Free Vintage Crochet/Knitting Pattern: Easy 1940s Ladies Bolero

Good morning and welcome back to Victory Vintage.  Today i am showcasing  a pattern i am just finishing up.  I fell in love with this on the web (i'm sorry i dont know where i got it) and commenced to making it.

What vintage projects are you working on this week?

So long,
Beth

How to Bake a Cake: A funny little story to make you smile

 

Good morning!  I trust that you had a wonderful weekend.  Mine was crazy but fun.  Oh yes, and Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there.  Although i had tons of fun and enjoyed myself, i have to admit that i am ready to get back to the old routine!

To start off the week, here is a silly story that i received via E-Mail this weekend.

It is said that it's from an old cookbook.

Need a smile?

Read on!

How to Bake a Cake

Light oven; get out bowl, spoons and ingredients.

Grease pan, crack nuts.

Remove 18 blocks and 17 toy automobiles from kitchen table.

Measure out 2 cups of flour: remove Johnny's hands from flour and wash flour off Johnny.

Put flour, baking powder and salt in sifter.

Get dustpan and sweep up pieces of bowl Johnny knocked off the table and onto the floor.

Get another bowl.

Answer doorbell.

Return to kitchen.

Remove Johnny's hands from bowl.

Wash Johnny.

Get out egg.  Answer phone.

Return.

Take out greased pan.

Remove salt from pan.

Look for Johnny.

Return to kitchen and find Johnny: remove his hands from bowl: wash butter, etc. off of him.

Take up greased pan and remove nutshells from it. 

Head for Johnny, who flees, knocking bowl off table.

Wash kitchen floor,

Wash table.

Wash walls.

Wash Dishes.

Call Bakery.

Lie down!

Pin Curl Sets and Lauren Bacall Hair!

I've been setting my hair in pin curls for the last four nights.  I get on stuck on doing different styles and methods over and over until i get it perfect, and then it looses its mystery now that i know how to do it and i move on to something different.  I do have to  admit though, that for about the 3 months after i got addicted to vintage, i hated the pin curl.  Yes, that's right.  It was hard and frustrating.  Now i love it.  i got practice by doing the little strands at the nape of my neck to get a longer lasting, sturdier curl back there and also when i got it cut, they were too short to curl tightly around any rollers.  So here i am, officially a pin curl addict!
I came across some AWESOME setting patterns on the web yesterday.  I was on the computer almost all day, (just addicted really) and I have narrowed it down to my favorite diagrams.

~This authentic Lauren Bacall setting pattern is from a blog, but i cannot find it! Please contact me if you have any information so i can rightfully link to it.
I really like this.  Very fast, simple, smooth and easy!  Oh yes, and so old Hollywood!















~ This is also an set pattern from the 40s.  I like this one (i did it last night) because it says that it looks good on girls with long faces (like me).  It made my eye length modern bangs look like an honest to goodness retro fringe, although i prefer to do it with a flat iron because my pin curls were not consistent in size.  I also ALWAYS add more curls to the back because i have pretty thick hair and i just like some more in the back.  And you cannot from the picture, but there are two wonderful pin curl waves. (one on each side because the two top rows on side curl forward and bottom row aims away from face.  I sport them right now as i type!)

~This Glamorous style is much like the picture below.  I cant wait to try it!  I just LOVE pin curl waves.  It will take a little work and a little gel to get my bangs to stay back but i think i can pull it off!

I do not know who this is but as soon as my hair grows out a little, i am so doing this!

Isn't she just divine? and glamorous? and, oh heavens, just beautiful?

Also, be sure to check out this awesome fringe/ bang wave by CLICKING HERE to go to Snoodlebug, a vintage blog with lots of inspiration.

Lisa shows how to go from this:

To this!:

Lisa of Snoodlebug Vintage

Isn't it wonderful? I tried this the other day and i am doing it again!

what about you? Done any super sets lately?

Favorite Vintage Crochet Pattern: The Ribbed Collar

Here we go!  Starting off the wonderful week with (drum roll, please) one of my infamous Favorite Vintage Crochet Pattern posts!

