Category: Bric-a-Brack Ric Rac

Assorted vintage & retro sewing and craft projects, materials, and products.

Petty Knit Picking

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I spotted this pair of vintage crochet (or knitted?) potholders at one of the local antique shops and I had to go back to snap a pic of it because it drove me that nuts. I know it’s a small thing, a petty thing — and, since this about little underthings, perhaps a petty-coat thing, but the fact that “his” is embroidered on the “men’s underwear” but only “her” is embroidered on the pair of “lady’s bloomers” just, well, gets my panties in a bunch. It should be “His” and “Hers.”

Also, underthings as pot holders just makes me feel like it’s all about negative body issues…

Women & Children Should Be Scene & Not Heard

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We’ve all heard the expression “Children should be seen and not heard”, an expression particularly aimed at girls. Well, apparently it was updated in the 1970s to be “Children should be scene and not heard”. Enter Exhibit A, a vintage advertisement for Mary Maxim needlecraft kits which features a little girl dressed to complete a festive holiday scene:

mary maxim vintage ad 1978

The girl wears a floor-length red dress, much like the table wears a red floor-length tablecloth. Both decorative small female child and small table each wear overlays of fancy white crocheted creations (the Mary Maxim pinafore and tablecloth kits).  If anyone can show me an example of this done to boys or men, please do.

The ad was found in the September 1978 issue of Decorating & Craft Ideas Magazine.

Fabric Swatch Friday: Getting Freaky With Fabric Samples

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Collector, hoarder — call me what you will. I prefer to be considered a curator, and a creative-type too. Which is why I can’t imagine throwing out just about anything (unless it is actually rotting; rotten is a subjective term, in my, subjective, opinion).

Via my favorite new blog, Visual Arts Library Picture & Periodicals Collections, proof that keeping old fabric sample swatches is a good thing, an inspiring thing:

Now, that doesn’t mean that through photocopying, scanning, or rendering their likeness with your hand that you cannot transform these textured colors and colored patterns into pictures, or otherwise appropriate their likeness for your own creative ends. In fact, this is all just an invitation to do just that.

So, go forth, collect, save, scan, etc. Create something. Maybe even backgrounds for your blog or website. Who knows? That’s up to you.

Whatjamacallit Wednesday: Sewing Hat For A Rainy Day

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I’m a dork. I know it, and now you’ll know it too.

When I spotted the cover of this 1975 Simplicity sewing book — “updated!” — I had to have it.

simplicity-sewing-hat

I had to have it because I actually thought that they’d have instructions for how to make the hat. Yes, I thought that 1) the kitschy fisherman’s hat adorned with pincushion (with pins, no less), scissors, and measuring tape-turned-bow, would be awesome to wear going to rummage sales on those rainy days, and that B) a book of sewing instructions would actually include instructions for creating the item featured on the cover.

Now you might agree that I’m just plain silly for the first thing; but don’t you think a person ought to expect the latter? But no. Apparently Simplicity thinks making the hat is obvious enough. Which I suppose is better than being like that super-annoying and frustrating Science Channel show, How It’s Made, which informs you that markers are made by putting felt into a plastic tube and inserting ink into the absorbent felt. A Duh. That’s not how something is made, that’s how something is assembled from already made parts.

But my point is, while I can buy a bright yellow rain hat and all the sewing supplies, I have no idea how to attach said sewing supplies without ending up having to wear a pirate’s eye patch — and telling people that I was blinded by my own lack of sewing skill, causing a scissors to fall from my kitschy hat & skewer my eyeball.

None of this, however, dampens my desire for such a hat. Sew So, if you know how to make such a hat — that is safe enough to wear — please do tell.

Latching-On To Artist Tamar Stone

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Feeling a bond (however imagined in my crush), I “latched” onto another common thread with artist Tamar Stone: I’ve made latch hook rugs. So I asked her to tell me about her latch hook rugs.

I began doing traditional rug hooking (using wool strips and a hand hook – you pull loops of wool strip up through burlap/Scottish linen stuff). It is very relaxing, and I like the idea that I can still be “busy” with my hands while I vegetate in front of the TV set… I tend to do this more in the winter since the wool is hot in the summer to have it on your lap. The squirrel rug was the first rug I did with Bob – he drew it, I hooked it. I had only hooked one other thing before, a pillow piece that was part of a one day class I took at the Museum of Folk Art in NYC where I met this great teacher, Marilyn Bottjer.

I’m not very good at always following the rules, or keeping in between the lines (so much of my work is like that, I always think that my idea of things “not being perfect” has something to do with my curved spine, and knowing that I was never “straight” and I tend to see things a little off kilter etc.)

