On a 60s Craft Kit and Other Fun Finds

I haven't been inclined to write very much lately or if I am inclined to write haven't been inclined to finishing anything, which means that drafts for various posts on a variety of subjects have have been piling up over the past few months.

Having been to the thrift store about a week ago for some cheering up sort of shopping, this is the post everyone is getting today.

As usual I ended up coming home with an odd assortment, the weirdest being this craft kit from the 60's that was my least expensive purchase of the day at 2.99. As you can see, it still has all the pieces, the elephant isn't even open, the instruction sheet, and horrible little foam noodles that were to be used for the filling and are in a state of disintegrating.

I have a thing for Alfred Hitchcock books and magazines (enough that they probably deserve their own post someday) and very rarely when I come across them can I resist buying at least one. In this case, I bought two. This larger sized glossy covered book published in the 60's has a nice selection of writers including Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and, a favorite of mine, Cornell Woolrich.

There were quite a few of the mass market paperbacks, but I settled for this one because it was the older one in the bunch and I like the way Dell paperbacks from the 60's smell. Upon flipping through it at home I have discovered that it fittingly has a spiderweb sandwiched near the middle. 

 

I don't know how old these chicken plates are, although I'm inclined to say 50's or 60's as they got my attention because they remind me of my grandma's egg plate. 

I spotted some wooden owls a little over two inches in a grab bag (Heaven forbid I make it through a visit to a thrift store or the swap meet without coming home without an owl of some sort!). The one on the right has some vision problems, but is very lovable, in my opinion.

The grab bag also had a pretty wooden egg timer and, due to the bag being so small, an unidentifiable wire thing that I reasoned I would just get rid of since I was really getting the bag for the little owls. 

Turns out it was what I'm now thinking of as a kitchen themed dangle-ly with a bunch of miniature utensils and household implements--I love it and am absolutely keeping it!

Upon getting ready to buy my items, I spotted another very shiny and appealing looking small owl, so it came home with me too.   

My random item for this trip was a miniature tea set. I've always wanted a fairy tea set and now I have one!

Other items not pictured were a few dresses, several dvds including Lost Horizon (1937 version) and The Shari Show (Lamb Chop makes everything better!), and a Big Band Romance cd.

On Some Swap Meet Finds

Since the start of the pandemic, I've done very minimal in person shopping when it comes to finding vintage treasures and, honestly, have been getting somewhat tired of online browsing, which removes the serendipity of spotting "that item" among a bunch of other less interesting things.

Before we hit the colder weather (and subsequently an increase in sickness), I really wanted to go to our local swap meet, which I hadn't been to for about three years. While the number of people was a bit overwhelming, I only went for a short while, wore a mask, and tried to stick with sellers who didn't have awnings or tents that would block off the air flow. 

For such a short time, I ended with a nice amount. 

My primary reason for going was to look for some buttons. I didn't find any vintage ones that I wanted to get, however, I certainly found buttons. 

My favorite find of the day, which was also my most expensive at $10, was this small clock! It doesn't work, so it will fit in nicely with my other vintage clocks.

Vintage brooches are always one of my favorite thing to look for since they usually only cost a dollar or two. I didn't find quite as many older ones this time. Who could resist that cute little woolly yak on the left, though? Other finds include three tiny glass animals, an owl, a pinecone scale house ornament, a collapsible wooden cat (a silly purchase, but I have always wanted one), a Laurel and Hardy card game, and a quirky framed spigot.  

I also bought a vase. I'm not entirely sure why it appealed to me so much, but at a dollar I'm not feeling too bad about buying it on a whim. And the oldest item of the day, a calendar page from 1905 that I am looking forward to getting in a UV protective frame and up on my wall.

Not pictured, I also found a vintage three inch toy poodle (I feel I should know what it goes with), a vintage handkerchief, a few sweaters, a skirt, and a dvd of the Prep & Landing Christmas specials (I'm not big on the newer specials, but I really took a liking to these ones). Overall, a very successful shopping trip! ♥

On a 1961 Woman's Day Magazine Bedtime Story Toys Pattern Set

More about the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day...

While I had the magazine out of its plastic envelop to take a picture of the page with the lion pattern (last post), I figured I might as well flip through the rest of it and came across this page with a nice array of story time dolls. It primarily got my attention for the Alice doll, which was an earlier version of the 1965 one I made (seen both here and here), but I was thinking it might be nice to make Hansel and Gretel or Mary and her cute little blue embroidered lamb. 

However, it turned out, unlike the other toys I've made from this issue, the patterns weren't included in the magazine. As the note at the end of all the description states:

Because we know our readers like to work from full-size patterns (last year almost 50,000 of you ordered our patterns for stuffed cats), we have prepared special patterns and directions for both the Bedtime Story Toys themselves and their colorful costumes. To order patterns for this bonus toy feature, offered in addition to the 100 ideas included in our gift portfolio, use the coupon that appears on page 122.

