Bon Voyage Vintage

PATTERNS:
I have been focused on making quilts and although I have made some clothes for my grandkids, I do not do it nearly to the extent I did with my own children in the 1980's when they were born. I had six boxes of patterns for children's clothing stored within reach in the closet of the spare bedroom adjacent to my sewing room. An additional five boxes containing patterns for adult clothing and home decor items were squirreled away in the attic. Since these pattern files were not in my sewing room, out of sight site (pun intended) they were out of mind and they'd sat there for years. The time was ripe to wake up and look around at all the sewing stuff that had become virtually invisible and was off my radar. It was taking up space in my home. When my son was visiting at the beginning of February, he graciously carried down for me those eleven boxes of patterns I had stored in the attic and spare bedroom, stacking them under the dining room window.

I took part of an afternoon and an evening to thumb through the boxes to see if there were any patterns I could not live without. The effort was not difficult and did not take long. There were only a few I set aside to keep. The last time I wore a size 8 dress (two boxes on far right) is ancient history so it was super easy to let those go. The boxes with the flower print facing, rather than the grid, contain assorted patterns for larger children, men, and household projects. I should have turned all the file boxes the same way before I hastily snapped a photo but I did not notice the different orientation in the photo until drafting this blog post. By then the file boxes were already loaded in my car trunk and I was not about to undo progress. Update: Whoops, just found a twelfth box in the office closet. Sigh.... Hmm, I did think that eleven was a strange quantity.

VINTAGE MAGAZINES AND PAMPHLETS
Patterns were not the only participants (victims?) of the clearing process. Lots of vintage magazines have been occupying 1½  shelves in the garage and my husband wanted me to vacate the space. "Use them or lose them" is an absolutely correct approach. We moved into this house in 1988 and I think they have been stored there since. I spread them out on our dining room table to assess and group them. I aimed for bundles 2"-3" thick, each stack containing an assortment of ages in consistent titles where possible. Vintage has become popular, on eBay and Etsy for example, so I hoped a pleasing display would tempt shoppers at my guild's fabric sale in May to buy a bargain priced bundle or two and enjoy reminiscing. 

I created ten bundles of magazines which spanned the 1950's -1990's, the newest at least 35 years old. When I realized these were over 40 years worth of knitting and crocheting in particular, but also a whole variety of other crafts, I became very nostalgic. These are the labels and categories.

1. McCall’s Needlework and Crafts
   Vintage 1977-1989 Bundle
2. McCall’s Needlework and Crafts
   Vintage 1978-1981 Bundle
3. McCall’s Needlework and Crafts
   Vintage 1985-1990 Bundle
4. Family Circle, Christmas Helps + Fashion and Crafts
   Vintage 1977-1986 Bundle
5. Good Housekeeping Needlecraft, Better Homes & Gardens Needlecraft
   Vintage 1969-1988 Bundle
6. Yarn Companies Knitting (child & adult), Simplicity Knitting (child & adult)
   Vintage 1968-1986 Bundle
7. Cross Stitch, Embroidery, Needlepoint, Transfer
   Vintage 1976-1980’s Vintage Assortment
8. Woman’s Day Super Special 1978-1991, Handmade 1984-1985, Knit, Crochet, Cross Stitch, Quilt
   Assorted Vintage Bundle
9. Assorted Crafts 1970’s – 1990’s
   Sew, Knit, Crochet, Bead, Ribbon, Punch Embroidery, Hairpin Lace
   Assorted Vintage Bundle
10. Knit & Crochet for Babies & Kid
    Assorted Pamphlets & Publications
    Vintage 1950-1983 Bundle

My husband helped me load the ten bundles in the trunk of my car on top of the eleven boxes of patterns. He was thrilled at the volume of attic and garage space I had just emptied. I took a farewell photo of the patterns and magazines that completely filled the trunk.

