1930's McCall Bubble Dress Kit

Thought I'd share another vintage kit today. :) This one was made by McCall in the early 1930's. I first saw it in one of my McCall counter catalogs. After some fruitless research I assumed one would never be found. It first appears in the 1932 catalog and seems to have been discontinued in 1936.

A few years ago I bought a big lot of antique baby clothes on eBay for $4.99 that had a finished version in it. The auction photo looked like it was taken from mars, so I really didn't know what I was getting but for 5 bucks I couldn't resist. It was a pleasant surprise.

It's faded and very worn, but I still ♥ it. 

The day after Christmas last year a complete, uncut kit appeared on eBay. I HAD to have it so I prepared to squander a good chunk of my Christmas cash and got up ridiculously early so I could place my bid at the very last second so (hopefully) nobody could outbid me. I'm sneaky like that. And then nobody else bid. It was kind of disappointing. I won for less than $30.

The box is the same size as the pattern envelopes from the 20's thru the early 30's.

It comes with everything you need to make the dress!

The pattern is printed directly on the pieces. It also includes the basic tissue instruction sheet that came with the regular printed patterns at that time. 

Originally it cost $2.50 which seems high. 

A regular McCall pattern with transfer cost between 30-35¢ and a yard of "Sears' Best Printed Lawn" would only run you around 17¢. Other companies were offering kits that were precut for 75¢ and a brand spankin' new cotton lawn dress only cost $1.25 in the 1936 Sears catalog.

So maybe they weren't popular because of the price.

Sorry for the lack of posting. :( I've been trying to pick up this mess...

La Toilette des Enfants

La Toillette des Enfants was a French children's fashion periodical from the early 1900s. Each issue is around 20 pages with a hand tinted fashion plate, a tissue paper pattern for the garment(s) illustrated on the front, and usually a pull out section with more patterns and embroidery designs.

They seem to have been published quarterly from 1902 until 1919ish. I was going to share several issues but my camera battery died before I could get photos of them and my charger is MIA. :( So you only get one. It is from September 1906.

Vintage Inspired Sewing Shopping

I should have put more thought into my blog title. That banner up there should actually read Vintage Inspired Shopping since that is all I seem to do. Last weekend I hit up the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas and as usual it did not disappoint. One half of the convention center is a quilt show, which I would tell you about if I had seen it. I didn't because the other half is an ENORMOUS vendors market which I would tell you about but the video below explains it better than I ever could.

I don't quilt. I don't want to quilt. I wouldn't even quilt if you paid me. Well, maybe if you paid me. So why in the cat-hair was I at the International Quilt Festival? I've got two words- Old. Stuff. I'd guesstimate that 75% of the vendors are quilt shops, 15% beads and random junk, and the other 10% are antique stores that cater to the sewing/quilting crowd (e.g. ME).

This is the majority of my purchases. I saw a lot more I wanted but nobody wanted to give me anything. They all wanted money in return. People can be so petty.