Thursday, January 14, 2010

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Butterick Home Catalog, Summer 1970, Part One

Time has really flown by this past week, and I'm surprised to find that it's already Vintage Thingies Thursday again.  Today I present the Butterick Home Catalog for Summer 1970.  We'll be taking a closer look at patterns in the Young America series from this Catalog next week as well.  Today, I want to discuss the garment on the cover, as I am obsessed with the crochet fabric used to make the cover-up from Butterick pattern 5785:



Is it just me, or is it difficult to find ready-to-sew machine made knitted or crocheted fabric?  I haven't spent a great deal of time looking, but so far, it hasn't been easy to find.  As I had some business that took me into Los Angeles on Tuesday, I  decided to stop by Mood to do some window shopping. (And I also stopped by Canter's, for an extremely good pastrami Reuben on rye!).  It's fun to look at higher-end and unusual fabrics for inspiration. I found two lovely mohair knitted lace fabrics that weren't completely suitable for the cover-up, but would make lovely wraps. If only I had a swatch of the fabric used in this photograph, or a close up of the pattern, I could probably duplicate the stitches and make my own fabric.



I then drooled over the Swarovski rhinestone buttons, imagining how they might look as the closure for an evening bag or as part of a jeweled Christmas tree.  I made my way over to the embroidered ribbon and trim, and stayed there for quite some time while imagining what I might do with this French jacquard, and this one as well. 

Do leave a comment or send an email if you know about a supplier for ready-made crocheted fabric.  And if you'd like, take some time to visit some of the other Vintage Thingies Thursday blog posts.

P.S.  Project Runway Season 7 begins TONIGHT.  I'm so excited!

12 comments:

  1. A Reuben on proper rye - yum!

    There are some fashions that scream 70's - this is one of them.

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  2. Oh My!!! How beautiful that cover is. It's just wonderful and I so hope you find some fabric.
    Happy VTT..

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  3. what a beautiful cover....this will be great! Happy VTT

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  4. OH, I Love looking through old pattern books and catalogs at the old fashions. They make me smile.

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  5. These pattern-illustration girls always have such skinny legs, don't they?

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  6. WOW...what memories this brings back from my middle school years:) Hope you hae a FUN weekend!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  7. You know that is going to be very difficult to find, since it's not popular right now. But the inspiration I had was to use vintage crocheted tablecloths. I think is would be fabulous, I would wear it in a second! Please let me know how it works out, I might design one for myself. :) Have a PEAR-fect day!

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  8. CC -- I think the photo is lovely too...it certainly captures the peace of an early summer morning.

    Gabrielle -- great idea about using a tablecloth! I'll have to keep my eyes open for one.

    Elizabeth -- I laughed out loud when I read your comment! It's true, fashion illustration is always totally out-of-proportion to a real human body.

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  9. Although I'm not a sewer, I still enjoy pretty patterns and pictures of vintage clothing.

    Thanks for stopping by to say hi. I enjoy meeting new bloggers.

    Blessings,

    Jo

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  10. I hope you find your fabric. It would be so gorgeous.

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  11. What a great pattern. And what a great book. I used to do garment sewing and remember some of the old patterns :-)

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

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  12. Adorable! I think I would make the shorter one myself.... but that is stunning! Thanks for sharing!

    Val

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