Closet Disco Queen

In the 70's...

Now, I'll be honest, the 70's was not a favorite decade of mine despite the fact that it heavily influenced 90's fashion (the bulk of my youth). I remember it for its high frilly collars, peasant dresses and thick polyester double knits, which could only be worn in the wintertime. Similar to the late 60's, you won't catch me wearing tent dresses or anything overly mod or hippy-ish. I was a chubby girl growing up and baby doll dresses, which you would expect would disguise my fat, only ended up exacerbating my figure flaws. As a result I wrote off 70's fashion. More recently, I've been warming up to some of the decade's more notable design trends, largely those that were reflected through 90's fashion (but lord do I still loathe an empire waistline...). I have accumulated some "new" 70's inventory for the shop, and I picked up a few items for myself that I'd like to share today.

I have made 50 sales in my shop since it opened and I have had to say goodbye to many adorable patterns during this time! It's been difficult but necessary. As you can imagine, I have a stash of lovely vintage patterns of my own that I refuse to part with. It's not very big any more, only a handful of my favorite designs, and many of which are quite easy to find on Etsy and Ebay alike, but I adore my collection. Even when I haven't been sewing vintage in a while, I might get my vintage box out and rummage through it just to admire the cover art. I haven't added anything "new" to this collection in quite awhile, until two weekends ago when I surprised myself by purchasing and keeping two 70's patterns, a 70's sewing book and magazine.

Let's start with the patterns. Normally when I find 70's patterns they're hideous pant suits or over-sized caftan tunics. I don't even give them a second thought, as soon as I see Farrah hair I keep on moving! Yet these two patterns caught my eye. Something about them looked so stylish, feminine and elegant. I've been looking to add more dresses to my collection, but more specifically dresses with unique design elements. The first pattern is Simplicity 5728, described as a Misses' dress with an "Italian" type collar and front midriff. The maxi-length is quite pretty but it's the shorter version that sold me on this pattern. It's sexy without being gaudy. I love the little gathered, cap sleeve and contrasting cuff, and the big open collar which exemplifies 70's fashion. I have a sleek floral satin that I might dedicate for use with this pattern, it's cream coloured with multicolored flowers in a tight, small print. I imagine it'll be a pain to work with but will flow beautifully if successfully sewn. The second pattern is Style 4848. If you're from outside of Canada you might not have even heard of Style patterns. I believe they're more commonplace here, in the UK and in South Africa. I've never had the experience of sewing with this brand before and I'm excited to give it a try. I considered passing on this pattern but that lovely gathered sleeve and a-line shape is right up my alley. It has a distinctly 40's vibe to it with a little more sex appeal. I wouldn't mind making it in Version 1, although I seldom have that much fabric on hand.

What do you think of these dresses? Yay or nay?

As for the book, I picked up a copy of Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book, originally printed in 1961 and reissued in 1970. It has all of these adorable little illustrations from the 60's. It's full of great tips and information. It has complete hand stitching instructions, diagrams for making design changes on the fly, and troubleshooting for all those annoying problems we run into. I've seen many sewing books in my time but this one was too adorable and well organized to pass up. Plus, I prefer to sew vintage and I would rather be exposed to the finicky, hand sewn techniques of the past than contemporary machine reliant ones. Unlike most of the Singer compilations, this book is organized in a binder, it has little tabs dividing the sections which makes it easier to navigate. And it has these cool vintage dressing tips with coordinating fabrics and silhouette styles! I love this book. I paid like two dollars for it, but you can get on Ebay for fairly cheap. If you're a vintage fan I encourage you to check this book out. I mean seriously, look at this mid-century sewing room spread! How can you resist?!

The final find is "Let Yourself Sew" from Simplicity. It's a one-issue release magazine that showcases a series of popular designs from the 1970's, it also provides information on sewing techniques and tips to embellish garments. My favorite images are below, particularly the 70's does 30's spread (second photo in).

A final note on Etsy...

