3:50 From Central

A Hat For an Antarctic Adventurer

2011-09-13T17:44:00.002+10:00

I have for a while now been avoiding a request from my husband to knit him a beanie. But not just any old beanie. An Antarctic explorers beanie. This of course may seem like a strange request unless you know that my husband is also an archaeologist and is returning this summer to continue archaeological work at Mawson's Huts. It is quite an adventure to get to Antarctic even in this day and age so hats off (pardon the pun) to the men who went down there to explore the region in the early twentieth century. Mawsons Huts are at Cape Denison, which is properly on the Antarctic continent and can only be accessed during the summer months when there is a bit less ice.

For the last two seasons my husband, lets call him adventure husband (AH) has been asking me to knit him a replica of Mawson's balaclava, made famous on the old Australian $100 note. Here is Mawson wearing said article of knitwear.

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The problem of course is that despite having a collection of vintage knitting patterns I am pretty crappy at knitting. So I have been politely turning him down. Given however, that this is the 100th anniversary of Mawson's first expedition to Antarctica, I felt that perhaps I should reconsider. So I am embarking on an Antarctic hat project. To start myself off on something that is less likely to be full of holes and more likely to fit I have started with a fairly basic beanie (apparently Mawson also had one of these), so that at least AH will have something to wear in the vintage Antarctic headgear vain. Although I suspect it will be fairly quickly abandoned for the high-tech gear provided by the Australian Antarctic Division.

The pattern I am attempting is from one of my WWII knitting pattern books.

This fellow looks like a dashing jewellery thief no? The sort who would seduce the ladies while relieving them of their valuables.

I am using lovely New Zealand merino wool in a suitable explorer grey colour. Despite having to restart the first few rows about 8 times (practice makes perfect don't they say?) progress is now being made. Will try to post some pictures of the finished article and all going well will be starting on that balaclava soon.

On the subject of knitting patterns I couldn't resist sharing a few more images from my collection. The back of the pattern above has a great ad, discouraging wastage during wartime with a great Dad joke about making wool go the distance.

Then there is this wonderful Vogue knitting book. I had to do a double take when I saw the year on this. 1947? The cover looks so modern and those sandals are rather like elegant Birkenstocks! The styling inside is also wonderful. A notch up from your avaerage knitting pattern. You can tell it is Vogue. Don't you love the lovely black jumper with the bell sleeves? It is a bit Hepburnesque. Or is that just the model? Maybe my knitting skills will improve enough to allow a jumper one of these days.

Outfits for Vintage Archaeologists

2011-07-28T12:06:00.003+10:00

Many people don't realise that Agatha Christie spent many years working on archaeological sites in the Middle East with her second husband Max Mallowan. During these years she wrote a number of her best known books including Murder on the Orient Express.

Recently, while re-reading her wonderful and light-hearted account of those years Come Tell Me How You Live, I found this terrific passage on the challenges of trying to purchase clothes for an adventure in the desert during the fashionable 1930s. I wanted to share it with you and have reproduced it below with a few illustrations for good measure.

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IN A FEW WEEKS' time we are starting for Syria!

Shopping for a hot climate in autumn or winter presents certain difficulties. One's last year's summer clothes, which one has optimistically hoped will 'do', do not 'do' now the time has come. For one thing they appear to be (like the depressing annotations in furniture removers' lists) 'Bruised, Scratched and Marked'. (And also Shrunk, Faded and Peculiar!) For another alas, alas that one has to say it! – they are too tight everywhere.

So - to the shops and the stores, and:

'Of course, Modom, we are not being asked for that kind of thing just now! We have some very charming little suits here - O.S. in the darker colours.'

Oh, loathsome O.S.! How humiliating to be O.S.! How even more humiliating to be recognized at once as O.S.! (Although there are better days when, wrapped in a lean long black, coat with a large fur collar, a saleswoman says cheeringly: 'But surely Modom is only a Full Woman?')

I look at the little suits, with their dabs of unexpected fur and their pleated skirts. I explain sadly that what I want is a washing silk or cotton.

'Modom might try Our Cruising Department.'

