Viva Mexico!

It's been ages since my last post and having been away on holidays for four weeks is only part of my excuse. But a good part.
Amongst other places, we spent two weeks on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. This has to be the most colourful country on earth.

Colourful ceramics

Colourful houses

Colourful markets

Colourful Occupations

Colourful food

And the most exquisitely colourful embroidery.

 The embroidery we saw was mostly the work of Mayan women. This is either worked by hand, like the blouse above, or by machine. At the artisans market in Valladolid I watched women working superb and elaborate embroidery with vintage treadle sewing machines. I didn't take a photo, but in this still from Three Amigos you can see a Mexican woman in 1916 using a machine very similar to the machines I saw in use. I couldn't believe they were capable of such work. 

This is the kind of embroidery that was being done:

The Mayan women proudly wore their hand embroidered dresses for everyday wear. Here is a cheeky glimpse:

This kind of work is done on an open weave canvas. The deep crochet lace border on the woman's half slip completes the look.

However, I wanted to buy some hand embroidered work. And moreover, I wanted to buy something that I would actually wear. And whilst I gazed at the glorious dresses in the markets with the utmost admiration, I knew I would never wear one. 

Finally, I settled on these:

They need a slight adjustment for size, but I will wear them this upcoming summer. 

Apron Strings

A few weeks ago I had an fabulous find - a 1950s dress shaped plastic apron. I immediately thought of my sister, lover of 1950s style and lover of kitsch. It seemed to have her name emblazoned on it.

It's on a wire hoop around the waist, and has metal boning in the bodice. Originally, it was pleated in 1/4 inch pleats all around the skirt, but after being folded the pleats are blurred. I soaked it in a hot bath to try to get rid of the worst of the creases. It's hard to know what else to do, I couldn't exactly iron it.

My sister, Michelle, was pleased to add it to her '50s wardrobe, and I suspect it will make an appearance at a dinner party soon.

This got me thinking about aprons. I rarely wear aprons. I am rarely wearing anything that ought to be protected when I am cooking, and I am certainly not playing hostess very often. Occasionally, I will wear a waiter's apron when cooking something messy.

 In the '50s, hostess aprons were part of every stylish wife's wardrobe. I have this little item in the store:

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/183317252/embroidered-hostess-apron

I suspect it is an 1980s vintage revival number, but very sweet. I almost sold it to a lady who was waitressing at a friend's wedding, but unfortunately, I couldn't ship it to the US in time for the wedding.

Recently, I have come across this other apron - It is lovely, featuring cutwork embroidery, and in extremely good condition, and I suspect that this, too, is a 1980s vintage revival number. I would hate to splat spaghetti sauce all over it.

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/196123926/cutwork-embroidered-hostess-apron?ref=shop_home_active_5

My mother tells me that she made countless aprons for her "glory box". I guess they were easily and quickly made, and served a practical purpose. I wish I had seen my mother's glory box. 

This little number, probably from the 1960s, was the kind to feature in a glory box. It's  handmade by the housewife, and features an organdy trim with rickrack. It's clearly intended to be a practical, everyday kind of apron, but the maker still took care to make it carefully and to trim it to make it pretty. I am just as likely to tuck a tea towel into my neck.

In my collection I have many sewing patterns for aprons and here is my favourite, from around 1912:

Once again, how I wish I could send away for the pattern!

Well Hello, Dolly

Many thanks to Sue Freer and her lovely Etsy treasury for the inspiration and the title for this post.
https://www.etsy.com/treasury/NDQ4ODMyMTV8MjcyNjMxNzcyMg/well-hello-dolly

As a child, I always loved my dolls. There was first of all my baby doll, Caroline. She had a cloth body and plastic head, arms and legs. Caroline also had platinum blond hair which turned very fuzzy and was not improved by the haircut I gave her. My nana knitted her a lovely layette, which I still have, although my daughters' "love" sent Caroline to the doll cemetery.

Caroline's ensemble, minus the ribbons

Then there was my beautiful bride doll, Cheryl. My mother made a gorgeous bridal outfit for her from an Enid Gilchrist pattern, which I have since acquired. Cheryl had beautiful blue eyes and fashionably short early '60s hair, and I thought she was almost as beautiful as my mother. The bridal outfit has long since fallen apart and Cheryl herself also fell victim to my daughters' love, although I still have the lovely little knickers that my mother made.

Cheryl's knickers

My third notable doll was Su-ella, named after my favourite cousin. She alone still exists, along with my dolls' pram, though she is sorely in need of a refurbish. (And the pram is sorely in need of a scrub!) Su-ella is a celluloid headed doll with noisy closing eyes. I always referred to her as a "big doll". My nana also made her now very grubby pink layette, which includes knickers, vest and bonnet.
Thankfully, my daughters didn't like her, which is why she survives.

