cell activity department, and it is actually somewhat tacticle since you've got to turn those wrapping-paper thin pages. But I like digging into making something, a show-and-tell-for the road, a task that you can see progressing as you move along your journey, and hopefully complete before your adventure is finished.

Contrary to popular opinion, knitting and crochet aren't the only projects that you can easily pop into a handbag. Here are a couple of other handiwork entreprises that travel nicely like a well-covered homemade blueberry pie:
1. Cutwork. It could be paper or fabric. If you're not obsessed with perfection and you can handle carrying a little pair of scissors (particularly on airplanes, and I've done this, so it's all right at security checkpoints), this is a great way to exercise your hands and just play. For me, I've been hacking iron-on copper facing into tiny, big, and huge circles. These past two days, I've just sat there with no music, cutting and cutting, little bits of copper paper floating onto my bedspread, floating onto the wood floor. I even got some assistant from an admirer, who with Depression-era thriftiness, folded the paper in half, cut two circles at a time, sparing not one little bit of scrap. I've got lots of circles for my blue knit fabric. One more thought: you could make lots of cut-out for later use. I did that for a hatblock and this folding screen. What's even better, you can enlist fellow passengers that way your hands don't get fatigued.
2. Embroidery. This is excellent if you got your sewing on a hooping, and all your floss and needles arranged on a card. It's fantastic because you can set it on your lap, doze off, and pick it up hours later and know exactly where you are, which is not the case with knitting or crochet, particularly when you're following a pattern. Then you must reread the instructions at least twice to make sure you're on track (an appropriate wisecrack when you're traveling by rail, which I just might do tomorrow morning.) Another on-the-road worthy project is smocking, which is a great, slow way to add detail to a garment. Right now, I'm keen to cut out a square of small print red-and-white gingham, do 10 minutes of chicken-scratch embroidery across each. Then I'll have two pockets to machine stitch to a nice, big full, knee-length 1950s gingham skirt, which I'll make nice and fluffy with a crinoline.
3. Scrapbooking. I'm not sure you could bring a huge project with you, but I'd bring a lightweight blank pocketed binder, lots of stickers, then stick various bits of memorabilia in a sleeve as you park at various destinations. (Hopefully you will not stop on a cloud mid-journey on a plane. There are no postcards there.) Of course, to make it really meaningful you'd need to scribble little notes throughout, comments like: "We were stuck in the airport for three hours but dad took us to McDonald's" or even "We waited out a tornado in this rest area. It was really scary when the wind blew knocked over a garbage can, but we're okay."
4. Letter-writing. I think this is absolutely the best. It's basically like journal-writing, but instead of keeping each day's escapades and thoughts to yourself, you share it with family and friends. You'd need to make sure you have a pad of paper, pen, envelopes, stamps, and most importantly, your address book. Write everything that happens, preceded with "Dear >>>" to put it all in perspective. When you're finished with the missive, seal, stamp and drop it in the nearest mail box. Then you can relive your experiences weeks later when your friends call to thank you for your note. A lengthy letter is preferable than a postcard, which is short, somewhat sweet and sometimes, unreadable.
If all is fails, you can simply take a nap, and catch up on your sleep. Sugary dreams.
* The remnant above is not a part of a Portable Project right now. It's the by-product of my Patternreview tour at Vogue Fabrics last week. Yes, I got 10 percent off of $5.99 for 1 1/2 yards of this 54-inch swatch of stretch lace! I scanned the peachy fabric against a piece of black paper...

The Pros and Cons of Crochet*

I started crocheting a skirt (see above) this weekend, using the same yarn I attempted to make this skirt and this top. So the skein of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease that I've been using is starting to look worn, and it's actually a bit harder to work with all these individual threads that just do not want to cooperate at all, they're like wayward Weimaraners. I can't keep them all in one line.

