An embarrassment of riches
We've had a great day. There's no school for me or the kids today. We had a couple of parent/teacher conferences (I was the parent, not the teacher), and all is well. We made it to two different thrift stores, and both outings were massive successes. At the first, I picked up two pillowcases, two (brand new) Vera Bradley make up bags, and some sort of car racing, spring-loaded contraption that Joseph had his eye on. All for less than $5, total. I was feeling good. But then we went to the next store, killing a little time between conferences, and we spotted this:
What could be in the box? Someone's old bills? A severed head? It is, after all, almost Halloween, so anything seemed possible.
But it was even better.
I opened the box and discovered this:
Can you tell yet what it is? How about now?
Yep. It's a file box of over 60 (61, to be exact) vintage sewing patterns ranging from 1955 to 1990.
But it gets better.
ALL of the patterns are exactly my size. Every single one.
But it gets better.
The tag on the box said, "ALL IN BOX, $2.00."
Really? REALLY? I took it to the register to be sure. Just to make sure I was reading it right. The woman at the register said, "I think that's what it says, and that's what I'm going with." And to top it all off, I got a free Baby Ruth candy bar with my purchase, since it's almost Halloween.
So I got an entire box of vintage sewing patterns, all complete, all in my size, for only $2.00. And a candy bar, which I really appreciated, since I skipped breakfast. Plus, there's the bonus file box, which might come in handy for the bills I'm trying to organize. But that's neither here nor there right now. What's important here is my enormous, gigantic, fortuitous box of sewing patterns. Some of them have notations, in someone's actual handwriting, that say, "Pants fit great" or "Really uses 2 yards." The styles start out younger-looking with the styles from the 1960s and 1970s; as the patterns go through the 1980s, they look more like career wear, with more jackets and skirts and styles an older woman might wear. I feel like I've been given the opportunity to leaf through someone's whole life, via her sewing pattern catalog. What a privilege.
What a great afternoon.
What could be in the box? Someone's old bills? A severed head? It is, after all, almost Halloween, so anything seemed possible.But it was even better.
I opened the box and discovered this:
Can you tell yet what it is? How about now?
Yep. It's a file box of over 60 (61, to be exact) vintage sewing patterns ranging from 1955 to 1990.But it gets better.
ALL of the patterns are exactly my size. Every single one.
But it gets better.
The tag on the box said, "ALL IN BOX, $2.00."
Really? REALLY? I took it to the register to be sure. Just to make sure I was reading it right. The woman at the register said, "I think that's what it says, and that's what I'm going with." And to top it all off, I got a free Baby Ruth candy bar with my purchase, since it's almost Halloween.
So I got an entire box of vintage sewing patterns, all complete, all in my size, for only $2.00. And a candy bar, which I really appreciated, since I skipped breakfast. Plus, there's the bonus file box, which might come in handy for the bills I'm trying to organize. But that's neither here nor there right now. What's important here is my enormous, gigantic, fortuitous box of sewing patterns. Some of them have notations, in someone's actual handwriting, that say, "Pants fit great" or "Really uses 2 yards." The styles start out younger-looking with the styles from the 1960s and 1970s; as the patterns go through the 1980s, they look more like career wear, with more jackets and skirts and styles an older woman might wear. I feel like I've been given the opportunity to leaf through someone's whole life, via her sewing pattern catalog. What a privilege.
What a great afternoon.
Comments
I have my Mom's sewing patterns from the same time period (in fact the 2 patterns you have pulled out look familiar) and it's just as you mentioned: a time capsule of her life/career/young married life. So much fun to sort through (although she was smaller than I am unfortunately!)