Clearly that coupon was not going to do me any good a little over 60 years later. Based on past experience, while these patterns are out there (I, in fact, have the above mentioned printed cat pattern sheets which were given to me by a family friend who purchased them and also still had the page with the pattern grid and the cover from the magazine-my Cheshire cat was made from it), to find an actual original set that's all there, in good condition, and at a reasonable price is kind of rare. 

With low expectations I sat down at the computer. I started with Etsy where nothing came up at all, which was disappointing since I was at least hoping for the possibility of a digital pattern. Then I went to ebay and I found a set for a little under 16 dollars!! And it was complete, uncut, and according to the description not musty!!! Needless to say I was very excited and promptly bought it!

The set arrived last week and I am now happily contemplating tracing the patterns on to tissue paper for use and making that cute little sheep! ♥

On a Bit of Green for Spring

My St.Patrick's Day post did not get up, nor due to a challenging past few weeks did one of my St. Patrick's day projects even get finished. To avoid going through another month with just a book review, I've decided to do a a brief post devoted to vintage green things that make me happy.

Tea cups! While most of my teacups have plants on them, two get the prize for being on the greener side. 

The first one is part of a playing card set, which came in white, black, and avocado green (unfortunately, the ones I found didn't have the saucers).

 

 

The second one belonged to my great-grandma and has a delightful little scene at the bottom, which I love!

This record album, which spends a lot more time in the frame that it does on the player, has a nice green glow to it, which makes the lovely ladies on it stand out ever so much more, in my opinion. (Possible sneak peek for a future Album Cover Story, as it's been quite some time since I've done one and I really would like to resume that series.)

 

 

One can't get through this post without seeing something sewing related, so here we have some buttons, a belt buckle, and a small spool of green thread. The green thread came from a vintage Tidee Maid Deluxe sewing box that was filled almost entirely with little spools of green thread.  

And not vintage, but I wanted to share it before the month was over, this shamrock was my one completed St. Patrick's Day project.

There were two little clovers to go with this large one, but turning the stem portion turned out to be an absolute nightmare and I managed to poke a hole through the base of one of the stems, turn the one stem inside out through it, then couldn't get it right side out again, and had to cut it off. That being said, from this point on, any clovers I make will absolutely not be made out of any fabric that is 100% polyester! ♥  

On Some Christmas Elves!

Last year I went on a reindeer making spree using the pattern from the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day; this year I managed to get a hold of an actual copy of the magazine (someone else had shared the reindeer pattern) and had plans for making the elf on the cover along with Santa. Santa didn't materialize this year, unfortunately, but I did make the elf...sort of. 

While I started following the pattern (shrinking it down to match with the size of Silverbell, the reindeer), somehow I ended up making two girl elves and pretty much ignoring the accessories and clothes. In part, I feel like the beard was a deciding factor for this, and, if I'm to be honest, not making Santa, as I was not going back out to the craft store to find fake fur or something along those lines to make it, I didn't think the white yarn I had looked right, and I had several shades of brown yarn handy.  

Meet Candy!

Cookie and Silverbells are great friends!

The shirt from the original pattern did remain. I just turned it round and have them wearing it as a jacket instead and to break up the stripes I gave them little aprons. The tiny shoes, also from the original pattern, were hand sewn out of felt!

There is supposed to be a third youthful boy elf to go with them, which I was intending to make the vest for, but I never quite decided on what fabric I wanted for the body and clothes, so he's still a little pile of pieces. He might get finished within the week, but we shall see about that dependent on how I'm feeling. Meanwhile, I have these two sweet elves to help me wish you the merriest of Christmas!

 

♥ ♥ ♥

On Celebrating Hatter Day in This Style!

For those unaware, today in places where the date is written month first, 10/6, is considered Hatter day (for others, it is June 10). This unofficial holiday is based on the price tag on the hat of the Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which rather than the date actually stands for 10 shillings and six pence, but provides an excellent excuse to acknowledge, contemplate, and celebrate "Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party".   

Over the past few months, I've been very slowly working to finish the Mad Tea Party set from the November 1965 Woman's Day magazine (Alice and Dormouse both finished in 2012) and a Cheshire Cat from a 1960's issue of Woman's Day that contained a set of cat patterns, and thought it a fitting way to celebrate the day by sharing my finally completed set!

Rather than just sharing them like I normally would, for fun I decided to stage them in scenes from both Chapter 6 and 7!

Some sewing details for those interested in how I almost went mad in finishing up the set and started wondering if I was offending Time in how long I was taking in doing so.   

The Cheshire Cat 

"Did you say 'pig' or 'fig'?"

The Cheshire Cat had the least amount of adjustments primarily due to its simplicity, so I'm going to start with it. I downsized the pattern from the original, so that it would fit in with the other dolls. This made the seam allowance on the inner portion of the legs a bit tricky, which is why my Cheshire Cat doesn't exactly sit flat. This, however, I think it makes him a bit more whimsical, so I don't mind a bit. 