Anyway, Bob drew this picture of a cabin (who knew we would own a house that looks like that a few years later) and a squirrel etc. Originally Bob was going to call it “A squirrel as big as a Cadillac” but we decided against that and then his dad – in his own corny and sweet way – said it looked like “nuts about you” so that is what we called it.

nuts-about-you-hooked-rug-by-tamar-stone

The next rug was the big map rug, which was all the road trip things from the first three years of us dating. Everything we ate, saw, bought, experienced, and photographed (I love my Polaroid camera – and the photo in the corner of the rug is the place in NH where we got engaged) in the. On the 4th year, we eloped to Iceland… But that is another story.

wool-latch-hook-rug-by-tamar-stone-our-first-3-years

Desperately Seeking 80’s Madonna Fashions?

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UPDATE 10/18/2014: I’ve a pair of the black Desperately Seeking Susan boots for sale in my Etsy shop!

Speaking of 1980’s-Desperately-Seeking-Susan Madonna & boots…

desparately_seeking_susan_boots

Fans of the film Desperately Seeking Susan will remember that the whole hullabaloo started when Susan (Madonna), trades in her fabulous jacket for a pair of boots spotted in the window at Love Saves The Day (the old, original location, not the new one in New Hope, PA) — and then Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) buys the jacket, gets hit on the head and, trying to discover who she is, uses the key in the jacket’s pocket to open the Pandora’s-box-of-a-port-authority locker, setting off a romantic comedy of mistaken identity. An entirely awesome film. Seriously. Just try not to enjoy Desperately Seeking Susan.

With the 80s fashion comeback, blah-blah-blah, how would you like to be so hip & retro it hurts and have these boots? (Frankly, back in the day, I wouldn’t have been caught dead in them — too copy-cat, even though I was dressed as scandalously; but now those boots are kitsch-a-licious — now with added irony!)

madonna-wearing-the-boots

Bakers – Leeds owned the license to copy the boots designed by the film’s Costume Design Assistant, Alison Lances, but Town & Country knocked-off a netting with sequins over vinyl version. Frankly, it would be hard to tell the difference, right?

bakers-leeds-ad-for-desperately-seeking-susan-boots

But good luck finding either of them — if & when you do, be prepared to pay several times the original $49. Yup, even for pleather.

However, crafty girls could likely figure out how to adopt this vintage hairpin lace crochet pattern to make the netted boot overlay and add sequins, right? (Click this larger image from MadonnaUnderground.nl to guide you.)

boots-bakers-leeds-box

If rhinestones & shiny bling aren’t exactly your thing, you can opt for more punk studs — no, not men with attitude; boots with stud decorations, dears. Alyssa Zukas AKA Two Sting Jane does — and she even shares how! (If that link doesn’t always work — and it is wonky, giving 404s, try the DIY link and scroll; it’s worth it!)

And, because what are shoes without the right handbag, why not make a purse version of the iconic skull suitcase.

desperately-seeking-susan-skull-suitcase

However, if you never ever would have traded costume designer Santo Loquasto’s jacket for those boots…

desperately-seeking-susan-pyramid-eye-jacket

Well, copies of those jackets were licensed and made “retail available,” just like the boots, and advertised on MTV.

despereately-seeking-susan-jacket-ad

Made by Identity, Inc. &/or Creative Embroidery Corp. (I say “and/or” because both were marketed by Targeted Communications, Inc., so they could have been the same company.), the jackets have a hefty price — if & when you can find them.

creative-ebroidery-label

If you can sew or at least embroider, you can add the pyramid & eye, like that on a dollar bill, and the phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” to a jacket — just like Awsumgal did — sure, it’s a doll’s jacket; but it’s the same steps, just a different scale.

So get crafty and create your own fashion homage to the 1980’s that you so desperately seek. Aidan Quinn sold separately.

Fabric Swatch Friday: The BIG Burlap Retro Decor Board Project Edition

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You’re going to need more than a swatch to make these retro “free form” (from a pattern) decor boards — but the good news is that you can use cheap ol’ burlap, as instructed, or any fabric you like (Maybe even old sheets?) The June, 1957, issue of Popular Mechanics describes the DIY project thus:

In addition to being conversation pieces in themselves, decor boards are the answer to the problem of displaying small pictures, curios and other knick knacks in a room of modern furnishings. Besides adding a sharp contrasting background, these “bulletin boards” save the wall from numerous nail holes as they hang like pictures.

Materials needed:
Insulation board
Plywood
Nails
Fabric of your choice
Screw eyes
Small rubber tacks

And the patterns for “free form” shapes as shown (click to enbiggin’).

decor-boards-free-form

Sit On A Pin-Up

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I should probably save this for Fabric Swatch Friday, but I was too excited to tell you that Samantha Hahn made this fabric for a chair:

starlet-harlot-pattern-fabric-by-maquette

Yes, I said “made this fabric,” because once she designed this pattern, based on Ava Gardner, Claudette Colbert and some others (she calls it of “starlet harlots“), Samantha used Spoonflower to have her custom fabric printed on demand.

Yeah, you heard that right; you can create your own fabric pattern and then have Spoonflower print it — on actual fabric — for you. Wowza.