STILL HANGING ON
There were a few items I held back. I came across the pattern for a bunting my sister knitted for her first son, who is my 56 year old godson; that bunting had been worn by her three children and by my three children. The note on it bears the zip code of New Jersey, and my sister has not lived there for about four decades. I could not part with that vintage document. Oddly enough these vintage magazines often do not have a copyright or publication date; rather they have a volume and issue number. This Columbia Minerva book is most likely from the mid 1960's. 

I found a pamphlet for making bangle hats. My mom had made me several of them for me as a child when they were in style. I had to hold onto that booklet, also. Update: Just found this package of Walco Hat Bangles on eBay for $18.00. Note the 29¢ price on the original package itself. Looks like even if I keep the book I will not be making any of these hats. Sigh... Bangle hat books are for sale, also; but why buy the book if you can't reasonably get the bangles?

Next to the hats pamphlet is instructions for crocheted doilies. This too reminded of my mom. In my childhood home our large, round (5-6 foot diameter maybe) dining room table, had tablecloths she'd patiently and diligently crocheted in intricate, lacy, pineapple designs out of pearl cotton thread. I have no round table on which to display them. But I do have those tablecloths, carefully folded and stored away in a safe place — which I ironically no longer remember. A photo of the actual tablecloths will have to wait. The image shown is for a similar one off the Ravelry pattern site. Perhaps some day I will attached one of the tablecloths she crocheted to a fabric background and frame the assembly to hang on a wall. On the other hand, it just occurred to me. I could drape one across the middle of our long rectangular dining room table. (Gotta find it first...) I do not think the tablecloth police would arrest me. Or maybe a child or grandchild will some day have a formal round table to show off this keepsake.

This last pamphlet for seven afghans from Granny squares ©1977 from American Threads. It was too cute to give away, at least for now. Inside were directions for Jungle Friends, Butterflies, Playful Kittens and Magic Castle. I never did make any of these, although I intended to make the cover feature Grandpa's Farm. But I still could...  The price tag of 44¢ gave me a chuckle.

This walk down memory lane was fun. And think of all the extra space in my home I just recovered! It's truly a WIN-WIN.

Baby Blocks Quilt

The width of the four 6" blocks at 24" was too small for the 30" minimum my guild requires for a baby quilt. When I added borders, I wanted to be sure not to exceed the size of my backing fabric, both in width and length.

• Had to add border - 3" each side
• inner line -yellow ½" wide fussy cut at 1"
• main border cut at 2½" wood grain horizontal, finish at 2"
• binding - yellow ½" wide cut at  2½ " wide
• Backing birds
• top 4 x 6" = 24" wide; add two 3" borders = 30"; WOF = 42"   ✓
• top 6 x 6" = 36" high; add two 3" borders = 42"; have 1¼ yd  = 45"  ✓

Previous post (dated 1/4/25) describes the arrangement of the blocks. That post did not contain the teal woodgrain fabric I used for the border. I reserved using the bird fabric as backing, instead of as a border, since its scale lent itself better to that.

Next up is the quilting. My first proposal was a simple diagonal grid (left image). I did not like crossing those center squares, though. I tried diagonal lines that skirted those central squares. This quilting was more dense than I wanted (center image). Then I considered, with all this squareness, some curves might be welcome. I tried the illusion of circles, sewn as a sequence of curves; I chose this rounded option (right image).

I stitched the curves one arc at a time (one fourth of a circle) using my HQ Half Circle Templates I used the outer edge of the 8" half-circle with a ½" echo foot, forcing the arcs to hit at the corners of the 6" squares. Completing one row at a time, per the following diagram, I stitched over to the right on the 1, 2, 3' s and back to the left with the 4's. 

The result looks deceptively like circles.

The borders have more curved squares, made freehand with arcs. I can do small curves freehand, but my skills are not smooth enough to do the larger curves without a template. Highlighter tape that I pencil-marked at intervals helped me line up the points directly across from the squares in the blocks. Highlighter tape  peels off with no sticky residue. I use one strip over and over again, lifting and moving it periodically as I stitch along, so I only have to mark those few vertical slashes once.

