Catalog From Kenmare Museum

While visiting the Lake County Historical Museum in Kenmare a few summers ago (one of our favorite museums) I came across this old catalog from 1917-18 and found it to be quite interesting!  It is 100 years old!

 

Time to pick a pretty dress.  I like the blue dress.
 

 

Apparently, they were big on decorating their clothing with buttons, embroidery and lace back in 1917 and 1918.

 

 

Yes, much ornamentation on these blouses!  Beautiful, decorative buttons and lots of pretty embroidery embellishments! I wonder how many of those buttons ended up in button boxes.

 

 

 

Wish I had a coat like this today!  Look how nice and heavy they were!

 

 

Even their undergarments were decorated with embroidery and ruffles!

 

 

 

And sweet children's coats and hats...so adorable!

 

 

 

I wish I had taken more time to look at the catalog and had taken a few more photos.  I hope that someone from the museum will take the time to very carefully scan all of the pages inside to preserve the illustrations.  They are like a time capsule!

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy, vintage day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Little Girl Dresses

I've always LOVED little girl vintage dresses!  My daughter used to wear what my mother and I called "Sally" dresses after the little girl, Sally, in the Dick and Jane books of the 50's and 60's.  I even have some hanging in my laundry room.

Below, is a picture of my daughter in one of her little "Sally" dresses.

 

One thing I noticed is that the school aged girls all wear brown or black shoes, the toddlers all wear white.  Funny how that worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhh, so sweet.  I think I would want them all!

 

 

Aren't they just the sweetest little dresses!?  I really like the little peach one and the green one with white stripes. 

 

Well, that's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy, vintage day!

 

 

 

A Little Cataloge Shopping

The blog has been quiet for far too long, but life has been busy.  So here are some pretty little dresses and finery from my 1950 Sears Catalog that I got from my uncle Stan.

 

I can't seem to crop my photos anymore.  The ones I crop seem to disappear into a different dimension.  One of these days I'll discover a folder on my computer with all of the photos I ever tried to crop.  Until then, the photos are "as is".

 

I like the blue and white dress and the pink dress.

 



 

Look at those tiny little waistlines!  Oh to be young again.

 

 

Each one of these is cute, I especially like the pockets and button detail on the blue plaid.

 

 

The middle one with the cherry applique at the bottom is a yes in my book!  I totally would've worn that as a young housewife.

 

 

All three of the dresses above are adorable.

 

 

There were at least 5 or 6 pages of ladies hats!  Apparently hats were VERY in fashion and a must for any "smart" outfit.  

 

 

My favorite hat.

 

 

Tween dresses.  I like the yellow one. 

 

 

More tween dresses.  All of these dresses are cute.  The shoes are cute too, and always worn with anklets.

 

That's all for today, stay tuned in the days to follow for little girl dresses and household goodies!  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

 



A Little Catalog Shopping in 1954

People don't do much catalog shopping anymore, but at one time, it was one of the main ways people could buy the goods they needed.  I've seen many a Walton's TV show where Olivia Walton is waiting for her Sears Roebuck package to arrive at Ike's General Store and Post Office.

 

Sears and Roebuck was like Walmart in book form, except most everything was made in the good old USA.

 

I was given a 1954 Catalog, by my uncle, last Christmas.  Many of the pages are not in color.  I suppose color was more expensive to print, but how did you know if you were going to like the look of the "Sea Foam Green" dress if you couldn't see it in color?  I guess women just took the chance.

Here is a sampling of color pages from 1954.  Let's go shopping!

 

The blue coat is pretty, especially if paired with black boots.

 

These are "Misses" dresses.  I'm not sure if women of my age wore these or not.  They ARE quite young looking.

I like both of these dresses for "everyday".  *sigh* I sure wish my figure was that small!  Ha!

And here are a few choices for little girls.  I like the little plaid one, in the upper right hand corner. 

That's all for now.  It's been a busy week.  Hope to post again soon.
Until another time, have a happy, vintage day!

Violet Vintage of Fargo

Waaaaaay back in June, while we were on vacation, we peeked into an adorable vintage clothing and accessory store in downtown Fargo called Violet Vintage.  It took us awhile to find it as it is no longer located in the Black Building on Broadway. 
It has moved to this cute little shop at  1-1/2 S 8th St.