Still I leaped in because I've admired for this particular pattern for too long not to do anything about it. It's been a while since I've crochet ted since I've been busy working up and disassembling projects on knitting needles. Now that I've swatched and figured out the gauge for this pattern, I've come to some conclusions what I do and don't like about crochet:

Pros
It's easier to hide your mistakes in crochet. With all those loosy-goosy loops it doesn't matter if you throw in an extra stitch, double loop or swan dive in there. You can't really see even up real close with a magnifying glass. That's terrific for someone like myself who's prone to counting out the stitches incorrectly for the get-go. I throw in an extra double crochet one or two stitches early just to meet my stitch count for that row, and no one will be able to tell. Not even the Crochet Dude. Try doing that in knitting and everyone will know, especially the eagle-eyed and annoying fifth grader who doesn't know one iota about what it's like to work with two needles and a bunch of yarn.

You Can Mix Dye Lots More Easily. I've got three skeins of the aforementioned Cotton-Ease. That's not going to be enough to make this skirt. I'd have a heck of a time actually finding the same dye lot, but I could probably find the same color group. As long as I mix in the new batch with the older skeins evenly, I should be ok. I could probably make one scallop row in one hue, another in a darker or lighter hue. Try that in knitting and that same fifth-grader will give you trouble.

It's Easier to Teach Yourself New Stitches. I've been knitting for three years now, and I still need to everything demonstrated in person and on YouTube. Crochet ting isn't the same. Show me an illustration and write up the steps, I'll be nimbly working up on my new stitch faster than you can say, "Boo hoo!"

No Stitch Holders are Necessary! This is probably the best thing about crochet. As long as I tighten the noose on my projects before I stuff it back in my bag, my crochet's more safe than a piece of 5 gum in Rain on my desk at snack-time. No pushing back the stitches on a pair of circulars, putting pointy rubber thingies on the ends of my needles. Just pulling out that last completed stitch like it's a lasso on a horse (which I've never actually done, it just seems like an appropriate analogy.)

The Tools are Inexpensive. I love this part, since I've been known to lose crochet hooks easily. I still remember the one that slid down a crevice while I was on the train. I couldn't retrieve it, but I picked up another exact copy later that day for a mere couple of dollars! Knitting needles aren't nearly as cheap and woe if you lose a nice set of pricey bamboo circulars.

It's Easy to Add Length. Need your sleeves a little bit longer? Just whip out your size H hook and your yarn and starting looping away at the finished hem. Just make sure you do the same thing on the other sleeve. Since I adore the symmetry of a design element appearing at least three times in a project, I'd also add some crochet elsewhere like at the neckline or pockets. Then it looks like you planned the addition.

Cons
It's Harder to Get Your Crochet On. Gosh, if you think the first row is harder, the second row is even tougher just to make sure you've got your stitches in the proper place and you're not twisting the chain. This initial part moves slower than the inch-worm making its way across the sidewalk on a sunny day. Once you're past those initial rows, you've at least got some substantial fabric to hold onto while you're looping the loop a la Teva Durham.

It's More Difficult to Create Shaping. Sewing and knitting are all about maximizing your curve and getting the garment to follow your lines. Crochet doesn't lend itself well to this, you can't create darts easily. Sometimes crochet really works best as an embellishment on a finished knitted garment.

You Use Lots of Yarn, Lots. You will blaze through far more skeins than you would with knitting, which has tighter stitches and consequently uses up less yarn. If you're interested in conserving money on your projects, you're better to take up knitting and yarn often tends to cost more than needles.

People Confuse Crochet with Knitting More Often That You Would Think. I've had train passengers ask me while they're sitting across from me, "So what are knitting?" I have to resist the temptation to say, "Hello? I've got one crochet hook in my hand, not two knitting needles. I'm not making a pair of socks!" Instead, I very sweetly tell them I'm actually crocheting, a forced smile on my face.

It's Harder to Find Live Help When You Need It. It never ceases to amaze me when I walk into a yarn shop for assistance on a crochet project and the employee there doesn't know even the crochet fundamentals. Of course, this woman is a whiz with two needles, but doesn't know how to use a crochet hook other than fix a dropped stitch. Frustrating! All yarn shop employees should at least how to start a chain, single crochet, double crochet and make a Granny Square (I don't know how to make one, but I don't work at a yarn store.)