Anyway, once your blown mind settles down, click here if you want to see Samantha’s pin-up chair (and get a testimonial about Spoonflower too).

Cheap Thrills Thursday: Now That’s What You Can Do With Old Dawn Doll Heads!

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In which I show you things I got so cheap, it’s embarrassing — for someone other than me. I love my bargains.

safety-pin-bead-doll-dawn-head

This vintage boudoir doll is made from huge (baby diaper sized) safety pins, beads, some wire, and a small vinyl doll head (which reminds me of Dawn Dolls).

safety-pin-bead-doll

No, I won’t take her apart to show you how she’s made — I lurve her. Plus, she was a quarter — and supplies will cost more than that. But if you want the all-expense-paid fun of making one, here are what appear to be the instructions. (Really crafty folk probably guessed all of this anyway.)

A Rose Made From Any Used Stocking Still Smells As Sweaty

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At my other blog hubby & I do a quasi-regular feature called “Craft-Scan Fridays”, so I was digging ’round in my old crafting magazines. This lead to a vast number of possible posts — and, being too eager to wait & schedule them all out for weeks & weeks, I thought I’d share one here.

This gem on how to make nylon corsages from old nylon stockings, pantyhose & other hosiery comes from The Workbasket magazine (the June 1952 issue).

make-nylon-corsages-1952

nylon-corsages-last

It fascinates me for several reasons.

One, the long history of recycling ladies’ hosiery. You may recall such things from war efforts, but this was also a huge arts & crafts fad in the 70’s. The notion of recycling appeals; but the irony of using fabric that’s been on your feet, possibly next to your sweaty crotch, to make flowers is inescapable.

Two, check out the nice ad placement for All-Fabric Tintex (which, by the way, is still around). The vintage ad even promotes sending in for “a free illustrated Tintex flower leaflet” — which sounds just like The Workbasket article itself. The vintage nylon corsage article might as well be an advertorial.

The Answer To One Of Life’s Hardest Questions

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From the March 1951 issue of Profitable Hobbies Magazine, the news that we’ve all been waiting to hear:

“Mrs. J. E. Woodard of Reform, Alabama, has figured out the answer to one of life’s hardest questions — what to do with old straw hats.”

one-of-lifes-hardest-questions

If you, like I, were surprised to learn that this matter of what to do with straw hats was a question of such deep importance to society that it joined the ranks of “What’s the meaning of life?” “Is there a God?” and “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”, thus meriting the One of Life’s Hardest Questions title, then you’ll likely find the answer, turning straw hats into baskets & purses, anti-climactic.

Frankly, I thought straw hats & purses were made from straw baskets. Thus this brief vintage article shatters my paradigm — or at least perverts my perception of the natural order of things…

Which came first, the straw basket or the straw hat? Where do straw purses fit into the scheme of things?

Oh, how can I live my life without knowing…

If this is news is so tantamount to human existence, then why didn’t the publication’s cover boast of such enlightenment? Why bury the true lead on page 17? And what’s a scoop without photographic evidence?

In any case, you likely won’t be surprised to learn that Profitable Hobbies Magazine only turned a profit for about a decade before becoming defunct.

In Other Craft-Store Scandals…

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Who knew craft stores would be home to so many scandals? But beneath their glitter, pipe cleaners, & plush for teddy bears, I guess the heart of American culture beats… Take the names of craft store acrylic paints.

According to Ceramcoat paints, by Delta, Santa must can only be a Caucasian — in fact, “flesh” tones only come in Caucasian.

flesh-tone-creamcoat-paint

I remember when Crayola renamed the “flesh” crayon “peach” sometime in the 60’s (Mental Floss says it was 1962, but I was born in ’64 and I remember the change — maybe it took forever for the new crayons to roll-out on store shelves?). And I believe there were several attempts by Band-Aid to promote varying shades of “flesh” tone bandages over the years… But that was apparently only after they tried more fanciful designer colors — ‘cuz decorating Dorothy Kilgallen in bright rainbow color Band-Aids is more important than providing options in the race-rainbow of skin tones.

*sigh*

I would have happily photographed any other, darker, warmer, etc. shades of “flesh” or skin tones, but there weren’t any.  They do, however, have a color for hippopotamus flesh. Make of that what you will.

hippo-grey-cream-coat-paint

Anyway, while I had my camera out in the paint isle, I also found myself compelled to take a photo of another paint. Plaid’s Apple Barrel acrylic paint in Territorial Beige.

That’s an odd name for a paint — just how is a color “territorial” other than by bleeding & taking over all the pottery, paper etc.? (Not something I look for in a paint.) That shade name was also used by Delta too, making it even weirder. Most amusing of all was seeing that at least one bottle takes it’s name to heart; see how one of the bottles is begging to take over the empty row next to it? Perhaps it even intimidated the other color to vacate the premises.

territorial-beige

As for why I was searching for paint shades, that’s a project I’m not ready to dish about yet; stay tunned.