Are You There, Hoarders? It's Me, Rebecca.

I think the title of this post may say it all readers. So, let's cut to the chase, shall we? More sewing stuff hitchhiked it's way home with me today. 40 patterns, books of needles, 40s sewing books, and more fabric. I am on the fast track to being a hoarder. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I intend to die in 80 years or so, from injuries sustained from being buried in sewing supplies. I think I now hove somewhere in the range of 600-800 patterns,, including my modern ones. Should I count? Would anyone care to see the massive stash one day?

This is about half the pattern haul, plus the needles, and sewing books. I will post the rest in another post. The cost for all the sewing goodies and fabric combined? $14!

There were doubles of some patterns.

Those slippers are just too neat!

Score! My first couturier pattern and it's uncut!

Need Needles?

Copyright 1949

Copyright 1948

Estate Sale Fabric Haul

Hello readers. I thought that I'd share with you the fabric that followed me home from last Saturday's estate sale. It had been a while since I  had I had found any fabric, so this was a fun surprise. Whomever lived in the house that I went through was definitely a loved of the classic Model T car. Every sort of Model T trinket, gadget, and fabric ever printed were accounted for in their home.

Don't forget, until the end of January, BLOGSALE, gets you 15% off in my Etsy Shop.


( Also, please excuse these photos. It was dark before I took them, so I had to employ the ever icky flash and no matter what I did some of the fabric would not cooperate on the hangar.)

Antique and Vintage Pattern Haul

I bought more patterns dear readers! It seems I have had good luck lately finding sewing patterns. I hope by writing that I don't curse my luck. This is a pretty small pattern haul, compared to my usual ones, but it does include the first antique patterns I have ever found, dating to around the turn of the century. It also happens to be my most expensive pattern haul to date, at a pricey $23, well pricey to me anyways.

I also came home with about 40 yards of fabric, some vintage, which I will have posted in the coming days. I also have a question for you, readers, I am considering selling the antique patterns. If you were in possession of them, would you sell them? Don't get me wrong, they're really neat, but I feel there may be others that can appreciate them more than myself. I love vintage patterns, but I don't feel the antique ones are very usable, and would most likely end up shoved down in a tupperware tub in my closet. That seems like a sad life for something so old.

A Sneak Peak

I arose this morning, while it was sleeting outside, and the proceeded to stand in the rain, all in the name of vintage fabric and patterns. I will hopefully have them all photographed in the next day or so, but I thought I'd give you all a sneak preview of something I bought.


And, while I'm at it, don't forget that BLOGSALE gets you 15% off in my Etsy shop right now. Vintage patterns are just $4.25 with the discount! I also have some vintage clothes and shoes, Lp's, dishes, and a few sewing notions.

Finished: The "Romance, Rekindled" Jacket

No, your eyes did not deceive you dear readers, I really have finished a sewing project! The jacket that I started way back in September of last year is not complete. All throughout the sewing process, I just couldn't decide if I liked this jacket or not. I had the lingering feeling that is was just too matronly for me, but in the end I really like my jacket, even if it is a bit of the extra conservative side.

Lets get to the details now:

Pattern: Butterick 5395 ( OOP now, but available on Butterick's website)
Size: I cut the 14 without any alterations
Outer Fabric: I believe it was some sort of poly blend suiting from Goodwill. $2
Lining Fabric: Crisp white taffeta lining from fabric .com. I think the piece was $3, but I also cut the lining for a skirt from it.
Notions: Four, 1" buttons and one package of bias tape (to finish the inside seams)
Directions: I found the directions to be really good for this pattern. I have never made, nor lined a jacket before, and the directions made it very doable.
Overall Conclusion: I am quite happy that I pressed forward with this jacket. I am considering making a bright red skirt to pair it with to make it a bit more youthful.

If You Were The Boss For One Day...

If you could be in control of all the big four pattern companies for one day, what would you do?

Butterick, McCalk's, Vogue, and Simplicity. We all know them. We all love them or hate them. But, if for one day you could make all the changes you wanted to, what would you do.

I'll tell you what I would do.


Simplicity: I would commission the designer of the Lisette to crank out some more patterns. I love the Lisette designs and would love to see new releases every season. I would also release some more vintage patterns, keeping them as true as possible to original. Also, stop putting out so many dog sweater patterns. 

McCall's: I would start digging in the archives ASAP and start releasing vintage reprints, as close to the originals as possible. McCall's had some fabulous designs, especially in the 50s in my opinion, and they deserve to come back to life.Next, I would put those terrible "Make it Crafty" patterns on the chopping block. I am pretty sure "your outfit looks so, so crafty" is not a compliment anyone wants to hear.

