You may recall, last weekend I cleaned out and organized my closet. The bug spread because every member of our household did the same! I ended up with 3 1/2 garbage bags full of gently used clothing, shoes, winter and fall coats, etc.
Now I have heard of other sewists/bloggers being lucky enough to stroll into a vintage/second hand shop and find vintage sewing patterns. Not me. Never. Well almost never!
Right after dropping my things off at the back door, I strolled in the front door and spied a small basket of sewing patterns, some vintage, some uncut, and look at what I bought for 25 cents each! Most of them completely uncut, a few with uncut pieces in them still!
This one is c 1992. Not quite vintage, but I just had to have it.
View C reminds me of a dress I had myself, way back when. c 1991
c 1987 All my shirts had shoulder pads when I started working in the office. I wonder what this one would look like without the shoulder pads, but with just the pleats?
c 1985 I actually sewed up view A long ago, in a solid red polyester knit. It was my favourite dress!
This one intrigued me. So many gathers! c 1986
c 1987 I’m not one for pencil skirts, but this was uncut!
I had a blouse with pleats like this, but I can’t remember if it was the same pattern or not. c 1988
c 1994 A standard blouse pattern – classic today and in 1994.
Do you recognize any of these patterns/styles?
I always sense I am looking back in time when I look at “old” fashions. I wonder what they will be saying about our sewing patterns in 25 – 30 – 40 years? Or is it true… “Everything old is new again.”
Happy Sewing!
Love them! I’ve never found any vintage patterns either. Which one are you most tempted to make up?
Buttrick 3458 – I seriously think I made that one before in a solid red. This time in a print though. I don’t know if I’m that into having a solid bright colour now. But I did love that red dress!
Love how we get so attached to certain items 🙂 Men never do…
True for me. Although I’m sure my hubby would never part with his power tools!
🙂 Squash racquets for my husband…
Oh wow, some of these are lovely!
😀
Yep, everything is cyclical. Every time I look at a newly released pattern I feel like I have an earlier version in my stash.
It seems like that doesn’t it!
oh my! I still have at least 4 of your patterns and recently started to clean out my closets and found the jumper I made from the See & sew 6447 along with the1994 blouse.
Oh! Now that is so cool! I made the mistake of THROWING out all my old patterns that weren’t my size after I had kids…. Now I wish I had kept them! After all, with a little patience they can be adjusted.
It seems so strange when I see stuff from the 80’s described as vintage. Wasn’t that just a few years ago? I guess I’ll get used to feeling old . . .
It was just yesterday, pre-babies for me… When I could sew patterns right out of the envelope! Oh well! Chin up!
Awesome finds! Gotta love shopping days like that……so what is on your sewing list next? Are you going to try one of these patterns?
My son just looked at my sewing table and asked how many things am I doing? Well… Besides listening to a course for a pants sloper, prior to making some more pants (trousers), and the half finished top and the half finished vintage dress sitting there, I want to make a couple of easy tops for MMM, and another dress, perhaps the Butterick one here? I think he actually stopped listening about a minute into my conversation! 😳😃
Lol Ya my families eyes glaze over if I start talking about sewing lol. Can’t wait to see your pant sloper 🙂
It is Suzy Furrer’s course… You know her… It’s going to take a while! That’s why I plan on alternating with some easy projects too!
You scored! I could swear I made that blouse pattern back in the day. The cut seems a bit oversized, a trend I’ve noticed seems to have returned. Gorgeous patterns. How fun!!!. I’ll be watching with envy as you sew some of those….
I am fond of the dress and blouses with pleats… Oh to have more time to do it all!
Great finds, although I’d not done a one!
del
Thank you!
I remember wearing similar styles to these! I had a gathered yoke skirt exactly like your pattern! I think.the blouses would work well with less aggressive shoulders!
Yes, definitely no shoulder pads! That’s a cute way to put it “aggressive”!
I find a lot of vintage pattern, but it’s rare that they’re uncut! I absolutely love the “so many gathers” skirts of 1986 style pattern!
Unfortunately I wasn’t around to see/sew any of these… I probably wasn’t even a thought until the early 90s!
I’ve been seeing a lot of blouses similar to the styles of the butterick 6609 in modern teen stores, like forever 21, but they’re always covered in too many embellishments!
I hope you sew up the butterick 3458 again, the left dress looks like it would be very flattering!
I do like the gathers on the skirt. 3458 is special to me. I will keep it on the list!
So many amazing patterns! What a fantastic collection (and at such a bargain price, too)! I love the skirt with the pointed waistband, although this is possibly because I love gathered skirts, too. I also wonder if dresses and shirts will look OK sans shoulder pads, as I have quite a few shoulder-padded patterns from the 1980s that I’d love to try without that particular accessory.
Are you planning on making any of them soon?
I still have a top and dress to finish off, but I do like the Butterick dress 3458 and the pleated blouse… So I shall make one or two of them, sooner or later! 😃
What fun. Most of the skirts look like what I see in magazines now. As for the blouses, it’s amazing how it is just the shoulders that give them a time frame. It does make you wonder what current fashion will represent this era. Just how do you adjust a pattern to eliminate the large shoulder pads?
I haven’t looked at the pieces yet but I would think the shoulder seam might be a bit long to go over the pad and the armhole a bit big to make room for the pad. I would like to make a muslin first to see how baggy it is. Although I do like baby tops.
In years to come I bet someone will fire up an old computer with lots of pdf files on and wonder what the heck they are! 😀
Absolutely! LOL. And they will probably say what a lot of paper and tape that old way used!