I always get so envious of bloggers who snap up vintage sewing patterns at garage sales. Who are these people that sell these items?? How can I get some? Of course I could scour ebay and pay for them, but I'm kinda over ebay these days.
I've never been a huge fan of garage sales. I'm not much of a collector and I guess when I decide I need something I never think about searching garage sales because it just seemed like it involved a lot of looking and not enough buying success. Although I gotta admit the appeal of garage sales started to creep up on me the past year because of all the posts from J. Money about this subject. Maybe it's his writing style, but my goodness, does he ever make garage sales and antique shops sound like the coolest effing places.
A couple months ago I downloaded the free Craiglist app so I could easily search for garage sales in my area. I also narrowed down the search by specifically searching for "sewing" in the garage sales category. Lately most of the garage sales just mention a sewing machine for sale, but I'm not looking for sewing machines....I want sewing patterns. And not just any patterns, but vintage patterns.
I finally hit the jackpot the other weekend when I saw a listing for an estate sale that had photos of multiple shoeboxes filled with vintage patterns!!! It was a bit farther away than I would have liked, but I just *had* to see it! Also, J. Money recently had a guest post from someone who ran estate sales and I was curious to see what it would be like, so I booked it over to this place. Of course, on my drive to the estate sale, which really was only about 6 miles away but took for-freaking-ever to get to, I was dreaming about being able to purchase an entire box full of vintage patterns for $20. Ha! I stopped myself for being silly because I knew I was jinxing myself. Yep, I did.
So the people running the estate sale are obviously trying to make the most possible money because they get a cut and the people who hired them also get a cut of the profits. But I was still a bit miffed that the patterns were priced a bit high, at least in my opinion (and other ladies expressed this sentiment as well). I asked someone running the show about the prices and she said that the older patterns from the 40s and 50s were $5 each, some of the later ones were $3, and the newer ones were $1. Well, of course most of the ones I wanted were all $5, but I wasn't about to spend 50 bucks on patterns that, let's face it, I probably will never make.
But because I'm super selfish, I picked out all the patterns I wanted and held onto them so no one else could get them (outta my way bitches!!) and then after I went through all the patterns I finally slimmed down my pickings. I set a limit of $20 so I ended up only buying 6 patterns, although now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I bought 2 coat patterns....oh well.
Simplicity 7780 - blouse pattern with two collar options
Simplicity 5702 - classic feminine dress (my personal fave!)
Simplicity 8045 - blouse, pants, and skirt patterns with so many variations!
Butterick 2475 - pussy bow blouse (sleeveless, short sleeves, and long sleeves options)
Vogue 8429 - Long(er) winter coats
McCalls 9727 - pea coat style jacket plus full pleated skirt and (side-zipped) pants
Oh, and silly me didn't even think to check for dates on the patterns until AFTER I got home and whadayaknow, the $5 pattern (the dress one) isn't even from the 40s or 50s, it's dated 1964! But it's cute as all get out, so I'm not that upset. And besides, if I had discovered the patterns were improperly priced based on what date they assumed the pattern was from, would I really have argued over a couple bucks? I felt weird enough digging through someone else's crap, I sure as hell would have felt even worse haggling them over whether a pattern should be priced at $3 or $5.
Anyway, I was so consumed with the patterns that I almost missed this GENERAL ELECTRIC IRON!!!!
I mean, hello!! I can't even believe it was there considering I've read maybe a handful of blog posts about irons over the past couple months (here and here, just to name a few), and most of them discussed how awesome these old irons were and how they definitely don't make them like they used to. I had no idea if it worked and I was tempted to plug it into an outlet, but I thought that might be tacky. It was only $5 so I figured if it didn't work then at least it could be an awesome decoration. (I still haven't even tried it, but I still enjoy looking at it.)
I gotta tell ya, that iron is freaking heavy. I carried it around the entire house and through the garage while I contemplated buying some tools and old bottles of liquor (just kidding, I was just sending my husband photos of mint syrup and sweet vermouth joking about buying them to add to his collection of alcohol). I posted a photo of it on Facebook and several friends commented that there is one in the family that still works like a charm. One friend specifically send it's great for quilting because it presses seams really well. I sent my mom a photo of it and she claims my dad has a vintage iron in the garage.....I need to see it to believe it because I never once heard any mention of this iron my entire childhood.
