Thursday, February 11, 2010

From the Absurd to the Sublime 1989 Revisited

It was a time of extremes.........extreme hair, extreme clothing, extreme TV shows.....remember Dynasty?

The shoulder treatment of the late 80's took the best of the late 30's puff sleeves and put them together with the worst of the 40's Joan Crawford look and came up with this pattern below.........add the Carmen Miranda diagonal ruffle on the hip and what you got was an atrocious silhouette.



And then there was this lovely and flattering dress.......flat front with princess styling and those side hip pleats are soft and swingy. The wide shoulders are softened by the wide scoop neckline and sweet collar. The 3/4 sleeve version is my favorite........but whatever your taste, the 80's had it to offer.



Find these and more in the Patterns from the 80's section at cemetarian.com

Monday, October 12, 2009

Put on Your Best Bib and Tucker!

For a week I've been handling this pattern. Scanning, writing, listing, etc.........and every time I look at View D, that phrase pops in my mind. The tucked bib, just screams "Put on your Best Bib and Tucker"...so I decided to look up Bib and Tucker and find out exactly what that means.




Of course all of us of a certain age, remember the phrase, we grew up with it and it translated to "Put on your Sunday Go to Meetin' clothes". But where did the phrase originate and what did it originally mean?

I found several references.


On The Phrase Finder , I found this definition:

This term originated not in any figurative sense, but literally - both bibs and tuckers were items of women's clothing from the 17th to late 19th centuries.

Early bibs were somewhat like modern day bibs, although they weren't specifically used to protect clothes from spilled food as they are now. Tuckers were lace pieces fitted over the bodice - sometimes called 'pinners' or 'modesty pieces'. These were known by the late 17th century and were described by Randle Holme in The Academy of Armory, or a Storehouse of Armory and Blazon, 1688:

"A Pinner or Tucker, is a narrow piece of Cloth - which compasseth the top of a Womans Gown about the Neck part."

Tuckers, as the name suggests, were originally tucked in. Pinners differed by being pinned rather than tucked. Pinner is clearly the precursor of pinafore - originally pin-a-fore, i.e. pinned on the front.

On World Wide Word I found this which says roughly the same thing:

A tucker was a bit of lace worn around the neck and top of the bodice by 17th-18th century women, presumably something that was tucked in; the bib was closely related to our modern term — a shirt-front or covering for the breast. The expression is first recorded from the middle of the eighteenth century, initially only for women and girls, as you might expect, but later on also to men, when the words had become a fixed phrase and disengaged from their real meanings. Before then, the common expression seems to have been best bib and band (band meaning collar), also commonly used for men as well as women, which continued after the new term had come into use, though it seems to have died out at the end of the eighteenth century. The word derives from the same source as the tucker of food, but is unconnected in meaning.

Now you know all about Bibs and Tuckers.

You can find this and many more fabulous blouse patterns at cemetarian

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Heads up, Granma!

This just in! A rather large lot of vintage infant and toddler patterns, all with smocking details. From the 50's with one beautiful infant dress from 1936. During the next few days, I will be listing these particular six patterns on cemetarian at eBay. But there are duplicates in various sizes that will be added to cemetarian.com

These and other adorable childrens patterns from the 1930's thru 2004 are easy to find by searching these categories!

Infants

Toddlers
Girls 0-3
Girls 4-7
Girls 8-12
Boys






Sunday, September 6, 2009

Rockabilly Chic

When buying patterns at Estate Sales it is common to find a lady with a certain style who bought every pattern that came down the pike...........this lady was one of those.......in the 50's she knew what looked good on her and she used her knowledge to the best.........so she had several and they are all stunning.......I'm in the process of listing these right now so just go on over to http://www.cemetarian.com/ and search for Rockabilly and you will find them and many others.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Do you Twitter??

There's a new Twibe just for sewist.........come check it out!!!!

Sewing Twibe

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Vintage Weekenders NOW is the time to get them ready

Before there was a Company named Weekenders in 1999, travel or Weekend Ensembles were often called Weekenders. Simply because you could take one outfit and have something for the entire weekend. Also called Mix and Match.....the concept was simple. A blouse, a skirt, pants or shorts, perhaps a jacket................you were set for whatever came your way. The trend faded a bit with pants and shorts becoming acceptable at Restaurants and other tourist attractions, but it never hurts to have a skirt to throw on just in case. These Weekenders can be found under the Weekenders Vintage category at cemetarian.com. If you are looking for more current styles you can find those under Wardrobes Modern.



Monday, March 9, 2009

Vintage 1940's Lovely Tucked Blouse



Here is a very cute front tucked blouse from the 1940's. It has that look of cute and delicate to it!

This is just one of many vintage patterns for sale at Cemetarian. Stop by and check out all the goodies she has!