 

Additionally, I opted to leave the tail bare rather than put yarn loops and along similar lines decided I really liked it without stripes. I also tried what I'm thinking of as under-sewing the felt on its eyes and nose (meaning I stitched through the middle of the felt instead of coming all the way up through it) and am happy with how secure they seem to be. For some sparkle, since he might disappear at any moment, I used metallic embroidery thread for the whiskers! 

 The Hatter

The Hatter was a small scale lesson in lining, as both his vest and jacket are lined. I decided to try my own thing on the first sleeve of the jacket; let's just say doing the second sleeve according to the actual instructions went better. 

Next, his hat! Against my better judgement, primarily because I just wanted to be done and it was in my stash, I used poly-poplin. It does not crease or hold in place where you want it to and is certainly one of the most uncooperative fabrics to have chosen. On top of that, I had just barely enough stabilizer, which in the case of the primary piece had to be hand sewn on to the outer layer to make sure the hat didn't fold in on itself. As can be seen, the support for the top of the hat is made up of scraps shoved in there, so that will need to be replaced when I get more. Once again, though, despite spending over 6 hours on the silly thing, I was pleased with how it turned out.

The March Hare

I adjusted quite a bit when it came to the March Hare. The instructions called for the shirt opening to be at the back and the collar piece to be directly tacked to the March Hare's neck, but I didn't like that the Hatter's shirt actually buttoned in front, while the March Hare's didn't. Based on this, I ended up cutting the front of the shirt open, adding a placket, and hand sewing the collar piece onto the shirt (a truly maddening task that was made worse by not cutting the collar piece base at enough of a curve). The shirt was to be closed with hooks and eyes, which I did end up doing except at the front with the buttons covering the stitching from them.

Other minor changes I made were giving him a bow tie instead of ribbon, swapping out the pom pom tail for a gathered circle piece of fabric and not finding any fake wheat shoots that I liked and not wanting to buy an actual wheat bundle, I ended up using raffia on his head, which I think denotes his madness quite nicely.

Now, there is actually one more Wonderland pattern for the White Rabbit included in this particular magazine. I didn't really feel compelled to make it because the White Rabbit does not attend the mad tea party in the book. Additionally, one of my first stuffed animal projects that I drafted and sewed completely by hand was the White Rabbit and being ever so fond of it, I'm willing put this last pattern on hold for a much later date. 

Wishing everyone a happy Hatter day filled with muchness of tea, contemplation on ravens and writing desks, the singing of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat", any other mad tea party activities you should chose to engage in, and, of course, the wearing of a hat!  

 ♥🎩♥

On Some Thrift Store Finds

A a little over a week ago, I decided to have a "fun" shopping trip and venture out to one of our local thrift stores. And while it was a little stressful, I mostly browsed the media section and happily came home with a few treasures.

Having an adoration for old Scholastic paperbacks (really, I could write a whole post about how much I like them), I was delighted to find a few. My elementary school library had a lot of older children's books, many which I still love, and among these were the Miss Pickerell books, which I promptly snap up when I see them. Mr. Pudgins is another title I remembered and how could anyone forget that cover!

I know absolutely nothing about The Ghosts Who Went to School or The Moonball, they just sounded fun and I'm looking forward to including them in my summer reading. 

I also found newer editions of some Roald Dahl books, some which filled gaps in my collection like The Magic Finger and Esio Trot (one needs a romantic tortoise story sometimes), a nearly complete set of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, which I'm very much looking forward to reading, and a few more contemporary reads.

Aside from the book section, I really love going through the albums at this store, since they're only a dollar and found some 45s I'm excited about, which is kind of unusual for me as the bulk of my record collection is made up of the larger sizes.

The cover of this Waltzes From the Classics box set got my attention and the fun surprise upon opening the box to check them in the store was that they're red! (the only other colored albums I have are a pink My Fair Lady soundtrack and a golden Hymns one.)

For the fun covers, I bought two Peter Pan records: "The Pied Piper of Hamlin" and "Nursery Rhymes". I'm looking forward to getting to listen to these two!

Additionally, I've long been a fan of what I think of as "mood music sets" because it's fun to see what's been chosen and, as a bookworm, finding this little two album set "Music for Reading" is pretty fantastic, in my opinion. 

I also bought the accompanying two album set, "Music for Courage and Confidence". Not as fond of the songs on this one, but still fun to think that someone chose it as a mood music theme and the inside cover contains encouraging quotations to provide an extra boost of courage and confidence (the reading one has a bio of the orchestra leader). 

By the time I was done looking through those, I really wasn't up for much more, so I did a quick glance through some miscellany and ended finding these small wooden Pilgrims to add to my Thanksgiving decorations, which upon seeing them I realized consists mainly of leaves, turkeys, and pumpkins.

I probably won't be venturing out again anytime soon for something like this, but it was nice to be able to do a little treasure hunting for random vintage finds rather than just doing a search online! 

♥ ♥ ♥