I was at a garage sale a few years ago to acquire cheap sewing notions (zippers and trims and such) and came across a box of vintage children's patterns. At the time, children's clothing was pretty much all I was sewing (cuz they have this lack-of-curves-therefore-easier-to-sew-for-thing) so I was pretty thrilled, especially since there were quite a few sizes I knew I could use for the nieces. Those were my very first vintage patterns.
When I told my mom about them, her response was pretty much, "Vintage patterns? Oh yeah, I have all your grandma's old patterns- at least a couple boxes full."
Wait, WHAT? You mean she kept me in the dark about the existence of easily accessible vintage patterns all these years? Don't worry- no grudges were kept (especially if I hope to own those patterns myself some day- mwahahahaha!). Next time I visited she pulled out the boxes and showed me a whole bunch of vintage patterns from the 60's and 70's, in an array of sizes, children's and adults, patterns my grandma actually used to sew clothes for my mom and my aunts. My aunt told me a story of how she didn't even go clothes shopping for the first time until she was in Jr. High cuz my grandma made all their clothes. How rad is my grandma?
Anywho, looking at all those vintage patterns made me curious about what other kinds of vintage patterns are available or out there somewhere, maybe even from an earlier decade (cuz as my mom tells me, "Nicole, the 50's called, they want their style back."). I started looking on Ebay at vintage patterns and even bid on some, finally winning a few, then a few more, and a few more on top of that. I wouldn't say I have an obsession (yet), but I've definitely accumulated a decent pile in under two years.
Alas, as beautiful as they are, I've never opened one. Not a single one- not even to see what the pattern pieces look like. I know I didn't just buy them to collect dust, I actually want to use them. There's even been a few vintage pattern challenges I've considered joining but didn't (call it fear if you like cuz it really was fear). This year will be different (not regarding the fear- it's still there). I'm making my public declaration- let it be known throughout all the land (or just a little bit of the internet) that I will participate in this years' Vintage Pattern Pledge. Ahem-ahem-ahem, my official pledge:
I, Nicole of A Little Fabricated, will sew up at least 3 vintage patterns this year (one or more of them might be children's).
Phew! The easy part is out of the way. Now onto the doing part. That only means different markings, tinier waists to enlarge, weird bust points to fix, fragile tissue patterns to attempt to not rip... Yeah, I can do it (do I sound scared still?).
Has anyone else pledged to do something scary (to you) this year?
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