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Modom tries Our Cruising Department - but without any exaggerated hopes. Cruising is still enveloped in the realms of romantic fancy. It has a touch of Arcady about it. It is girls who go cruising - girls who are slim and young and wear uncrushable linen trousers, immensely wide round the feet and skintight round the hips. It is girls who sport delightfully in Play Suits. It is girls for whom Shorts of eighteen different varieties are kept!

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The lovely creature in charge of Our Cruising Deparrment is barely sympathetic.

'Oh, no, Modom, we do not keep out-sizes.' (Faint horror! Outsizes and Cruising? Where is the romance there?)

She adds:

'It would hardly be suitable, would it?'

I agree sadly that it would not be suitable.

There is still one hope. There is Our Tropical Department.

Our Tropical Department consists principally of Topees - Brown Topees, White Topees; Special Patent Topees. A little to one side, as being slightly frivolous, are Double Terais, blossoming in pinks and blues and yellows like blooms of strange tropical flowers. There is also an immense wooden horse and an assortment of jodhpurs.

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But yes - there are other things. Here is suitable wear for the wives of Empire Builders. Shantung! Plainly cut shantung coats and skins - no girlish nonsense here - bulk is accommodated as well as scragginess! I depart into a cubicle with various styles and sizes. A few minutes later I am transformed into a memsahib!

I have certain qualms - but stifle them. After all, it is cool and practical and I can get into it.

I turn my attention to the selection of the right kind of hat. The right kind of hat not existing in these days, I have to have it made for me. This is not so easy as it sounds.

What I want, and what I mean to have, and what I shall almost certainly not get, is a felt hat of reasonable proportions that will fit on my head. It is the kind of hat that was worn some twenty years ago for taking the dogs for a walk or playing a round of golf. Now, alas, there are only the Things one attaches to one's head :- over one eye, one ear, on the nape of one's neck - as the fashion of the moment dictates - or the Double Terai, measuring at least a yard across.

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I explain that I want a hat with a crown like a Double Terai and about a quarter of its brim.

'But they are made wide to protect fully from the sun, Modom.'

'Yes, but where I am going there is nearly always a terrific wind, and a hat with a brim won't stay on one's head for a minute.'

'We could put Modom on an elastic.'

'I want a hat with a brim no larger than this that I've got on.'

'Of course, Modom, with a shallow crown that would look quite well.'

'Not a shallow crown! The hat has got To Keep On!'

Victory! We select "the colour - one of those new shades with the pretty names: Din, Rust, Mud," Pavement, Dust, etc.

A few minor purchases - purchases that I know instinctively will either be useless or land me in trouble. A Zip travelling bag, for instance. Life nowadays is dominated and complicated by the remorseless Zip. Blouses zip up, skirts zip down, ski-ing suits zip verywhere. 'Little frocks' have perfectly unnecessary bits of zipping on them just for fun.

Why? Is there anything more deadly than a Zip that turns nasty on you? It involves you in a far worse predicament than any ordinary button, clip, snap, buckle or hook and eye.

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In the early days of Zips, my mother, thrilled by this delicious novelty, had a pair of corsets fashioned for her which zipped up the front. The results were unfortunate in the extreme! Not only was the original zipping-up fraught with extreme agony, but the corsets then obstinately refused to de-Zip! Their removal was practically a surgical operation! And owing to my mother's delightful Victorian modesty, it seemed possible for a while that she would, live in these corsets for the remainder of her life - a kind of modem Woman in the Iron Corset!

I have therefore always regarded the Zip with a wary eye. But it appears that all travelling bags have Zips.

'The old-fashioned fastening is quite superseded, Modom,' says the salesman, regarding me with a pitying look.

'This, you see, is so simple,' he says, demonstrating.

There is no doubt about its simplicity - but then, I think to myself, the bag is empty.

'Well,' I say, sighing, 'one must move with the times.'

With some misgivings I buy the bag.

I am now the proud possessor of a 'Zip travelling bag, an Empire Builder's Wife's coat and skirt, and a possibly satisfactory hat.

There is still much to be done.