Anyway, I'm really excited that I was finally able to find some vintage patterns. It was a lot of fun to look through them and I was just astonished at how fabulous this lady's collection was. I seriously wanted to buy at least 20 patterns. I do wish they were a bit cheaper so I could have bought a lot more without feeling guilty for spending a ton of money, but I'm sure there will be more garage or estate sales in my future. If I spread out my purchases over time, then I'm sure I will feel less guilty about buying (and hoarding) them.
I've never been a huge fan of garage sales. I'm not much of a collector and I guess when I decide I need something I never think about searching garage sales because it just seemed like it involved a lot of looking and not enough buying success. Although I gotta admit the appeal of garage sales started to creep up on me the past year because of all the posts from J. Money about this subject. Maybe it's his writing style, but my goodness, does he ever make garage sales and antique shops sound like the coolest effing places.
A couple months ago I downloaded the free Craiglist app so I could easily search for garage sales in my area. I also narrowed down the search by specifically searching for "sewing" in the garage sales category. Lately most of the garage sales just mention a sewing machine for sale, but I'm not looking for sewing machines....I want sewing patterns. And not just any patterns, but vintage patterns.
I finally hit the jackpot the other weekend when I saw a listing for an estate sale that had photos of multiple shoeboxes filled with vintage patterns!!! It was a bit farther away than I would have liked, but I just *had* to see it! Also, J. Money recently had a guest post from someone who ran estate sales and I was curious to see what it would be like, so I booked it over to this place. Of course, on my drive to the estate sale, which really was only about 6 miles away but took for-freaking-ever to get to, I was dreaming about being able to purchase an entire box full of vintage patterns for $20. Ha! I stopped myself for being silly because I knew I was jinxing myself. Yep, I did.
So the people running the estate sale are obviously trying to make the most possible money because they get a cut and the people who hired them also get a cut of the profits. But I was still a bit miffed that the patterns were priced a bit high, at least in my opinion (and other ladies expressed this sentiment as well). I asked someone running the show about the prices and she said that the older patterns from the 40s and 50s were $5 each, some of the later ones were $3, and the newer ones were $1. Well, of course most of the ones I wanted were all $5, but I wasn't about to spend 50 bucks on patterns that, let's face it, I probably will never make.
But because I'm super selfish, I picked out all the patterns I wanted and held onto them so no one else could get them (outta my way bitches!!) and then after I went through all the patterns I finally slimmed down my pickings. I set a limit of $20 so I ended up only buying 6 patterns, although now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I bought 2 coat patterns....oh well.
 |
| My pattern loot! |
Simplicity 7780 - blouse pattern with two collar options
Simplicity 5702 - classic feminine dress (my personal fave!)
Simplicity 8045 - blouse, pants, and skirt patterns with so many variations!
Butterick 2475 - pussy bow blouse (sleeveless, short sleeves, and long sleeves options)
Vogue 8429 - Long(er) winter coats
McCalls 9727 - pea coat style jacket plus full pleated skirt and (side-zipped) pants
Oh, and silly me didn't even think to check for dates on the patterns until AFTER I got home and whadayaknow, the $5 pattern (the dress one) isn't even from the 40s or 50s, it's dated 1964! But it's cute as all get out, so I'm not that upset. And besides, if I had discovered the patterns were improperly priced based on what date they assumed the pattern was from, would I really have argued over a couple bucks? I felt weird enough digging through someone else's crap, I sure as hell would have felt even worse haggling them over whether a pattern should be priced at $3 or $5.
Anyway, I was so consumed with the patterns that I almost missed this GENERAL ELECTRIC IRON!!!!
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| Why, hello there sexy iron! |
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| The knob is missing a cover, but whatever, she still looks great! |
Anyway, I'm really excited that I was finally able to find some vintage patterns. It was a lot of fun to look through them and I was just astonished at how fabulous this lady's collection was. I seriously wanted to buy at least 20 patterns. I do wish they were a bit cheaper so I could have bought a lot more without feeling guilty for spending a ton of money, but I'm sure there will be more garage or estate sales in my future. If I spread out my purchases over time, then I'm sure I will feel less guilty about buying (and hoarding) them.
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