Su-ella - I fear age has left her blind in one eye

My baby and her pram

Here I am with my doll and pram  in about 1967-68

 
I have written lovingly of my Barbie and her wardrobe in an earlier post.
http://vintageknitpatterns.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/barbie-mirror-of-fashion-1960s.html

I learned to knit by making the dolls' clothes in these lovely old books that belonged to my mother and my grandmother:

As I mentioned before, my mother and grandmother made  beautiful dolls' clothes for my sister and me. My grandmother did the knitting and my mother did the sewing. I think my mother made the outfit for my bride doll, Cheryl, from this book. She certainly made this fairy doll for my sister. She would sit up late at night after we were asleep for weeks before our birthdays secretly sewing us a special outfit for a special doll.

 I have collected quite a few vintage dolls' clothes patterns over the last couple of years since the collecting bug bit me. I found these old Patons books from the 1940s to go with my mother's from the 1960s. Many of the outfits are the same, just modelled on "updated" dolls.

I have also come across some old sewing patterns:

I am not much of a sewer and I have sold most of these. However, I couldn't part with this last one. I thought I might make them for my (future) grand daughter in my retirement, (maybe).

One of my favourite books is this Little Girls' Sewing Book by Flora Klickmann, from 1915, also mentioned in an earlier post:
http://vintageknitpatterns.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/flora-klickmann-domestic-doyenne-and.html




















I have since also been lucky enough to find The Little Girls' Knitting and Crochet Book and The Little Girls' Fancy Work.

These books contain supposedly simple projects to be worked by children:
Delightful dolls' clothes:

Dolly's chemise, knickers, flounced petticoat and flannel petticoat

The stitches you must use, and how to do your French seam

A doll's muff in loop stitch

These books also show how to make a complete set of bedding for your doll, including embroidered coverlet, and how to make a chintz covered cradle.

And how I do so wish that I could send away for these patterns:

Well, I guess I could still send away, but how I wish they would arrive in the mail from 1915, as if it were simply a place on the other side of the world!

Humble Beginnings - Who Started Their Careers Modelling In Knitting Books?

Firstly, only read this article if you are (a) Australian, and (b) over 50 years of age (or close to it).

Recently, I was looking at the cover of an old Villawool knitting book from the late 1960s or early 1970s that I had just purchased. The gorgeous blonde man on the cover looked familiar. I consulted with my partner, who has an excellent eye for faces, (I am the one for names, so between us we make a good pair), and he agreed with me that it was Tony Bonner.

Tony Bonner was a TV and movie actor whose career was most notable in the 1960s and '70s. I remember him best as the helicopter pilot in the 1960s children's show Skippy, about a kangaroo and the crew at a wildlife sanctuary. Who knew he moonlighted in knitting books?

Here is my Tony Bonner collection:

I have just Googled him, and if you are a fan and you have a Facebook account, you can like his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/tony.bonner

Bonner appeared in many '60s and '70s TV shows, including Cop Shop and Skyways, as well as movies such as The Man From Snowy River.

This got me thinking. What other actors earned money on the side by modelling in knitting books? I found two other well known Australians.

Rosemary Margan is best known for her appearances on The Graham Kennedy Show, as a TV weather presenter and a radio personality. She famously presented the weather once in a fur coat, which she removed to reveal herself clad only in a bikini. Very risque for 1960s television. Here she is modelling for Patons:

Sadly, I have not been able to find a photo of her in the bikini and fur.

Thirdly, I came across this cover to a Patons book from the late '60s.

Yes, if you are Australian and over a certain age, you will recognise the indomitable Ian "Molly" Meldrum, compere of the weekly pop music show "Countdown" in the 1970s. Meldrum is famous for interviewing a lot of huge international music stars. His catch cry was "Do yourself a favour", and get the album, the ticket to the concert, or the latest copy of "Go-set" magazine. Who knew he was a model? You dark horse, Molly.

Finally, this person is not a TV personality. They are only a little bit famous as a local yoga teacher. It's my friend Sue, in Patons book no.496 from the late 1950s.

Theres' another story. Who was a child model, and who has the pictures to prove it?
If you know of any other "famous" people who appear in knitting books, I would love to hear about it. I don't mean special movie star editions where stars made guest appearances. I have Rita Hayworth, Claudette Colbert and lots of other Hollywood golden oldies doing that. I am interested in people appearing before they were famous. Or you, if you were a child star!