* I'm at the point where I might need to rip back that first tedious row because I misread the illustrations. Double darn.

A Hint of Things to Come...*

This is what I wrote on Jan. 30, 2007 for a proposed study plan at this university.
Obviously, I didn't get it because I'm here and not there. Still my dream to soak up American fashion from the post World War I era to the present is still very much alive. Anyhow, here's what I typed up more than a year ago:

I’m particularly interested in learning how past designers influence current ones. It’s relevant because I would like to become an expert and write articles and books on fashion-related topics.
It’s important to study past fashions because they influence what’s being manufactured today. For example, the 1970s peasant-style dresses are back. Instead of being made in 100 percent or tacky polyester as you might have found during the height of the Watergate, you’re seeing them sewn up in soft silks and cotton/rayon knits that weren’t available thirty years ago. There’s also a revival of the high-waisted pants, first seen in the 1930s then again during the Carter administration. Now they’re made of stretch denim with pockets for iPods! That’s a far cry from wearing scratchy wool pants with little ease and you had to tote all your necessities in a purse.
Studying fashion is relevant to my current career objectives because I love making clothes. I live, eat, breath garment-making - it’s the first thing I look at when I sit down at my computer in the morning with my cup of Cappuccino Cooler, and eBay auctions of vintage sewing and knitting patterns are often the last things I look at before I close my office door for the day, a frothy glass of Guinness Stout in my hand. When I’m on the bus, I’m crocheting a skirt, after hours I’m stitching underwear on my Viking Husqvarna sewing machine. I fall asleep thinking about then next tiered skirt I’m going to make, the fabrics I want to buy at the local fabric store, even the notions I’ll need to complete the project. I figure I’ll die with a Simplicity pattern in my hand or slumped over my sewing machine, the light burning.
What I enjoy even more is writing about what I stitch. When I’m not creating something to wear with my hands, I’m sharing what I know about about my hand-crafts. I want the universe to know how much fun it is to create your own unique attire. It isn’t always the least expensive way to add to your wardrobe, but it’s the most satisfying. I want to share the journey of the making of a garment, even if the final product is a bust. Trust me - I’ve tossed out more than my fair share of half-sewn gowns bad, ripped back sweaters gone awry.
Sure, I could just simply sew, crochet and knit but I want to study know more about the clothes I’m making. I want to know their history. I’d like to immerse myself in the work of the great American designers: Bill Blass, Adrian, Jacques Fath, and many others. I’m particularly fascinated with U.S. fashion because I’m of of Polish-German descent. I would love to study how immigrants in the early 20th century forged their way and succeeded in the hurly-burly world of design. How did Claire McCardell come up with her imaginative swimsuit designs; Adrian, his incredible gowns for Hollywood star Joan Crawford? I’m eager to study every stitch, button and loophole on the vintage gowns and apparel created by fabulous American designers.
An old garment “has an emotional connection,” Karen Augusta, a North Westminster, Vt., vintage clothing dealer and appraiser told me for a Christian Science Monitor story I wrote on vintage wedding gowns. “Wedding dresses and baby clothes are saved more than any [other clothing]. When we look at them in a museum, and read about who wore them, there's a mystery and identity tied up in them. If you look at wedding dresses ... from the '50s, you think of Elvis Presley. Looking at furniture from the same period doesn't evoke the same connection."
Why not just study Kate Spade and Vera Wang? I have to agree with what Tori Gulisano, a vintage clothing dealer in Fort Myers, Fla. who I also interviewed for the Christian Science Monitor article: Vintage dresses "have more style, they don't fall apart like modern clothes," Ms. Gulisano says. "People want to look like Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe; they were icons. These women were the epitome of fashion. Nowadays you've got Britney Spears. Back then, the stars still had style and class."
I want to study the construction of these vintage garments so I can apply it in my own work and share my knowledge with others. Why is important to know technique? Well you know the saying “You’ve got to know the rules before you break them”? That’s never more true than in fashion. It’s helpful to know how to machine-stitch a zipper so you can put a zipper in an unconventional place: like on a hat where you would least expect one. Or a belt. What I absorb from the greats I can impart to other readers even if they never pick up a crochet hook or a knitting needle in their life. Lessons learned from sewing, crochet and knitting can be applied to real life.
Why do readers need to know about fashion? You might suggest there are more important things to discuss, but fashion is critical because it’s escapism at its best. Fashion used to be about uniformity, now it’s about individualism. Seen on TV, it’s entertainment:
“America’s Top Model” or “Project Runway.” Even in literature, ‘The Devil Wears Prada" the catwalk represents an opportunity to forget about terrorism, the cold weather outside, the nearly empty checking account, the cat crying to be fed even just for a moment.
It is the place where, when you’re swept up in the moment of creativity, you can create a piece of wearable art that no one else, not even a Martian, will have in their closet. Isn’t that amazing?
On that note, I think I’ll return to eBay, where I’m watching an auction for a 1950s crochet skirt pattern. If I win it, I’ll have to see how I can recreate it with contemporary fibers...

