Craft Schmaft » Vintage

The woman cave in progress

Claire — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:45:25 +0000

As you may know I’m working on a woman cave. A crafty place where I can be creative, a bit of a refuge from toddler and baby. After attempts at buying timber for shelving failed I followed the clever Bianca’s advice and went to the tip in search of recycled hardwood. I can’t say that I was looking forward to this – my childhood memories of the tip are of a big stinky place filled with rubbish as far as the eye can see. My how things have changed, kimbriki tip has embraced recycling and has a wealth of treasure to be found, all stacked in neat little piles just waiting to be transformed into something new.

I picked up beautiful old hardwood planks for $12.

I found two old ladders under the house.

Stacked the planks between rungs of the ladders.

Instant shelves for $12. I’m considering sanding the planks and have a lot more work to do on the storage boxes and things on the shelves themselves. I’d like to find another ladder that is the same height as the green one to replace the big old brown ladder. At the moment I’ve had to prop a few shelves up to get them level. Its a start though!

Actually I’m going to have to replace the brown ladder because the kiwi boys upstairs use it to break into their flat when they forget the keys.

No softies here yet and the full fabric stash has yet to be transferred but I think it has potential. I have some vintage bowls from my grandmother that I’d like to put in there. A few more little plywood drawers. Then it’s onto the work table. Stay tuned!

Vintage Tuesday: 80s Club Knits

Claire — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:43:05 +0000

This week’s pattern makes me feel like it really is OK not to knit.

Vintage Tuesday: 50′s Fuzzy Wuzzy

Claire — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:28:45 +0000

It is well and truly winter around here. So feral has the weather been that I’ve been tempted to knit. I really would love to knit. That may sound innocent enough but I promised myself last winter that I wouldn’t ever knit again. I just don’t have the patience to keep doing the same stitch over and over again. I end up getting sloppy, making holes and abandoning the project half way through.

Anyway, this week I thought I’d post something a little more stylish than the 70s crochet pants suit. I bought this pattern because I loved the black and white photography and the elegance of the silhouettes. I can only imagine how much corsetry was involved but I think that the 50s was more stylish than any other era. What’s your favourite vintage era?

Vintage: 70′s clingy pants suit

Claire — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:09:33 +0000

This patons crochet book from the 70s starts out innocently enough…

…but before you know it, BOOM!

“So you’re a girl, and you don’t mind who knows it. You wear these V neck culottes with their front zipper opening. “

“No man minds a woman wearing the pants when they’re like this!”

Well… um… I’m not so sure!

Vintage Tuesday: Dollhouse

Claire — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:39:32 +0000

Last week I scored big time on the vintage pattern front. It’s funny, some days I go into vinnies and there’s nothing and on others it’s a goldmine of old school goodness. This dollhouse pattern is about 1960′s vintage and comes complete with the pattern pieces and step by step instructions to put the house together. Made in California, I wonder whether it was bought in Australia or part of a collection purchased in the states? I often wonder who owned these vintage patterns and what their creations looked like. In other dollhouse goodness I’ve been loving the “Made by Joel” blog that tutti frutti posted about a while back. This artist makes the most amazing things for his kids – he’s crafty and yet bring an incredibly modern aesthetic to everything he creates. His work is simply stunning and the modern dollhouse is one of my all time favourites…

Modern Dollhouse “Made by Joel”

Vintage Tuesday: Togs for Dogs

Claire — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:01:44 +0000

What is it about Canine Couture? I can’t think of any other animal that we seem more compelled to craft for. There’s also the whole “owners look like their dogs” thing which makes me wonder that if you cross a crafty lady with a canine do you end up with matching handcrafted sweaters? Well it seems you do! This first pattern, from 1961, I have in my vintage craft library…

1950s pattern “Togs for Dogs” available for sale over at Betsy Vintage:

1970s crochet pattern for dog coat and hat on ebay…

Vintage Tuesday: Crochet

Claire — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:00:22 +0000

I have no idea of how to crochet. It’s on my list of crafty things to learn this year and luckily for me I have an Aunt who is an expert. I remember her making all of us nieces crocheted ponchos in the early 80s which I thought were just the coolest thing ever. There’s a photo somewhere of all four of us in the ponchos together at Xmas which I’ve been trying to dig out – as soon as I find it I’ll put it up here.

In the meantime I’ve been collecting 70s crochet patterns for babies and kids – hopefully I’ll be able to whip up a couple of these by the end of year (well… maybe?) I love the colour combinations of the 70s, that blue and green combo gets me every time.

Yes, that is a chrochet tie on a man you can see up there – sorry couldn’t resist. There’s always a token project for a man in these vintage pattern books. Poor men. He looks quite happy to be in this shot though as opposed to the Moncho (man poncho) guy.

So I’m ready to learn how to crochet for the next baby but there’s just one thing I feel very uneasy about – do I have the hair to pull it off?

Vintage Tuesday: Singers suck

Claire — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:56:44 +0000

I have two sewing machines. Both singers. One is a 70s model that I bought, going down the whole “they don’t make them like they used to” theory. Sadly both of these machines have given up the ghost this week. arrrgggh. disaster. I feel naked. And if I’m honest a bit annoyed that my vintage theory has failed me. That 70s singer has always had tension issues. Can anyone suggest or recommend a new machine? I had a fantastic Bernina when I was a teenager, that thing never missed a stitch.

In the meantime there’s to die for vintage goodness on Flickr in this gorgeous green machine named Ozma. oooh… those curves! Perhaps my problem was going 70s vintage rather than 50s?

Thank you all so much for the baby best wishes, the hangover is almost over, I’ve only had fries once this week!

Vintage Tuesday: 80s Wit Knits

Claire — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:56:07 +0000

Oh the 80s is just such a gold mine for bad fashion isn’t it? Funnily enough crafting had started to lose some of it’s cool by the 80s so there isn’t a massive craft trend that I’ve spotted so far – apart from the bedazzler which I’d kill to get a book or some pics of!

Wit Knits is an entire book of “lively and original designs” direct from 1985, a time when I was just 10 years old and sporting more flourescent jumpers and socks than I care to admit. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a couple wearing matching knitted jumpers (or vests), my memories of the 80s were more leather jackets and electro rock, falling asleep regularly to the sound of dad’s band practicing which made the whole house vibrate. Not a witty knitted number in sight I’m afraid!

Got any 80s crafty memories to share?

Vintage Tuesday: Mad Menesque patterns

Claire — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:05:38 +0000

Last weeks post, Vintage Tuesday: Mad Men Fashion, was met with such enthusiasm that I did a little extra research into vintage patterns available online. Well I can tell you that the interweb is brimming with vintage sewing patterns. While big companies like Vogue and Butterick have stunning reproduction patterns (well hello Joan Holloway) I also came across a couple of great blogs (Stylista – thanks Bridget!, Sew Retro) that led me to a world of free vintage patterns. This is by no means a definitive list but here are a few that I found…

Well hello Joan Holloway: (Butterick retro B6582)

Dear Mrs Draper: Free 1950s Daydress pattern by the V&A

Ahhh… my favourite museum in the whole world. Found via the sensational “sew retro” a gold mine of vintage freebies.

The essential headband: Free headband tutorial

The Jet Set: Free Vintage style bathing suit pattern

Normally I’d call it a cossie, being a Sydney girl, but this really is a bathing suit. A little gem over at Burda.