Etsy...ugh. I've rarely encountered problems with these guys but I've heard stories from friends. Sadly I fell victim to one of their glitches. I won't go into detail but what I will tell you is that twice, two different representatives with two very different stories, found a way to blame the glitch on me, even though a woman in the forums with the exact same problem received an apology and a refund. All I wanted was an apology. It would have been nice to get the 20 cent refund but an "our bad" would've sufficed, but instead they turned it on me. This is quite commonplace with Ety's customer support, apparently they deflect blame all the time. Their CEO has adopted a "blameless" workplace policy where any errors are submitted anonymously and no one is held accountable for their mistakes. Has this policy extended to their customer service? Probably. Somebody should tell them that this is not how you do business. The customer is. always. right.

As a result, I am reluctant to continue to do business with them. In the future I might sell patterns through this blog but we'll have to wait and see. It is easier for me to sell through Etsy and I'm eating through my inventory much faster than anticipated, but I can't handle any more of their mistakes. It reflects poorly on my business and I'm flabbergasted that their reps fail to see the impact of their errors. :( I will of course let any of my buyers know through here when I make the final decision to withdraw from Etsy, and even at that it'll be a "two weeks notice" sort of situation.

Conclusion

Perhaps I don't hate the 70's as much as I did in the past. Maybe I'm becoming a closet disco queen! I hope that life is treating you all well. Have you found anything unusual in your shopping excursions?

Happy sewing! ♥

🌏 Shipping Internationally!

It's official!

I am selling my patterns internationally. After having sold on Etsy for almost a solid year I have seen a steady influx of international visitors to my shop, ultimately this had lead to my decision to expand my reach. I had initially felt that the international shipping rates through Canada Post were too unreasonable but after sharing experiences with other sellers it appears most international buyers are willing to accept these costs. 

I hope this opens my door to many great new clients!

Visit Perfectly Antiquated for more info.

Happy Sewing ♥

FSG Film Club

Welcome to the newest addition to my vintage sewing blog, the Feeling Sew Good Film Club! I wanted to continue my classic film reviews but I felt the format of my general reviews was rather limiting. The FSG Film Club has a stronger emphasis on analysis and comparison of films through themes and subject matter.

The first installation to this series will be an analysis of the "romantic drama" genre through the films Come Back Little Sheba (1952) and Autumn Leaves (1956). 

What is Love?

Romance films aren't exactly my forté. To be perfectly honest with you, I tend to shy away from them because my perception of romance in film has been tainted by too many bad Julia Roberts and Richard Gere movies. Romantic films these days tend to be more comedic in nature and often times are resolved with a happy ending. A few weeks ago I had a hankering for some classic cinema and I really wanted to watch a love story. It was still cold and dreary outside, I was cooped up, and I desired something soothing and dreamy to wash away my winter blues. What I ended up with was quite the contrary...

I started by perusing TCM's film catalog in their e-store, and I was surprised to see that there actually wasn't a romance genre available as a search filter. I thought, how odd! Weren't there love stories back then? I'm not sure why they don't have films categorized as romantic, perhaps they put them in with the screwball comedies and the dramas? But I feel they are deserving of their own category, provided love is the central theme of the film. So after scouring the internet I came up with two films that I had only watched partially in the past. In both cases I had only seen the ends of the films but I was enthralled by them. I knew I had to seem them in their entirety. 

Both of these films have been assigned to the "romantic drama" genre. I struggle with that decision, but after watching these movies I began to question how I define the romantic genre. I had to ask myself, what is love? What constitutes romance? Is it ooey gooey touchy feely stuff? Is it characters pouring their hearts out? Self sacrificing? Dreaming dreams? Loving against all odds? My god, what is romance?!

Perhaps romance is too abstract for a precise definition. Perhaps it's too subjective to assign it a meaning that we can all agree upon. If you watch these films, I guarantee that you'll be asking yourself these exact questions. Why? Because it's complicated. Back then the formula for the romantic genre wasn't so clear cut. It wasn't always a happy ending and the characters weren't always likeable. I recall a "romantic comedy" involving Joan Crawford as a character with a slutty fiancé who cheats on her at every opportunity but once she threatens to do the same it's suddenly "unfair". It certainly didn't feel romantic to me, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. So again, you can see how abstract this genre is; as long as love is the central theme, even unrequited bad love fits the label.

