As we draw to the end of our Mad Men competition it's time to learn a little bit more about our Sponsor, Michelle of
Patterns From the Past.
So Michelle, how did you get started selling vintage patterns?I first started selling vintage sewing patterns 14 years ago on sewing list serves. I used to sell grab bag lots of a sewing patterns in various sizes. This was just as the world wide web and html was being developed. I created my company's website over 13 years ago. I found it was cheaper to go to tag (yard) sales and buy large boxes of sewing patterns then to just buy the patterns I liked.
Do you have a favourite period of clothing and if so what is it about it that you like?I love the fashions of the 19teens and 1950's. I grew up visiting the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island learning about the life of the Astors and Vanderbilts. I loved reading the Oz books by L. Frank Baum which were filled with beautiful illustrations of 19teens and 1920s fashions as drawn by John R. Neil. I love the 1950s for their full skirts and amazing collars. Both era's clothing makes me want to dance the night away.
Where do you score your patterns from and how many do you actually have?I get a lot of patterns from private estate sales, yard (tag) sales, groups that have fabric/sewing sales, and thrift stores that get large donations. I also have a few buyers who I work with. I have over 2000 sewing patterns on my website and I have probably 4,000 or 5000 more in my backstock.
Are you a sewer? If not, why not and if so how long have you been sewing for? Which pattern(s) from your store would you love to sew yourself?Yes, I learned to sew in home economics class in Junior High school. I started sewing more seriously when I got out of college. One of my many hobbies is
Vintage Dancing where I dance to music from the 1850s - 1920s in historical clothing. I go to dance week in Newport, Rhode Island where I spend the week taking dance classes in the morning, followed by afternoon tea, and then a formal ball in the evening. Lots of changing of clothing! You can't go to the store and buy clothing like that, so I started to sew my garments for it. After 15 years of doing that, I now have most of the gowns I need for that.
I presently sew Halloween costumes for my kids and I like to make interesting projects from men's vintage neckties. I spend a lot of my time working on shipping out orders to my customers, and uploading new patterns to my website.
The pattern in my store I would love to sew for myself is Vogue 4893 - if only it was in my size!!!
What is your favourite pattern in your store at the moment?I love the Simplicity Designer's patterns on the pages:
http://www.oldpatterns.com/simplicity48.html &
http://www.oldpatterns.com/simplicity50.html. They were only produced for a short time period. The illustrations are just great for them! They are oversized patterns. I think they were Simplicity's answer to the Vogue designer patterns.
What's the most expensive pattern you've sold and what made it so special?I had to look this one up. I sold this pattern (Pictorial Review 6149) for $90.
1930s pattern are very hard to find. I have a bunch of 1920s patterns. There seems to be a bunch of them and the patterns from the 1940s. I never find a bunch of patterns from the 1930. The bias cut patterns are very hard to find and sell quickly.
I am pretty sure early on I had a 1950s designer wedding gown pattern that I sold for $100.
How do you work out your pricing for patterns, is it based just on age, condition or on the availability of each pattern or something else entirely?Pricing is a tough thing to do. It has to do with the condition of the pattern, its size, style, and era.
Does the popularity of vintage patterns change from year to year and if so what would you think may cause that?Yes- it really depends on what fashions are popular. When I first started selling sewing patterns, the 1940s era was hot. Many people where trying swing dancing - The Gap had its famous swing dance ad. Everyone wanted to make swing dance dresses. Right now I'm selling a lot of jumpsuit patterns.
In your opinion is sewing vintage becoming more or less popular?I think there are more people sewing then 10 years ago. I think TV programs like Project Runway, and blogs like yours and
Threadbangers,
dressaday and
Pattern Review make sewing interesting to younger sewers. I think more people are sewing in Australia and the UK than the US. We are losing fabric stores every year. There are a lot of people quilting in the US - but not sewing clothing.
Anything else you'd like to share with us?I'm thrilled that shows like Mad Men are out there. I love it when TV shows and movies do their homework and bring to our attention all the great fashions of the past eras! I love studying historical fashions.
Thanks very much Michelle and thanks for sponsoring our September competition!Remember to get your entries in by the end of September 30th (for those of you in different timezones to Blogger remember to get them in while Blogger is still tagging posts with that date!). I will be drawing a winner using a random number generator on the 1st October.
Happy sewing!
Anna
First of all, thank you very much to Anna for allowing me to become a member of Sew Retro! I have been a lurker for a long time but finally got courage enough to join. My name is Jenny and I have been sewing for about 20 years; I come from a long line of seamstresses and am proud to carry on the tradition. I also work at a vintage clothing store here in Phoenix so I get to live the vintage dream, for the most part! We recently put on a huge vintage fashion show that was Mad Men themed, and I wore a vintage purple wool dress that turned me into Joan. ( The fact that I am a redhead didn't hurt, either!) My good friend wore a dress I made for the finale of the show-I was inspired by the polka dot dress that Betty wore in the episode where she had her meltdown. It was a vintage 1960 pattern and new fabric. It was the first time I had ever worked with organza and taffeta together, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It came together like a dream and I did tons of handwork on it. My friend's fella ended up buying it for her, so I am very happy that it found a good home. It's funny-I had planned to make this dress for myself a long time ago, but now that I have made it and my friend has it, I don't feel the need to exactly replicate it for myself. I plan to do a variation on it someday instead. So, this is my entry into the Mad Men competition! (That's not a real cigarette-we all had the bubblegum ones, just for fun. The fakes actually worked out really well!)
Remember how my first Mad Men comp entry was for Jane, Roger Sterling's second wife? Well, it seemed only fair to dress his first wife Mona, too. Initially I was aiming for Joan but the colour and slightly 'older' feel to this one made it destined for Mona. Maybe she'll wear it to the divorce settlement.
So Michelle, how did you get started selling vintage patterns?
Where do you score your patterns from and how many do you actually have?
The pattern in my store I would love to sew for myself is Vogue 4893 - if only it was in my size!!!
What is your favourite pattern in your store at the moment?
My first post was a 1940's dress with sequins that my mother-in-law gave me that that belonged to her mother. I mentioned a 1920's dress that I couldn't get on my mannequin. Well, on the day that I did photos with my sister (with the finger waves done at the beauty school) we snapped some pictures for you of this vintage beauty. It really isn't as attractive on a body as I had imagined it would be, and now I'm wondering if maybe it isn't maybe early '30's?? The dress has no closures and no shaping, so it slips over the head and looks like a bag straight on. The back of the dress (covered by the jacket) is very interesting, with a ruffle going all the way around the arms circling to the back. I've drawn a quick sketch for you. My sis didn't want to show us her bra straps so she wouldn't take the jacket off. In those days, bras were in their infancy, and were not very helpful for support, so flat unshapen dresses would be just fine. Being flat was popular, of course, and I remember stories of my grandmother wrapping her chest in kitchen towels to make her look more flat!
