Estate Sale: Papers and Sewing Stuff

A while ago, friends and I stumbled upon an estate sale and found lots of random stuff. We pooled all that we wanted together and bought everything for $10. For my stack of stuff, I paid $2. None of it I needed, but I inevitably find interesting items. I’m going to share everything but the matchbooks (that I’ll share later).

This estate sale had a box full of maps, and most of them were pretty much your average (dated) maps, but these two stood out to me. They’re completely unnecessary for me to have, but I appreciate their graphic nature. First up is the Home Oil Map for Vancouver. I actually love the cover, which has a flat one-color drawing of the city. I also like how the map is simple and well organized; I can’t imagine how much work it must have been to lay it out (before computers). I’m not sure how old this map is, but the population listed on it for Vancouver is 344,833, and looking online it looks like that was around1951.

Next up is a Washington Chevron map (1970 edition). What really drew me to it was the cover that uses an older version of the logo.

I got a couple of columnar pads. Truthfully, I don’t know what I could do with them, but I just think they’re interesting.

I found more sewing stuff. I got some buttons to cover and twill tape and two more patterns. First is an apron, likely from the 1950s (I couldn’t find a year on it). I’ve never made an apron, and it’s doubtful I’ll make this one, just because I don’t have much of a need of an apron. But I do appreciate its large pockets that would be useful when doing just about anything.

Next up is this suit pattern from 1973. I like the skirt and might make it.

Finally, I got the Singer Dressmaking Guide from 1947. It’s 50 pages of pretty much everything you need to make a garment (e.g. measurements, pattern alterations, cutting, marking, pleats, collars, hems, etc.). I like the simplicity of the drawings and the directness of the directions. Here are a few pages from the book.