Flea Market Finds - Back To The Thirties

I had just left my favourite op shop empty handed and popped into the one next door that I rarely visit on account of it being one of those op shops that tries to be like a "new" shop - every time I go in there I'm disappointed by the lack of good vintage items and those they have are usually horribly over-priced.

But as I was about to leave I spotted something in the glass cabinet next to the counter.

OK, so it wasn't a bound volume of Madame Weigel's Journal of Fashion and if it had been I'd probably still be lying semi-conscious on the op shop floor. But I love the 1930s and had to have a look.

  

 Flicking through the pages, it was clear that life in the late 1930s was glamourous, new conveniences were making life easier and there were solutions for every complaint.

  

 A fabulous time to be frivolous and have fun in the sun.

  

  

The Australian Woman's Mirror had lots of ideas for those about to be married.

  

And political movements in Europe seemed a world away, surely nothing to worry about?

For now women were free to worry only about raising their children, keeping a nice home and keeping up with fashions and beauty treatments.

And without political correctness to worry about........why here's a novel idea for decorating a lamp!

("Abos and their art being a vogue right now"...)

Good point! A timely reminder since I'll be turning 40 next Friday. Fortunately, since giving up wheat I'm slimmer than I've been in years.

And another good point....I've been thinking about a lovely cup of tea the whole time I've been working on this blog post. Off to boil the kettle.....

Oh! Did I do the right thing to part with $50 for this bound volume of 18 editions of The Australian Woman's Mirror??

Wonderful Weigel's

I've been obsessed with Weigel's patterns for awhile now. It began with my first Weigel's pattern, found at my local Salvos a few years back...a rather smart men's waistcoat.

 

Since then I've been avidly seeking out Weigel's patterns. I'm gradually cataloguing as many as I can find on the Vintage Patterns Wiki. When I began there were around 20 or so Weigel's listed...now there are over 700! Still, I believe that in the lifetime of the Weigel's company, 1880 - late 1960s, approximately 10,000 patterns were made. I've got a long way to go!

Madame Weigel's Journal of Fashion, published up until 1950, is a great source of Weigel's patterns too. I've been collecting them for a little while now, the next step is to find some time to go through them all and scan the patterns for the Wiki. The other amazing source for Weigel's patterns are the scarce-as-hens-teeth Weigel's pattern catalogues. I'm the proud owner of ONE.

 

These were published at least quarterly...where have they all ended up? I've seen evidence of past sales on eBay, before I was collecting. I tracked down a beautiful, fragile 1920s catalogue to the State Library of South Australia. I had to request to view it, then register as a user for their special collections room where they presented it to me in a cardboard folder. Scanning was not an option as the pages were too fragile, so I spent two afternoons painstakingly photographing each tiny garment image. Nearly needed a stretcher after hunching over the table for all those hours. I'm yet to find the time to upload and edit all those photos, then to add them to the Wiki, but here's a sneak preview of the cover.

And another recent discovery was that the National Library of Australia has several original Weigel's catalogues and magazines. Digital copies can be requested online and are reasonably priced, delivered via email as a lovely scanned file. I ordered two catalogues from 1953 and was delighted to see this gorgeous cover appear on my computer screen.

So, I have many hundreds of hours work to do on the Wiki! Oh, and if you ever find an original Weigel's catalogue in your travels, you'll know who to tell.