Violet Vintage looks very small on the outside but don't let that fool you.  While the store building is quite narrow looking it is also quite LONG. 

 

 

The store building itself has oodles of vintage character and I wish I had taken a photograph of the inside!  If I remember correctly, it had hardwood floors, original high ceilings and an old heater/fan hanging from the ceiling.  I got the vibe that it could have been, at one time, a little candy store or a little bakery (I mean what else could be in a store so small?)  Or maybe a haberdashery or barber shop?  Who knows, but it is fun to think about its past history.  If only walls really could talk. 
 

The lady working there was super friendly!  She let us browse in peace, but was always close by if we needed help.  

There were racks and racks of vintage clothing, unfortunately, I found nothing that I really loved that was in my size. There were many vintage purses, gloves, necklaces, earrings, and SHOES.  They had actual, vintage shoes!  I didn't buy any shoes, but I did purchase this cute little navy blue purse and some enamel earrings.

 

 

 

The little enamel, daisy, clip earrings are a favorite of mine, and even though I don't have an outfit to accompany them, you can never go wrong with red, white, and blue.

 

And I carried it all home in this cute little bag with filled with violet colored tissue paper.

 

 

All in all, Violet's Vintage was a fun little store and I can't wait to visit there again!

 

That's all for today, but until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

Homemade Circle Skirt

I've always wanted a vintage circle skirt.  The thrift shops and consignment stores around town don't have much for vintage clothing, and no vintage looking circle skirts, so my only other option is to make one.

 

I'm not a seamstress....at all.  My husband bought me a sewing machine for Christmas one year.  I think our daughter uses it more than I, and that's okay.  I'm glad she is learning to use a machine.

 

I started by watching a You Tube Video by The Vintage Vanity (I just love her videos and tutorials).  In her 4 step video tutorial she shows us how to make a circle skirt!

 

The first step was to pick my fabric.  It took me DAYS to pick just the right one for my skirt.

There were so many choices!

 

I finally decided upon this flowery fabric found at JoAnns. 

 

 

I learned that if you have a 40% off coupon, you get 40% off a single cut of fabric, no matter how many yards the fabric is.  For some reason I thought you only got one yard at the sale price, and paid full price for the extra yards.  So that was good news for my pocketbook!

 

Next I taped large pieces of tissue paper together to form a large sheet.  I measured my waist and did the calculations.  Then measured the length and used my measuring tape as a large compass.

 

 

After it was drawn, I cut out this cone shape and that was my pattern.  I would need to cut FOUR of these "cones" out of my fabric.

 

 

I laid my fabric out on the table, pinned the pattern and cute out four identical "cones".

I think my little vintage table was very happy to have someone doing a sewing project on its surface...especially a vintage sewing project.  Maybe someone did a sewing project or quilting project many years ago on this very same table.

 

 

I won't go into detail about stitching the fabric.  To be honest, once I was into the thick of it I didn't stop to take photographs.  The waistband seam had to be ripped out and redone, and the bottom hem was done the next day.  Let's just say it wasn't easy and leave it at that.  Hopefully I've learned from my mistakes, and if I ever make another circle skirt things will go a lot better.

 

Here is the finished skirt with two of the cardigans I already owned.  They match wonderfully, but I really wanted a green cardigan.

 

Daughter and I stopped into the local consignment store and, wouldn't you know, there was a green sweater...in my size!  Yea!

 

The photo (farther below) is the only one I have of me wearing the skirt and sweater.  The sweater is Christopher and Banks, the skirt homemade (duh) the white blouse is from Kmart, the vintage sweater chain and screw/clip earrings I bought at a flea market, and the white belt was (I believe) my mothers from the 1980s. 
Sadly, when this photo was taken, I was not holding the little white wicker purse that somewhat matches the belt. 

The skirt doesn't really need the belt, I just like that it adds a little something. Next, I'd like to purchase a shorter crinoline to give the skirt a bit more fluff.

 

 

The skirt REALLY isn't perfect, it has its flaws, but it's good enough for me to wear around the house on those days when I'm feeling especially "vintage".  I'll throw on some Kitty Wells, sit in my sorta vintage kitchen and flip through one of my 1950s Ladies Home Journals.  Now if I only had a clothesline!

Until another time, have a happy vintage day!