Came across this one a while back and fell in love.  Its an original pattern from 1935!  Back in those days (Great Depression) women made old dresses new again or dressed up an every day one with handmade collars and cuffs (sewed, crocheted, knitted, etc.).  I love this because my Grandma Mae swore upon the saying "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!"  She grew up in eastern Colorado (dust bowl country!) during the 30s and loved anyone who was resourceful and hated anyone who wasn't.  I've always had some of that mentality from her teachings which i part of why i love it.

Another reason why i am so in love with it is that it appears to be VERY similar to the collar on Ginger Rogers dress in Swing Time (1936) when she dances with Fred does it not?



Of course, it is a little different.  But with a few modifications we all could be lookin like that gorgeous blonde!


Here's the pattern!!! Enjoy.

The Ribbed Collar

This free pattern originally published in A Bookful of Crochet, Book No. 52.

Materials: Clark's O.N.T. Mercerized Crochet, size 20, White or Ecru, 6 balls. Milward's steel crochet hook No. 5.
Make a ch 5 inches long. 1st row: Ch 3, d c in 4th ch from hook, d c in each st of foundation ch, turn. 2nd row: Ch 3 (to count as 1 d c), d c in 2nd d c of previous row, always picking up only the front loop throughout work. 1 d c in each d c across ending row with a d c over turn­ing ch-3. Turn. 3rd row: Ch 1, s c in 2nd d c of previous row, s c in each d c across, ending row with s c over turning ch-3. Turn. 4th row: Ch 1, s c in 2nd s c of previous row, s c in each s c across ending row with s c over turning ch-1. Turn. 5th row: Ch 3, d c in 2nd s c of previous row, d c in each s c across, ending with d c over turning ch-1. Turn. Repeat from beginning of 2nd row to 5th row incl, until work measures 51 inches. Complete work with the 3rd row. Break off. Attach thread to 4th ch of foundation ch, * skip the next 2 d c rows, sl st through each of next 2 s c rows. Repeat from * to end of collar. Fasten off. Make a loop on right side of collar and a button on the left side. Press pleats in place.


From Free Vintage Crochet.com

I love a piano, a grand piano!

Hello and Happy Saturday!

Here is a quick little Judy Garland post.  I love her and she loves the piano! 

I've been singing this song all morning.  From the 1948 movie Easter Parade with Fred Astaire.

Enjoy and dont forget to look at my new Free Piano Sheet Music Page.  I am slowly adding to it.  Wish i had some sheet music for this one!  ("i love to slide my fingers o'er the keys- the i-vorys!)

Inspiration: For the Love of Aprons!

Hey y'all!  Sorry i haven't been posting as usual. I've been terribly busy with my Victory Garden and sewing and crocheting for upcoming events.

This morning i wanted to do a little apron post just because i love aprons.  Who doesn't?  I've recently become addicted to them and thought i would post some pretty pictures and patterns of vintage aprons.
I love to sew them.  Not only are do they serve a wonderful purpose (for i am quite messy in the kitchen) but they are SUPER cute.  I usually wear a half apron when cleaning around the house, a full apron for cooking and baking (for obvious reasons) and when one of those gets old and worn out,  I put them out in the barn/shed for gardening and yard work.

Here's a tip, even if you haven't mad the apron yourself, you can still put your own mark on it.  Dressing it up with rick rack, piping, harmonizing colors of bias tape or lace can revive an old apron and give it a vintage feel.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of vintage aprons.

Be sure to CLICK HERE for an adorable sewing project from one of my favorite blogs, Country Farm Home to learn how to turn an old pair of jeans into an apron!

~1920s

how cute is this?






does anyone see her dress? her shoes? (swoon)



~1930s




A smile makes an apron so much prettier!




The color possibilities are endless with this one






i love over the head aprons.
The only 'problem' I've ever had with them is a good, voluminous set!







~1940s




nothing says WWII or 1940s than a red, white and blue apron!






  I love the empire waist and criss-cross back on these!






Gingham and Pie! my two favorite combinations!





Simple, fabric saving aprons (because of fabric rationing)
were dressed up with embroidery and colorful fabrics










~1950s


The cute 50s housewife!



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This one is just perfect for a party on the porch!  (notice the little tulip pocket!)





His and Hers!






~


That's all for now. 
I hope you enjoyed this little trip through history with me.

Which one was your favorite?

Ready to get crackin' on vintage aprons now?

Beth