Agatha in her Empire Builder's Wife's Outfit Source

Interruption in Transmission

2011-07-21T12:15:00.000+10:00

Well, I am long overdue in saying hello to my very small but hopefully cheerful band of blog followers! How nice to meet you all.

I am also overdue in posting, but am planning to return on the weekend with a post about Agatha Christie and archaeology. I am a big Agatha fan and yes, the name of my blog is a nod to her book 4.50 From Paddington.

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Tea things for vintage ladies

2011-07-10T17:50:00.000+10:00

I love morning and afternoon tea. I love the ritual of preparing and drinking tea and sharing homemade treats with friends and family. Over the years I have gathered together quite a collection of vintage tea things. Some came from my grandmother and great grandmother and others I have picked up here and there at markets, fetes and antique shops. Although my house is largely blues, creams and timbers I always seem to be attracted most to 20s-40s green and orange tones crockery.

So here is a little glimpse into my collection ....

The tablecloth is a wonderful square cloth, late 1930s I think, that often gets brought out for tea time.

The Trocadero teapot below was a gift from my father to go with my trocadero crockery pieces.

Owning these I feel I own a bit of Sydney history. The Trocadero or "The Troc" as it was fondly known was a dance club that opened in George Street, Sydney in 1936.

And finally for this post, one of the latest additions to my collection, a "My Fair Lady" plate that came to me earlier this year from my grandmother. It is so lovely.

Marvellous Max Dupain

2011-07-04T22:35:00.001+10:00

Max Dupain must still be considered one of Australia's best photographers. When I was growing up I had a poster of one of his pictures on the back of my bedroom door. This image to be precise.

It was Max Dupain that made me want to be a photographer when I grew up and I nearly did a degree in photography when I left school until archaeology called me in a different direction. I especially love his photographs of Sydney in the 1930s and 40s and how well they capture Sydney and Australia. I can still see this Sydney when I walk around the city, when I get the ferry, when I go to the beach and when I stand on the same corner at Central Station every day on my way to work that he photographed in 1935.

All images have been reproduced from www.maxdupain.com.au

When the postman calls ...

2011-07-04T10:03:00.000+10:00

I have been on a little buying spree lately to feed my recent and slightly alarming obsession with vintage patterns. Which at least takes up less room than my previous vintage crockery obsession. My latest purchases all seem to have arrived in the mail at once today.

There are the Simplicity dress patterns that have come to me from New Vintage Lady in Los Angeles.

The very interesting 1939 McCall publication called "Dressmaking Made Easy" that I managed to find for the amazing price of $3.95 here in Australia. No photos of that yet but there is a posting about it over at What-I-Found

A 1939 New Idea with the pattern for a cute tennis "frock" - and some truly hilarious ads for various potions and pills that will make you loose weight, cure troublesome nervousness, get rid of unwanted body hair etc.etc.

And a 1939 (there is a theme developing here) Australian Home Journal that came with pattern pieces for the four dresses on the front. Helpfully in my size. Love the Australian Home Journal.

I found this particularly interesting because I already have a 1942 Australian Home Journal, produced when there was a paper shortage during the war. So while the June 1939 magazine has separate pattern pieces for each dress, by 1942 they have very cleverly supplied pieces for the jacket only which you then fold and trace in particular ways to get the patterns for the three dresses. I am hoping to have a go at the pink dress with the geometric pocket detail soon, so can report back about how converting the pattern pieces works.

I also love the pattern in the 1942 magazine for the air-raid shelter suit, complete with hood - there is also a matching children's pattern for this a few pages later. Very much like the Winston Churchill inspired Siren Suits that were popular in the UK although with surprisingly wide legs given there were restrictions on fabric here at the time.

Some very lovely person at the National Library of Australia has made volumes of the Australian Home Journal from 1949 - 1952 available for free here where you can view online or download about 400 pages. It is well worth a look. In the online version the pages even turn. So make yourself a cup of tea and settle in for some after dinner reading.

The nth degree of charm and newness

2011-06-28T11:15:00.000+10:00

“Tonight dear? Of course – but only if you can find me.”