 

Romance in Come Back Little Sheba

This is a film I highly recommend you watch. If you've seen What's Eating Virginia Wolf, it's a lot like that only a thousand times better. I'm biased though. I hated Elizabeth Taylor's performance in that movie. It was a horrid grating thing that droned on for too long and was too vulgar and symbolic. Come Back Little Sheba - based on a play - tackles very similar subject matter, only there's far less in-your-face metaphorical shit. The characters in this film aren't super likable, they aren't meant to be, so arm yourself with that knowledge prior to watching the movie.

The film centers around a dysfunctional relationship shared between a married couple, Doc, a recovering alcoholic who works as a chiropractor, and Lola, a layabout "housewife" who neglects her marital duties. The couple invites a young art student, Marie, to rent a room from them, which puts added stress onto their already strained marriage. As the film progresses both Doc and Lola see reflections of themselves through Marie, as Marie attends school and hangs out with this dickbag named Turk. Where Lola reminisces about her glory days of being beautiful and in love, Doc is reminded of all the negative aspects of their youth together.

SPOILERS! If you wish to partake in the film club discussion, please stop here and watch a copy of the movie.

This is a really sad story and I'm sure most of us know people like Lola and Doc. When Lola and Doc were courting, Doc pressured naive Lola into having sex with him, she gets knocked up, they get hitched, he drops out of medical school, she's disowned by her father, the baby dies somehow, Doc blows his inheritance on booze, and Lola's only spark of happiness, the little dog Sheba, has run away. That is a lot of depressing crap. It's a reflection of the times when premarital sex was taboo. Their marriage is a marriage of inconvenience, not based on love but because Doc felt it was his duty to take care of Lola. And of course what would society think of an unwed mother? Heaven forbid...

The film culminates in a breakdown of the marriage between Doc and Lola. Marie's presence exacerbates a rift that had already existed in the relationship. Doc, who had successfully reached a full year of recovery from alcoholism, finally regresses into his addiction when he believes he witnesses Marie throwing her future away for sex. This is where the film strays from the contemporary romance formula; Doc is a violent man when he's inebriated and all that pent up resentment toward Lola is unleashed in murderous rage as he chases her around the house with a knife calling her a fat slut. It's only when the neighbors and the AA people come to her rescue that Doc is dragged away to some kind of mental hospital where he is committed for a few days.

Lola is left at home alone to reflect on the event. She attempts to reach out to her parents for support but after all these years (the couple appears to be in their 50's) Lola is still unwelcomed by her father. Afterwards, Lola speaks of a dream that's heavily laden in symbolism, it sparks a revelation and encourages her to change her ways. I couldn't find a transcript of the dream, but in general it speaks of the couple's history together and a need for Lola to pick up and move on with her life. She does this by cleaning up her act, getting up before noon, making Doc breakfast and redecorating the house. Her transition into her role as the perfect housewife is possibly a way for her to take care of Doc as opposed to simply co-habitating with him.

If you can look past the sexism of expecting all women to be subservient housewives... the "romance" in this story seems to lie in Doc and Lola's ability to overcome the past and live for the future together. During his stay at the hospital Doc calls out for his "pretty Lola", and upon his return he breaks down begging for forgiveness, to which Lola says she could "never leave him". There is an apparent need for one another, but is that considered love? Or is this simply co-dependency? They're both vulnerable in their own ways. Doc is susceptible to relapsing into his addiction, and poor Lola, nobody seems to enjoy her company for no other reason than that she's not a good enough housewife or she's too nosy. It's like they're so dysfunctional they couldn't possibly be with anybody else! I knew a couple like that, they were so scared of being alone that they ended up staying with each other... but is that really love?