Butterick: The fist thing I would do is get some new stylists in there to jazz up their pattern envelopes. Butterick does have some cute designs, yet more often than not they are hidden behind unfortunate fabric choices and bad styling. Buttericsk re-releases are my favorite, so I would also start releasing vintage men's, children's, and accessory patterns. 

Vogue: Just like Butterick, I would work on restyling the vintage patterns. Vogue may be the worst offender for out of date and unwearable looking vintage pattern styling. Nest, I would bring in some younger, fresher designers. I'm sure there is a market for Chado Ralph Rucci patterns, but some new designers would be nice. I would definitely attempt to have the folks at Kate Spade design some fun, fresh patterns. And maybe I'd try for a complimentary Kate Spade fabric line, a lo the Lisette line at Joann's. 

For all 4 Companies: If I were in charge I would start a project that would be a huge undertaking. I would start a database that contained all the pattern counter catalogs in existence. This would be, hands down, the best sewing pattern resource out there. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to search a pattern number and be taken to the page from the pattern counter book, showing not only a photo of your pattern, but the year it was released? 

Next, for all the vintage patterns, I would set up a website that would allow seamstresses to vote for which vintage patterns they would like reprinted. There would also be a suggestion box for patterns to be reprinted.

So, there you have it, all the things that I would do if I were CEO for a day. What would you do? Nix certain patterns? Bring in certain designers? What would do you with the vintage patterns? I'd love to hear all your thoughts lovely readers.

An Update And A Code

Hello dears readers! I'll make this post short and sweet, but just a few things I wanted to share with you. I originally was going to write a sup quick post only sharing my Etsy code, but I thought I'd share my interesting last two days with you as well.

It seems that I am having a streak of bad luck these past few days. Start out on Friday, where I brought take out home for dinner, only to discover that my food was wrong. Not that big of a deal, right? No, sadly this may have been the event that triggered my string of bad, albeit funny, bad luck. After I slung the sloppy, soppy wet tomato off my sandwich, I put my good on a plate and put some ketchup in a Fire King custard cup. I then proceeded to walk to the den and drop the ketchup cup in the floor. What ensued can only be described as a the great ketchup spill of 2012. Ketchup went everywhere and so did the glass. I think I felt a tear roll down my face for my Fire King. It had survived for 60 years before I got my hands on it. Fast forward twenty minutes and I had the mess cleaned up and ate my sandwich. All was well again.

Now, lets move to Saturday. I got up and went to an estate sale with my mom. The listing hadn't listed sewing stuff, but my keen nose sniffed out the sewing machine as soon as I got into the house. Then I made the mistake of asking the man running the sale, if there had been any patterns. Oh yes, there had been, boxes of them, and they were gone. Devastation ran through my body, since you know, I don't have any patterns. I did end up buying an awesome 70s Pyrex casserole so I did leave happy after all. I went home and logged into Etsy to find I had sold something. Finally, some good luck, since this meant I finally had enough money in my Paypal account to buy a piece of truly amazing vintage 50s cotton I had been drooling over. I went to my favorites on Etsy to find my amazing fabric that I had been looking at every single day for the last two months, only to see that is had sold on Saturday morning.

I also then proceeded to pour hot water from the iron on my toe later in the evening and take a bite of still boiling baked beans and burnt my tongue. So, certainly no life altering bad luck, but humorous bad luck.

There is an estate auction coming up with weekend that lists fabric and sewing items, so I think I will be going to that. The listing also lists lots of "man stuff", so I better be prepared for the creepers. ( If you're female and under 30, and have been to a country estate auction, you know exactly what I mean.)

But enough with the dilly dallying, I have a coupon code for you dear readers. Enter BLOGSALE in my Etsy shop during checkout and you will receive 15% off. I will have more patterns listed soon, as well as all the vintage clothing before the end of week. ( If you're not in the US, convo me on Etsy and I can set up shipping for you.) The code will be good until the end of January.

Vintage Pattern Haul

Hello lovely readers! Yes, I have done it again. I bought more patterns. What can I say? I have no backbone when it comes to vintage patterns, especially when the majority of the patterns are my size. This haul is on the small size for my usual pattern hauls, containing only 24 patterns, all from the 70s. When I put these patterns away, it filled up my third Rubbermaid storage tote, and I have a cardboard box full too. ( This doesn't include any modern patterns either.) I can't help it, I just love patterns!


So, let's see the new goodies.

The dress on my left is my favorite one!

Well, there you have it, 24 more patterns. In serger news, I did try it out, but the thread got tangled up and I don't know how to thread it yet to fix it. ( It was already threaded in the box.) Hopefully, I will get it working soon and I will serge every piece of fabric scraps that I have.