* My headline could be interpreted in more ways than one, since not only since I'm still pursuing plans to study fashion design, but I plan to cut this glitzy camouflage fabric and turning it into a lined shift. Stay tuned for more on that soon. By the way, I think I won the crochet pattern if it's the one I'm thinking of...

An Introduction

My name is Mary Beth. I'm really am lazy about making hats as I mentioned in the "What You Need to Know About Me" section on the side of this blog. I can't tell you how many hat patterns I have collected over the years...bundled up in folders, stacked in cardboard boxes; these patterns are sitting just itching to be made. I see them wiggling each time I rifle through them looking for a dress, skirt or a top to stitch up. I know the hat patterns feel a little insulted when I ignore them. Trust me, I feel guilty too. I feel like I'm forgetting my children. At least I wear hats. Not every single moment. You won't find me wearing a night cap (or drinking one for that matter.) But I do love hats. My favorite one at the moment is a fluffy fur flap hat that I picked up at this show. It cost well well over a $100, but it keeps me warm and gets me attention (although yesterday, I had it on when the bus sped past even though I was waving my arms wildly.)

Aside from my growing hat collection, you need to that I love to

. I learned how to crochet about six years ago. It felt quite intimidated holding the yarn in my left hand while I wielded a crochet hook in my right paw. It felt so foreign, like I was drinking 2 percent milk with brandy in it. I did master the basic stitches, even if I was making them all in the same hole, creating this little, bunchy thing. Soon, I was making Fourth of July colored cotton pot holders. Now, I've made skirts, ponchos, and berets.

You should also know I like

. Notice I didn't say I love knitting. You've got to be kidding! Knitting is so slow. There are days I rather walk from walk from Chicago to my alma mater and back rather than pick up two needles and a ball of yarn. Somehow I've managed to knit a couple of skirts, a sleeveless halter top and a wonky skirt turned into a shawl. Knitting is torture, but I'm still doing that instead of crochet right now.

Even more than crochet and knitting, I love

. I have a stash of fabric that's bulging out of one of those black-mesh laundry units in my closet and a huge collection of Vogue, Butterick, McCalls, and Simplicity patterns. I'm also a proud owner of a Viking Husqvarna 735. I love that baby sooo much. I've made at least 12 tops (that kind you wear, not spin), a few dresses and a lot of designer touches that I've just tossed in the garbage. Some of the more wearable designer items I wear to bed if they're not too scratchy. But sewing....it's so quick. Or it can be, if you so choose. I love the insty-ness of it. From cutting out the fabric to stitching up the hem, I can have a new piece of clothing in boom! 2 hours. Or thereabouts.
Enough about me for the moment. Tell me about you. What do you like to do?
* If you are interested in learning more about the calligraphy: it's Spencerian Script, popular during the Victorian era. I wrote these words, using a White Sharpie peel-off China marker on Strathmore Artagain black paper, which I just noticed is ideally suited for soft pastels and charcoal.