Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Amazing Fleamarket Finds...

As promised, I am posting some pictures of things I found at the fleamarket on Saturday. But don't worry, I'm not doing this to make you jealous or anything - you will actually profit from some of my finds, I promise!
I'll go in the order of how I found them...
First, this amazingly beautiful collar, hand-embroidery of it's most accurate kind, in best condition...


Black velvet, gold embroidery with different sized beads. I don't know how old it is. I am not sure whether I will keep this for myself or sell it in my shop... Yes, you heard me right, I am planning on opening a little shop....

Then, oh WOW, these two beauties (as always, click on the images to enlarge):


They were quite pricey, but I had to have them. I don't really know how old they are, I can only guess (30's?). They are hand-colored and I have now framed them and made sure the edges don't tear any more. I really feel like making these costumes some day... The first one says (the original is in French, I'm translating):

Queen of Flowers: Bodice in shape of calyx made of green silk, the top is cut in strips. The very voluminous sleeves and skirt are composed entirely from rose-colored organza petals.

The second one:

The Spring: Straight bodice made out of rose-colored "pongé" (a light weight fabric, a silk/wool mix). Skirt simulating a flower, from petals cut out of two different tones of yellow organza. Garland and trail made of flowers.

Corrections are welcome...
There's more! Click on that little "read more" button below to do just that!

Ok, here comes more:


Three German magazines "Das Blatt der Hausfrau" (something like: Housewives Gazette...), two from 1943, one has the date ripped off, but from the 40's, too.

Here comes the good stuff: Exerpts!
Don't you just want it all?
How about this little bathing suit for summer?
Perfect season...


re-fashioning was a big thing then, with everything being so scarce... doesn't that shirt look modern though?

And even more good news: I found out that I am allowed to share these patterns, so soon to come: reproductions of vintage patterns either to be downloaded or bought in my shop (here I said it again...). Bear with me - I have a "real job", too, which is soon going to get quite busy for me, so I don't know when I will get around to doing all this, but I will, I will, I will.

See, I TOLD you that you shall benefit from my splurge!

As I'm sure you can easily believe, I was very happy and satisfied by then and thought I'd slowly get going. When suddenly.... there was this antique dealers stand... and she had clothing lying there. To her, it wasn't much of anything. She had things like carved wooden horses from 1880 and sold them for 200 Euros. The clothing was given to her by a friend who was cleaning out her parents stuff and didn't mean a thing to the lady who was selling them. The clothes must be from the 60's and 70's (I'm guessing) and they are all HAND-MADE. Yes ladies, one of our kind has made them, years ago, in her little sewing space. Every one of the items (except for the white coat, which has a label and is obviously store-bought) has hand-picked zippers, carefully sewn in lining, hand-sewn little hooks and all those goodies that we like to spend our time on... I think a lot of people rummaging through that pile wouldn't even have been aware of that. The clothes are made very well and professionally, and it gave me such a kick to follow the mystery-woman's stitches... So I just had to buy it all, for a ridiculous price, which actually made me feel bad. But at the same time I felt that I had rescued this womans hard work, and I will honor her beautiful projects and make sure they go to a place where they are loved... yes, I will re-sell most of them, since they are not all my size.



I will post close-ups of these garments, hoping you get a kick out of them too. The shop will probably open sometime in May.

3 comments:

  1. Wonderful finds! I have recently bought a few German 30s/40s fashion pattern magazines, with pattern sheets, but have yet to make anything. I was wondering about copyright, how did you find out you are able to reproduce and sell them? I thought copyright was 75 years from the date it is first published, but maybe that is only in the UK...?

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  2. Hi Claire - glad you like my little treasures... if you would send me an email I will gladly tell you what I have found out - I couldn't find an email address at your profile information, so I can't answer directly... hoping to hear from you!

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  3. Hey Katja, thanks for replying, my email is everson.claire(@)gmail.com

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