According to McCall, the “nth degree of charm and newness” can be achieved by decorating your room with matching chintz curtains, cushions, upholstery, bedspread and wallpaper and then making yourself a matching housecoat from the same material. I am not yet convinced that all that chintz would be relaxing - this perhaps explains the twin beds.

Unfortunately the housecoat pattern (McCall 3372 ) is not on the vintage pattern wiki to see what the non-chintz version might look like - but if you can find it, you might like to whip out your Singer, order in a few thousand yards of curtain material and get sewing.

The Memory of Buttons

2011-06-25T17:57:00.000+10:00

I have been raiding my mother's sewing stash today because I have decided it is high time I dusted off my somewhat rusty sewing skills and started to try my hand at sewing some vintage patterns. It was rather a trip down memory lane, especially when I found her button tin. As long as I can remember my mother has stored her buttons in this tin.

When I was very little I used to love to pick up handfuls of buttons and let them run through my fingers and hear the noise they made as I swirled them around in the tin. I loved all the shapes and colours and designs. Doing the same thing today I noticed some little ceramic buttons with flowers on that came from one of my favourite red cardigans when I was about five or six and the blue apple buttons from my corduroy overalls and the large blue vinyl covered button that reminded me of a shower cap and was always in there and never seemed to make it onto an outfit. What happy memories of outfits past and childhood hours in my mum's sewing room.

Why do I have so many 1940s knitting patterns when I don't knit?

2011-06-24T21:00:00.000+10:00

This is a question I ask myself every time I buy another knitting pattern for my stash.

1940s sewing patterns (alas) are few and far between in charity shops and second hand stores here - at least the ones I frequent, but knitting patterns abound. Was there perhaps a great sewing machine shortage during this period and the women of Australia were all distributed knitting needles? Or perhaps it was considered patriotic to knit, in support of the Australian wool industry - as Australia produces more wool than any other country in the world and as we were all taught at school Australia grew up on the sheep's back etc. etc.

It all started with Wartime Knitting: Standard Service Woolies for Army, Navy and Air Force, which I bought not because it was a knitting book but because it was from WWII. Then one thing led to another and suddenly I was buying every 1940s pattern book I came across. Mostly published by Patons & Baldwins I now have hundreds of lovely knitting patterns that I can't make. Is it the glamourous, cheerful models with their perfect hair sets that I like so much? Or the fact that the patterns all have names - such as Linda, Davinia, Jean and Lucille for the ladies or Edgar, Charlie and Walter for the men, or even in the case of one of my favourite books the pattern names are areas of London - the Mayfair, Marble Arch and Park Lane. Or maybe it is just the promise of a shinier, brighter future when I can actually knit these pieces and become glamourous and cheerful with perfect hair.

So in the spirit of hopefulness that someone talented and patient out there will be able to make one of these patterns I share the instructions for this fabulous dress from the McCall Summer 1947 Needlework magazine (on the right in the photo). One-piece dress No. 3271MC. But let's call her "Audrey", because every knitting pattern needs a name. As the magazine says "dressmaker details are handled in a highly flattering way in this one-piecer. Low-cut neckline, midriff ridging, turn-back collar and repeated ridge finish at the neck, sleeves and hemline are what take our eye!" It took mine too and hopefully it will take yours. And if you have a Vogue belt and a pair of nifty lapel clips to go with it - even better.

Sizes 14, 16, 18

Instructions are for size 14. Changes for sizes 16 and 18 are in parentheses.

Materials: Fleisher’s De Luxe Sock and Sport Yarn, 12 (13-15) 1-oz skeins. Fleischer’s white knitting needles size 2 (standard), English size 11. Fleischer’s steel crochet hook, size 2.

Gauge: 8 sts = 1”; 11 rows = 1”

Waist: Back: Cast on 100 (108-116) sts. P1 row. Inc Row (right side): K4 (8-12), * inc 1 st in next st, k9, repeat from *, end last repeat k5 (9-13); 110 (118-126) sts. Working stockinette st (p1 row, k1 row), inc 1 st each side every 6^th row 12 times; 134 (142-150) sts. Work even until 8” (8 ¼” – 8 ½”) from beg.

