Sad Christmas Ornaments

I went to the pay by the pound Goodwill after Christmas and there was a good amount of Christmas stuff in the bins—Christmas lights, decorations and ornaments. My friend found this sad one-armed snowman ornament and I had to take a picture—it just felt fitting for the season.

There was also a headless drummer boy ornament.

And a creepy angel head. Maybe someone out there will want these broken Christmas tree ornaments; I imagine a Charlie Brown Christmas tree covered with these sad unwanted ornaments.

Five More Sewing Patterns

I just can’t resist sewing patterns…I got five more for a total of $1.25. The first one is a reprint of a 1945 dress and jacket. I think the dress is quite interesting; I like the simple front and the more detailed back.

This robe pattern looks like it’s from the 1960s. It’s my only robe pattern so far. I never considered myself much of a robe person, but ever since I bought a purple robe at an estate sale, I realized I rather liked them. So I may make my own robe one of these days.

This is a 1979 bridal/bridesmaid gown pattern. The dresses are simple enough that they don’t necessarily read “bridal” to me. I think these are cute dresses, and I like the long length of the skirt; it would be a fun dress to wear. 

This dress looks like it’s from the 1980s. I think it’s a nice and simple dress that’s very versatile.

The last pattern I bought is probably from the 1980s and is a skirt and culottes combo. I bought it because I thought culottes could be interesting to make. Ever since I bought a pair of culottes at an estate sale, I realized how much I liked them because I don’t have to worry about pant length (since most of the pants I own require me to wear heels so I’m not stepping on the fabric and I don’t often want to wear heels).

Black Velvet Dress Altered to a Skirt

I got this very large black velvet dress from a thrift store for $5. Seeing the amount of fabric, I thought I could turn this dress into a skirt to wear to a holiday party. My plan was to do as little as possible because I didn’t want to spend a long time working on it (as I wasn’t going to be wearing it often). So I wanted to avoid putting in a zipper or hemming it.

First, I cut the dress at the waistline. I used some bottom weight fabric to finish the cut edge because I thought turning over the velvet fabric would create too much bulk. My initial thought was to put in an elastic waistband, but I quickly realized that the fabric was just too thick and would bunch unattractively.

So, instead, I decided to wrap the extra fabric in the front using two sets of eyes and hooks. This took longer than I anticipated, and I ended up moving the eyes and hooks a few times so the placement would fit my waist better.

I also sewed a sash using black bottom weight fabric; I thought it would help cover the skirt’s thickness, and act as a belt to help keep the skirt in place (and I thought it looked cute).

Amana Freezing Guide

My friend picked up this vintage freezing guide for me at an estate sale. I love the illustrations in it.

She also gave me this cute air mail envelope.

Quote: One Must Work Hard to Remain Stupid

Vintage Binder Ads

The person who saved all these articles (in the vintage binder I got), inadvertently saved ads, as they were on the backs or sides of the articles she was saving. Ads are intriguing to me because they reflect the society of the time. Since these articles came from women’s magazines, the ads were of course, targeting women. There were many beauty, personal hygiene, household and food item ads, but there were also tons of cigarette ads.

This is the only cigarette ad that I cared to show since most of them were 1970s people being “cool.” I really like the simple graphic nature of this black and white ad.

Blistex ads—I like the packaging with the cute font (which is way cuter than it currently is).

Two honey ads.

I thought the dog in the doggie treat as was pretty adorable. The nail ad has a good headline to catch the eye.

Gum ad that I thought was interesting.

Quote: In Order to be Irreplaceable One Must Always be Different

Vintage Binder Accessories

I don’t crochet or embroider, but I can appreciate the time and effort it takes to create these intricate items. From the vintage binder I bought, here are some bags and hats that I thought were interesting (but would never need or wear). This backpack is so 1970s.

And these little purses are cute.

I like the big tassel on this crochet hat.

And these are nice airy designs for the hair net and purse.

Finally, I’m not really a fan of the little hat, but I like the bag.

Vintage Binder Articles

I was at a thrift store and stumbled upon this awesome vintage binder; I love the design on the cover. I like the colors, the geometric shapes, the fonts—everything is just so retro. I bought it for $2.