I used the same yellow fabric from the narrow insert for the binding. Here is a closeup of the quilt corner with the binding attached; also shown is the FMQ on the border as seen from the back.

 

  

Next are full photos of the front and the back. The finished size is 29½" x 41½". This was a fun, relatively quick project that I am pleased to say was made completely from my stash!

Fresh From Writing Goals

I had just completed writing my goals suggestions for 2025 (1/1/25 post) and decided to follow one tip about small projects. This small project checks many goal objectives. It is quick, just for fun, reduces my stash, and give me satisfaction due to a (hopefully) speedy completion. I can share it at my monthly small quilt group meeting so it checks the social box, too. Overall, this block write-up is quite a win-win for 2025. But I better not count my chickens before my eggs are hatched, so here is the project description.

I had a packet of fourteen 2.5" strips all in the same teal colored fabric line from American Jane fabrics that I'd bought a few years ago (pre-COVID, so maybe more than a few years). My best guess for the main color is teal per this following chart.

I used 12 strips, 6 strip pairs. I actually had 14 strips but I set aside two and I have already stashed them away in some forgotten niche of my sewing room. Each of the 6 strip pairs yielded 4 blocks each for a total of 24 blocks; two blocks are the same and the other two are complements of the first two. Each block pair took 2 pieces 6.5" long x 2.5" wide and 3 pieces 2.5" square. Four blocks came from two strip pairs with very little waste consuming 41" [2 x (13" + 7.5"]. I could toss those end selvage scraps very easily with no guilt.

Stitching up the blocks up was quick and easy. Arranging and rearranging them on my design wall took me at least an equal amount of time if not even a bit more. After several random attempts I settled on an organized symmetric arrangement. Although the two bold prints I placed in the four corners were my favorites, placing them central was very distracting and the eye could not wander. My stare was fixated dead center. The bold prints did better in the corners. This arrangement of 4 x 6 blocks measures 24" x 36". The block orientation alternated by 90° to minimize bulk at the seams.

The minimum size for a donation baby quilt for my guild is 30" by 36" so I need to come up with two 3" side borders. I am considering a bird print or a yellow links print I have in my stash. The bird background color is not an exact match but I think it could work, especially as a backing. Now is decision time, which equates to stall time in my book. (Maybe that definition of "quick" may morph a bit.) Here are the fabric choices I am considering for borders, backing, and binding. I have 1¼ yards of the bird print and ½ yard of the yellow links. I think I can make it work.

2025 Quilting Goals

Quilting is my hobby but every year I struggle with writing goals, expending time I could be quilting.  Not this year. I am repeating goals from last year, but viewing them as 2025 quilting suggestions instead of goals.

In 2025 I plan to:

• 1) Work from my stash - kit and scrap management
• kits - make or give away at least one kit
• kits - restrict purchases to no more than the number I make or give away
• scraps - develop a system to consolidate and control
• 2) Interface with other quilters - social 
• continue to blog and publish my blog books
• attend guild meetings and quilt shows
• get together with quilting friends
• 3) Intersperse small projects among big ones - fun, growth, satisfaction
• perhaps take a class, in person or online (fun)
• use opportunity to try new tools or skills on reduced scale (growth)
• reduce size of stash and amount of scraps (satisfaction)

In browsing quilting tips online, I found this rule of three to be a reasonable, non-specific suggestion. (per Siobhan Fitzpatrick, designer of Radiate)

Pick three projects that will help guide your work throughout the year. One should be a WIP (Work In Progress)—something you didn’t get a chance to finish this year but want to get done. Another should be a project you have the supplies for but never started (maybe that Halloween quilt that just went by the wayside). The final one should be a project that uses a new technique you really want to try (and this can be a small project—since it is a learning project). This way, you set yourself up to finish a project, make something you already know you want to make, and learn a new technique/skill. This will help set a positive, balanced tone for the year.