I think the most awkward part about this film is that it hits on a personal level for me. I can't say with certainty that my paternal grandmother was pregnant before she was married. I don't pry but I would honestly not be surprised if that were true. The only thing I do know is that they were married in England, and then he went off to Canada, leaving her with my father in her belly. There were long periods where she heard nothing from him, no money or anything, then suddenly he tells her she's going to Canada. I can't remember if he came back to see her, or what. I do remember her saying when she arrived that she was completely alone and had to call up friends - who just by chance, happened to live in that region of Ontario. My nan would've otherwise been stranded, and lord does the thought of that piss me off. He literally plucked her out of England, with no regards to how she felt about it, and dropped her in a new and foreign place, pregnant, with little to no support system. He went off somewhere, we're all pretty sure to cheat on her. It's just awful to think about. You don't want to believe these things but I've heard it plenty of times now. They had a hard relationship. They were always fighting, lots of yelling, they did not seem to get along. They put up a front around the kids but it seldomly lasted. I think we all knew my grandfather struggled with alcoholism. I'm pretty sure it's what killed him in the end. Now, my nan lives alone and her mental health is slowly deteriorating. In a way she misses him but I can never be sure if that's love, ya know? I don't know if she loved him. It's not my place to ask. But as an outsider looking in, I don't think she loved him romantically. Maybe for a small time, but that was it. She just dealt with him. And this is why Come Back Little Sheba is a tough pill for me to swallow, not only because of the sexist stuff but because it's hard enough for me to imagine that my own nan was romantically in love with this person who treated her like shit and made her pay for everything, while he went off and blew his own money on booze. I know her story is only vaguely similar to this film, but there's enough there for me to think no, Doc and Lola aren't in love, they're just putting up with each other.

What are your thoughts on the relationship between Lola and Doc? Is this love or something else entirely? What do you think about the ending?

Next Time:

I will discuss the film Autumn Leaves (1956),  a movie starring Joan Crawford and Cliff Robertson which focusses on the blossoming love between a young soldier and mature typist.

Coming Soon...

New to Shop!

First I'd like to thank all who participated in the I love the 50's sales event. It was a great success. I'm excited to announce that Perfectly Antiquated will be expanding to include vintage garments for a limited time only! This is a trial run, if it garners enough attention/sales then I might move into selling some vintage repro as well. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for some groovy new additions!

Happy Sewing ♥

What happened to Vintage?

Why, we haven't talked in ages!

Sadly, that's the truth. This blog looks more skimpy than ever before as I've removed posts that I didn't think were adding anything of value. I always wanted this blog to focus on sewing and it started turning into something else entirely. More like an occasional personal blog with sewing related subject matter about nothing significant. As much fun as thrift store shopping is, I kind of get the feeling that nobody wants to read about it. I mean, I've been back to the thrift store about a hundred times since my last "thrift store score" post. If I did these posts consistently the whole blog would act as a diary of my shopping excursions. No, I want to simplify! When it comes to my posts I want quality over quantity.

That doesn't mean, however, that I want to get rid of my Etsy related posts. At least not yet. From a marketing perspective I think it's good to advertise that my shop holds sales events. I'm holding one right now and sales have been mildly successful. By the end of the year I might get rid of these posts, I might even shut the shop down entirely. I still have a number of patterns for sale in my possession, but after researching them through various e-commerce platforms I have found that the patterns in my unlisted inventory are either a) too popular or b) too unpopular. Either I have too much competition or nobody wants what I'm selling. The shop might finish by the end of December depending on sales. If it ends up costing too much to operate the shop, which many Etsy sellers eventually find, then it will definitely have to be shut down. We'll wait and see if that happens and I'll discuss it further when the time comes.

So what happened, anyways? Why did this blog go stale so quickly?

The truth is...the other blog got more attention, because it's more about me as an artist and as an individual, and it also focuses on my everyday fashion. I wear more goth clothing than vintage. This is partly due to the fact that I own more goth clothing than I do vintage. Yet, I own more vintage sewing patterns than goth and alternative ones! I think I've been more comfortable wearing goth and alt clothing. It's easier to coordinate with those styles. Even when I'm not dressing that way, I'm wearing skirts and t-shirts. I'm dressing very casual these days and vintage fashion is usually anything but casual. To be honest, wearing a petticoat daily isn't all that appealing to me. I had gained a lot of weight in the last few years (I have lost it but I am worried it might come back due to a change in diet), it effected my wardrobe planning drastically! You don't want to wear a structured, waist fitted garment when you're bloated and your stomach hurts. Most 50's and 40's silhouettes are pinched at the waist and are accessorized with waist belts and I just couldn't handle anything touching my stomach, it felt awful. I felt awful, I looked it too. That's why knitwear became my best friend. Everything I've been wearing has been knit, especially now because it's still winter here. 

