Vintage Sewing Pattern Illustrations (circa 1965-1969)

Good morning!

I'm telling you, I am here to sing the praises of the new Donelson Goodwill. Opened a couple months ago, in a lucky stroke of convenience, just across the street from Southern Thrift on Lebanon Pike, I have been having the best luck out there on everything from dresses to cookie jars, and last weekend was no exception. In the craft slash miscellaneous area of the home goods section, I found these four patterns from the mid to late sixties'. You may think this is something you see a lot at Goodwills-- and you'd be right, if you're looking to make something Blair from The Facts of Life or Murphy Brown would wear. Sixties' stuff is becoming rare as hen's teeth at some of the local Goodwills, which is making me feel old. In high school, you couldn't go through one rack without finding something or other in an op art polyester. Golden years.

At any rate, I was happy to find these patterns and went ahead and scanned them in not only to show you some of the cuckoo, GORGEOUS patterns and silhouettes of these outfits, but also the top notch styling that goes into selling the precious bits of tissue templates inside. Let's look!

I actually think I could get into the finished product of this pattern, which offers two rompers and two bathing-suit cover-ups. Again, by virtue of my hard won experience as well as marathon viewings of Runway, the importance of careful styling is not lost on me. Let's look at how these fashion illustrations stack up in the accessories department:

I want to wrap a head wrap like the girl on the left! I am all about bows and scarves tied haphazardly around my head, as you might have noticed from recent outfit postings. The long-hair swept back in a wide-tied scarf on the brunette, with a tiny bump of teasing to the back, is another scarf option, as is bow-for a ponytail of the Gloria Steinem-glasses gal. The only thing I was like "Whaaaa....?" about is that shaggy mop of mossy curls on the girl to the right, but again, maybe in the context of 1968 or 1970, this would make better sense to me.

Oh WHEE, people. OH WHEE. This is one of my favorite patterns out of the bunch...in spite of its 32 inch bust, would you get a LOOK at the GORGEOUS women in the illustrations on the cover of this pattern? Cocktail dress in four styles. Exhibit A:

The blonde on the left has the best hair, makeup, and earring combo of  the whole lot. I love wearing doorknocker sixties' earrings like this, and the very best impact for them is with something simple, simple simple in terms of the rest of the dress. I know that seems like common sense, but the number of models in sixties'-inspired modern day editorials looking like Mrs. Howell from Gilligan's Island on a bad day...well, there are more of them than I liked to think about.  If you click on the close up, you can see she also has a bracelet to match the earrings. VINTAGE. COSTUME JEWELRY. SETS. Now you're speaking my language. I can't tell you how elegant I think a matching brooch and earring combo, or necklace and clips, or bracelet and necklace, looks to me. Because I am 85 years old at heart. Side note: did you notice the pattern buyer back-in-the-day has pencilled in some illusion panels on the dress so the top is not quite so bare?

I love the woman on the right's  huge brooch, and the little gemstone clip at crown of her perfect stewardess hair.

Did I speak too soon? PEOPLE. Where can I buy wigs in my own natural hair color that will give me this insane sixties' magazine layout hair like this? Just like something out of Vogue at the time. I wonder how hard it was to keep the false pieces on your head, or if you would just do some kind of overall wig to get the tonsorial tendrils just right. Either way, I want to find out! On the right, the kind of British girl singer or secretary on the go hair I leave to annals of time. The earring are cute, though.

These baby doll style dresses are the BEES. KNEES. Check out the Cleopatra like details on the one to the far right, and how I love all the patterns going on in the other three. I think the original owner went with the second from the right style, owing to the little check mark above the model's shoulder. But the Cleopatra dress! What about the Cleopatra dress!

Here, the hair and makeup is much less impressive than in the last spread, but then the dresses are more colorful. Do you see how the aforementioned style D has the illustrated model barefoot and with the best hair out of the bunch? I wonder if the slouchy waist of the illustration is just part of the illustration or if it would be more flattering in the real life, finished version.

Last but not least, a little Mad Men formal wear. CUUUUTE. I want to run across one of these lovely things in textile rather than paper form at that Donelson Goodwill!

I know the girl's hair on the left is a little crazy à la Dr. Seuss, but that BOW? That bow, people? It's cute and I don't even care who knows it! Plus the necklace, plus the neckline. The more sedate style on the right is punched up with some large drop-style earrings, and that's something I can unapologetically get behind. Do you see they match the brooch? You see it. You know it's the business. Woman on the right, you win this round.

Well, there's the goods. Which hairstyle or accessory or dress do you want to take home for your own? Have you found any crazy patterns or pattern envelopes in your thrift store shopping trips lately? Which coiffure do I need to adopt as my next do it yourself project?

That's all for today! See you kids tomorrow.