It’s a huge binder and filled with selected magazine articles; it’s someone’s collection of things they thought worth keeping over the years. There are some recipes, but it’s mostly craft articles: crochet, sewing and DIY gifts. It’s rather interesting to see the range of articles that are mostly from the 1960s and 1970s.

Here are some of the articles that caught my eye. I thought these play boxes were interesting.

I like these crochet white pillows. They have lovely elaborate patterns, but are still very simple being white on white.

These pillow dolls are amusing.

And I liked this article of how to stretch your fashion dollars by buying quality clothes you can mend and alter.

Finally, the cover of Woman’s Day that shows hairstyles from 1966.

Things I Didn’t Buy 4

I love books. And I love vintage books. But I don’t always have a need for them or a place for them. So here are some books that caught my eye but I restrained myself from buying. First up, I really liked the cover of this cookbook—super cute.

Another adorable cookbook.

I liked the cover, but thought that the information inside could be quite dated.

Cute sewing book.

Another book cover that I thought was interesting.

I liked the simple use of color for this cover.

The front and back cover of this children’s workbook had great drawings, but I didn’t need it.

$10 at Estate Sales

I went to two estate sales and picked up a few things. At the first estate sale, I bought this little wooden shelving unit for $8. I thought it was cute and could be useful. My initial thought was using it for sewing notions.

I also picked up this box of pencil lead for $1. I don’t go through pencil lead very quickly, so this will probably last a lifetime.

At the second estate sale, I got three items for a total of $1. I got a soap dish that I thought could be useful.

I got this simple dress with an elastic waistband (not unlike dresses I’ve sewn myself). I like the black, white and red coloring, and I really like the pattern on the skirt fabric. The only negative I have about it is that it’s a little voluminous in the bodice (but I think I’m too lazy to change it). It will be a nice lightweight summer dress (that I’ll have to wait to wear until next year). I think it looks a bit better when a belt covers up the transition from top to skirt.

I left behind the horrible jacket that went with the dress. It was one of those open jackets (with no closures) that hang straight down and is about thigh length. It was mostly made from the pattern fabric, and had a pocket square. It was really ugly, so I didn’t take it with me.

Finally I got this purple robe. Truthfully, I’ve never been much of a robe person, but this robe fit and was comfortable, and since it cost practically nothing, I bought it. I’ve been quite satisfied with it. Now that the weather’s getting cooler, it’s nice to have a cozy robe.

Quote: Money Without Brains is Always Dangerous

$7 at an Estate Sale

I enjoy cooking, but admittedly, I find most of my recipes online because it’s easy and there’s such a wide range of recipes available. However, books can carry a lot of recipes and it’s great to peruse them and find something unexpected.

I bought a recipe book set: Prudence Penny: Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book and The Prudence Penny Regional Cook Book for at total of $4. They’re from 1958. These books don’t have the cute retro illustrations that some of my other vintage cookbooks have, but there’s a lot of interesting information and recipes in them.

Prudence Penny: Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book has 856 pages of content. It has a large introduction section that covers a wide range of information: freezing food, cooking times for meats and produce, rendering fat, how to buy food, meal planning and table settings. An extra tidbit I liked was a list of recipes to use of when you have an extra egg white or yolk (which is so smart because then you don’t waste anything).

Many recipes look pretty good and may be similar to other recipes I already use. And then there are the recipes that I question, like the peanut butter and pickle sandwich or the peanut butter and onion sandwich. I haven’t eaten either, but they don’t sound very appetizing…

The Prudence Penny Regional Cook Book is interesting because it breaks the recipes into ten American regions: New England, Southern, Pennsylvania Dutch, Creole, Michigan Dutch, Mississippi Valley, Wisconsin Dutch, Minnesota Scandinavian, Southwestern and Western.

Each region has an introduction about the region and influences on people’s cooking. There are a lot of recipes in this book that I’m unfamiliar with, probably due to a strong European background.

And finally, although I’m not really a paisley person, I bought this red scarf for $3. I liked that the pattern was muted and I think it’ll add a nice pop of color (since most of my wardrobe is white, black and navy).