Saturday 14 May 2011

In which a boring rainy morning is transformed by a pattern jackpot

I've mentioned my special relationship with my neighbourhood charity shop before.  In fact, that was my first post.  With my man out of town and a long, cold rainy weekend stretching before me and the kids, I decided to get everyone dressed up in their raincoats and shlep over to the Saturday market just to get out of the house.

On the way back, I checked in at my VON charity shop, you know, just in case there was a pair of boy's pants for a dollar or two since my little guy has grown about 3 inches since Christmas.  I got the pants (after a bit of negotiation re: khakis vs. camo, but that's another story) when one of the volunteers said to me, "Oh, by the way, there are a few new patterns in the back we were keeping for you if you want to look."

Well, what do we have here......

A cute little set from 1963.  Unfortunately, the pieces for the overblouse and the instructions are missing, but this is a quite straightforward set of shorts with a wrap-around skirt cover-up, so I should be able to muddle through on my own.  

Caftan,  no.  Tunic, yes.  

I like the skirt with the buttoned front, but I will have to lengthen it quite a bit methinks.

My daughter pronounced these "silly pants", and I'm inclined to agree.


This is the pattern that Adey used for her Fly and Chill dress over at the SewWeekly, and I've had it in my favourites on Etsy for a while now, so it was a fortuitous find.

Two jumpsuits?  I know they're making a comeback, but I don't know what came over me.  Who looks good in a jumpsuit except a toddler?  


 This one is pretty plain, but I could always use a good basic sheath dress pattern and a princess seamed jacket.  (I've never seen darts in the neckline like this before, have you?)

 Another case of looking past the envelope to see the potential:  I've been on the lookout for a full skirt with pockets to make a Lauren-Bacall-in-Key-Largo-type outfit.....




I haven't yet had the nerve to attempt trousers, but now I have several styles in my pattern stash: narrow, wide leg, low rise, high waisted, etc.  Maybe I can give them a go.

A brand new, FF Project Runway pattern!

There was also a whole whack of patterns for girls:

This one doesn't look like much, but I've been looking for a pattern for girl's leggings, and this one is for sizes 3-8!


Nasty, nasty cover, but there is a basic circle skirt and tired circle skirt hiding under that clown-like styling.




I like this one best; I'll make it in a pillowcase or sheet fabric without sleeves for a nice summery dress.

My son was jealous that there was nothing for boys (yeah, why is that?), but there were a few costume patterns.  Sorry, no photos, but aren't all costume patterns basically a tunic with / out sleeves and some accessories added on?

Oh, and I also nabbed these:  


I've got to stop thrift shopping because frankly, I'll never get around to making most of this stuff.  But they recycle the patterns if I don't take them home, and I feel like I have to rescue them from an undignified death. Now I know how those crazy cat ladies feel...



3 comments:

  1. holy heck! great finds! Those notions will be useful, and the patterns looks great. McCall's 3471 is my favorite - i love that style of 1970's girls dress.

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  2. Wonderful pattern finds. Those belt buckle kits are so hard to find, such a great thrift sore find. :]

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  3. So many of those patterns look familiar, wonder if they are from my mom's stash when we cleaned out the homestead. Liza the Blogless

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