While I was in Sandpoint, Anie and I had some time to kill so we decided to go to Foster's Crossing and browse around in the antique co-op downstairs. I'm always drawn to the craft/sewing section at St. V's and as soon as I saw a booth with an antique sewing machine, I made a beeline over to check it out. 
Lo and behold.....JACKPOT! I found an old blue plastic pattern case filled with vintage patterns. It has file tabs for each section and I rummaged through it to see if there was anything good inside. These are sooooo Jackie O! Their posture just kills me. Was it mandatory to suck your gut in way back to your spine so it causes you to hunch over? And, who has a figure like that? I've never known anyone who had a waistline that small...except Barbie, of course. I love the hat and gloves though. It'd be great fun to dress like this again.
Sheesh! Sizing sure has changed! A 34 inch bust is considered a size 14? Wow! Gotta love vanity sizing these days!
This is my favorite pattern in the entire bunch. I'm actually considering sewing the dress in the middle. You can tell the sizing is starting to go down, since this pattern now considers a 34 inch bust a size 12. 
This reminds me of my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Trawek. She had that same blond hairdo and wore mini dresses and flat shoes, just like these. Whoa....what a flashback! I thought she was the coolest, hippest person -- ever! And she was beautiful too. I also remember my first crush was on Rodney Stark. He had thick black glasses and wore black penny loafers with white socks, but had a smile that would melt your heart! He was smart too and I'm sure he's an engineer now! He looked like he would be one.
When I saw this pattern, I thought Mrs. Robinson! All she needs is a cigarette and a martini and the outfit would be complete. I'm sure Mrs. Trawek wore something like this to a cocktail party. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all the patterns. Maybe decoupage them onto something, or maybe make an altered art collage. All I know is that I couldn't leave the box in Sandpoint. It's now MINE! If you want to see more, I'm uploading the rest into a set on my Flickr account.
3 comments:
I love the pencil skirts.
Women's clothing sizes used to be (I believe) based on the age you'd be when you fitted into them. So an old siz 14 was for a 14 year old and a 16 was a 16 year old. I guess they figured you'd stop growing around 16-18.
In the 60s a new standard was introduced, making the old 16 a 10 and so on - probably as people started getting bigger generally.
So if you've ever heard the story of how Marilyn "was actually a size 16" that was old 16 so new 10 so not as big as it sounds at first :-)
Great patterns, btw!
I want to make one of those patterns! Clothes back then are so cool! I want to wear them. They look so girly. I want to look girly.
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