Armholes: Bind off 7 (8-9) sts at beg of next 2 rows for underarm. Dec 1 st each side every 2^nd row 9 (10-11) times; 102 (106-110) sts. Work even until 6 ¾” (7”-7 ¼”) above underarm.

Shoulders: Bind off 7 (9-11) sts at beg of next 2 rows, 4 sts at beg of next 14 rows. Bind off 32 sts.

Front: Cast on 108 (116-124) sts.

Ridge Pattern Point: k1 row for first ridge row. Inc row (right side): K4 (8-12), * in 1 st in next st, k10, repeat from *, end last repeat k4 (8-12); 118 (126-134) sts. P1 row, k1 row, 2^nd ridge row: P3 (7-11), K112, p3 (7-11), K1 row, p1 row, k1 row, 3^rd ridge row: P8 (12-16), k102, p8 (12-16). Inc 1 st each side of next row. Continue to shape underarm edges as on back, working ridge pattern with 5k sts less at each side in every ridge row until there are only k sts in last ridge row. This completes point. Working stockinette st, continue to shape underarm edges as on back; 142 (150-158) sts. Work even until 8” (8 ¼”-8 ½”) from beg, end with k row.

Armholes: Bind off 7 (8-9) sts at beg of next 2 rows for underarm. Dec 1 st each side every 2^nd row once (2-3 times,) end with k row; 126 (130-134) sts.

Ridge Pattern for Neck Border: First Row (wrong side): P 26 (28-30), k74, p26 (28-30). 2^nd Row: K2 tog, K 122 (126-130), k2 tog, p1 row. 4^th Row: K2 tog, k120 (124-128), k2 tog. 5^th Row: P25 (27-29), k 72, p 25 (27-29). Dec 1 st each side of next row, repeat decreases every 2^nd row 5 times, working ridge pattern with 1 k st less each side every ridge row; 110 (114-118) sts. Work 5^th ridge row, having 66 k sts in centre. Work 3 rows even. 21^st Row: P23 (25-27), slip on holder for right side, bind off, as to k, next 64 sts for neck, p to end. Working stockinette st. inc 1 st at neck edge every 4^th row 7 times, every 6^th row 5 times, shaping shoulder as on back when armhole is same length as back armhole. Take up sts of right side, finish to correspond.

Sleeves: Cast on 88 (92-96) sts. Work ridge pattern as on lower edge of skirt until 5 ridges. Working stockinette stitch, inc 1 st each side of every 6^th row 4 times; 96 (100-104) sts. Work even until 4” from beg. Bind off 8 sts at beg of next 2 rows for underarm. Dec 1 st each side every 2^nd row 9 (10-11) times, every 4^th row 7 times, every 2^nd row 3 times. Bind off 2 sts at beg of next 6 rows, 3 sts at beg of next 2 rows. Bind off 24 (26-28) sts.

Collar: Cast on 120 sts. Work ridge pattern as on lower edge of skirt, inc 1 st each side every 4^th row 5 times; 130 sts. Bind off as to k.

Finishing: Sew seams. Working from right side and keeping work flat, work 1 row s c on sleeve edges, bound-off sts of front neck and on short sides and bound off edge of collar. Sew cast-on edge of collar to neck edge, as illustrated. Steam. Use shoulder pads.

Skirt: First Half: Cast on 212 (220-228) sts for lower edge.

Ridge Pattern: K2 rows, p1 row, k1 row. Repeat these 4 rows 4 times, making 5 ridges on right side. Work stockinette st (p1 row, k 1 row) until 2” from lower edge, end with p row.