Weddings take up a lot of attention, too (it went well by the way). The wedding had added a significant amount of stress to my life and I think I ballooned up because of that. I put all of my focus on planning the event and writing for the other blog, and I scarcely found any time to commit to Feeling Sew Good. The vintage scene has changed, too. I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but it's not as close knit as it used to be. Rochelle from Lucky Lucille, who was like the Queen of Vintage, dropped vintage two years ago to pursue...casual hipster looking clothing. Her Sew For Victory sew-along brought together mass amounts of vintage sewing enthusiasts, and then it just dropped off. While A Stitching Odyssey still runs a year long pledge, the immediacy of the challenge and vibe is different than Sew For Victory was. Perhaps there's a group of vintage sewing enthusiasts on Facebook, but I can't be bothered to use that site. I just miss the connection with other vintage sewists, much of what I'm seeing in the blogosphere are collector's of vintage fashion and not makers of vintage fashion.

What happened to vintage?

Some time ago, I had read a blog post from another vintage blog where the author was questioning whether or not the vintage trend was "dying out." I think in some ways it has. I believe authentic vintage is becoming less popular while new or reproduction vintage brands, like Hell Bunny and Voodoo Vixen, are still quite successful. Reproduction vintage is still fairly big in the alternative fashion market. Perhaps the desire to buy authentic vintage isn't as popular as it used to be. You gotta figure, authentic pieces became a hot commodity a couple of years ago when the vintage trend hit it's peak, now antique dealers are aware of the fad and are selling pieces at high prices. It's a real score if you can find a vintage dress for cheap. A few years ago I purchased a 60's sun dress for probably around $70 CAD and nowadays it'd likely cost double that (triple if it's coming from America because our exchange rate is garbage). It's too expensive to buy real vintage any more and I'm sure that's impacted the scene substantially. Likewise, authentic vintage fans might be put off by repro or new vintage because the construction and quality is drastically different.

Another thing that might have impacted the growth and longevity of the vintage trend is that not everyone wants to wear the same style for more than a decade (citing Lucky Lucille as an example). 50's fashion doesn't evolve, neither does the music, it has to maintain it's ties to the aesthetics of the era otherwise it's not 50's fashion. Do you get what I mean? It's rather limiting. That's why there's rockabilly and then there's pyschobilly, which was born out of the rockabilly genre but is not in fact rockabilly. In other words, we can create new garments inspired by the 50's but they won't be authentically 50's. If you're interested in going authentic vintage you have to stick to a set amount of aesthetic guidelines in order to be successful. 

Perhaps this is why I mix and match. Going authentic would be too boring and restrictive for me. But I can see why vintage enthusiasts are digging deeper and deeper into the past. A lot of my store search results these days are 1920's and 1930's fashion. 1940's is far more popular than the 50's and 60's combined, and the 70's are ridiculously hot right now. You have to widen your style scope to continue enjoying your vintage wardrobe for years to come. Nobody likes wearing the exact same style for more than a decade, some of us don't even make it a whole ten years. Not to mention not every style suits every body type. Check out this funny vintage advert from one of my old mags, Playtex sums it up!

I suppose what I'm driving at is this: vintage is just as important to me as it used to be but it's not practical for my every day wear and it's not my whole life. I'm going to be sewing a few vintage items this year but I want to pick and choose styles that I can get a lot of use out of. I used to want to do a shit ton of fabulous vintage gowns but it's not realistic nor practical. Where would I wear them??

For my style goals I want separates, in both vintage and my usual style. But more importantly I do want to experiment with different decades, maybe try a few 70's pieces, who knows! I'm planning to make a wiggle dress, some sun dresses, shorts and blouses. I have ideas for the future, but I can't promise that this blog will boast as much posts as my other blog. I can't commit to 5 posts a month on here, that'd be a lot of sewing, but I do want to write more, at least once a month if I can manage. I think it would be good to make a pledge to myself to get these sewing projects done, for the sake of my stash and for the sake of my sanity!


What are your thoughts on vintage? Is it still a big deal to you or has your style evolved?

Happy sewing! ♥

Love is in the air ♥

I Love the 50's SALES EVENT!

Valentine's Day is approaching, why not spoil yourself with something nifty from the fifties? Shop the I Love the 50's Sales Event. Starting February 1st, all patterns from the 1950's will be marked down a full 50% off. This applies to menswear, children's and women's! Sale will end February 28th.

Check out my 1950's patterns!