1^st Dec Row: K17, *k2 tog, k20 (21-22), repeat from *, end last repeat k17; 203 (211-219) sts. Work even until 4” from lower edge, end with p row. 2^nd Dec Row: K16, *k2 tog, k19 (20-21), repeat from *, end last repeat k17; 194 (202-210) sts. Work even until 6” from beg, end with p row. 3^rd Dec Row: K16, * k2 tog, k18 (19-20), repeat from *, end last repeat k16; 185 (193-201) sts. Continue to dec 9 sts every 2” once more, every 3” 3 times, having 1 st less between decreases after each dec row and 1 st less _ alternate sides after every 2^nd dec row. Work 8^th dec row when 21” above lower edge, or 7” less than desired length; 140 (148-156) sts at hipline. Dec 9 sts every 1 ½’ twice, as before. Work until 25” from lower edge, end with p row. Work 11^th dec row. * K 1 row on wrong side for ridge, k1 row, p1 row, k1 row repeat from * 3 times, working 12^th dec row in last row; 104 (112-120) sts. Continue ridge pattern for 16 rows more. Skirt should measure 28” from lower edge. Bind off. Make other half in same way.

Finishing: Sew seams. Work 1 row s c around lower edge, working from right side, keeping work flat. Steam. Sew waist to skirt. Work casing for elastic.

It All Begins With a Pair of Shoes ....

2011-06-23T23:01:00.000+10:00

I admit I have always been rather fond of a nice pair of shoes. Ever at risk of spending all my money on them I have always kept a tight rein on the actual size of my shoe collection - which is improbably small given my interest. I have however, been on a little vintage shoe splurge recently. Luckily I have rather small feet so I can actually find vintage shoes that fit.

My most recent purchase was an unexpected find. Always the nicest kind I think. I was away for the weekend in the the central west of NSW with a dear friend, which was really just an excuse for us to indulge in our common love of second hand shopping. We were in a tiny little out of the way place and discovered the most wonderful second hand store that had an astonishing array of very well priced vintage goodies. After nearly two hours in there (I kid you not) as I was staggering towards the door with my purchases I looked down and there nestled under a table were these beauties.

How I had managed to miss them during my previous ten laps around the store I have no idea. Of course they were coming home with me. The fact they actually fit was an added bonus. I love the gold leaf detail on the front and on either side of the strap and the fact that they have a worn toe, hopefully from many hours of fabulous dancing. I think they may be late 40s but have not yet managed to find out their exact age. All I know is that they are beautifully hand made.

Apart from their general loveliness I was also attracted by the fact they came from Hordern Brothers Ltd. This was a famous Sydney department store that operated from a wonderful building in the Haymarket throughout the early to mid twentieth century. Known more grandly as Anthony Hordern's Palace Emporium this building is sadly no longer with us. I remember hearing many stories growing up about my Nan and her many sisters making special trips to Sydney from the country just to visit Anthony Hordern's and stock up on hats and shoes and dress-making supplies.

I wonder what famous low price my shoes were? Or if they were originally bought on sale? Perhaps someone like my Nan made a special trip to Sydney from the country to buy them.

I love that there is a helpful assistant at each sale table, so civilised, but were those hats really a bargain at 3 shillings?

I am glad my Hordern Bros shoes have stood the test of time and survived long enough to be waiting for me in a tiny country town second hand shop. Although I won't be wearing them too often as the old girls are showing their age a little, I think a spot of dancing may be in order soon ...

Where to Begin?

2011-06-22T16:49:00.000+10:00

Well .....

I will admit this blogging caper makes me rather nervous. Particularly as I have only just discovered how to subscribe to other people's blogs (I am the first to raise my hand in the technically inept stakes). However, I have been so enjoying entering the lives and interests of some of the vintage ethusiasts out there (and lovely ladies you all seem too) that I thought I might share the odd thing in return. My ever encouraging husband tried to ease my concerns about it by suggesting it was really just sharing things I like with like-minded people. So that is what I will do.

So what do I like? Well, I love old things, which is a good thing because I make a living from finding out about the past (I'm an archaeologist) - but in particular I have a self-confessed obsession with the WWII homefront and all of that clever making do and mending and have been known to fairly regularly try out recipes from that era on my unsuspecting family and friends. Some of which have been successful and some not. I also love music from the 30s and 40s, fashion and design from the 20s to the 60s and well let's face it - all manner of vintage oddities.

First proper posting soon - with a lovely pair of vintage shoes and a story about a department store.