Wedding Bliss

June is the traditional month for weddings and I had the priviledge to show some of my bridal collection to the members of the Wild Rose Antique Collecting Club at their last meeting in June.
Here are some pictures of what I took and what had to be left at home.
Collecting bridal is not for the faint of heart or frail body!! It takes stamina to move, pack and store bridal gowns and those crinolines!!
That is why I have friends, good friends, strong friends and 3 strong sons (oh okay, and a healthy husband).
So much to collect in this collecting realm of bridal. I had no intention of becoming a collector of wedding dresses. When I was collecting vintage Barbie dolls and clothes I kept a look out for the first dress styles, 1959 to 1968, of real dresses to match Barbie’s fashion. Wedding dresses are like teddy bears, even though I am not a collector of teddy bears more than a few of them have found their way home with me.

What to take! It is so hard to decide what items to pull and show. I decide to bring my oldest and a variety of items.

Finding!!

References above

Bridal satin ivory shoes with stamp June 9, 1943 on the soles.

Deciding on accessories and displays.

This house isn't big enough....

Detail of a 1920s ivory silk wedding dress.

Patterns

Pearls, the June symbol and bridal tradition.

A 1950's high heeled plastic bride doll, a bit starry eyed...

1943 satin gown, waiting her turn to be steamed and pressed!

My newest find...a 1980s or 90s brass stand.

Many thanks to my boys and girlfriends who unloaded and unpacked at the hall.

From left to right, 1930s, 1913 about, and Muriel...1937.

Late 1960s or early 1970s; early 1980s puff and roses dress - forgot the crinoline to go under this one!

1970s, ruching 1980s in back and three colorful 1950 party dresses!
And 1972 Japanese (american) wedding kimono.

Belle of the Ball....Chantel in mid 1950's net dress with bolero.

Early 1970s...or late 1960s.

Thank you Wild Rose Antique Collecting for having us!
Same time next year....okay?

Glove Affair

 Items used in the 'Titanic' display in April at the Wild Rose Antique Club Show and Sale

Crochet, silk and kid gloves from before 1918.

Wristlets or Pulse Warmers as advertised in the Sears Roebuck Catalogue

Here is a pattern for Wristlets from the Columbia Book of Yarns 1901. Columbia Yarns 155 Wristlets Knit Material - Knitting Yarn, 1/2 hank, 3 Steel Knitting Needles No. 15. Instructions: Cast on 56 stitches, 2 right and 2 left, until you have the desired length, then finish with a crochet edge around the wrister.

And from ‘How to Use Florence Knitting Silk’ copyright 1881 and copied by the University of Southhampton Library as a pdf.

These wristlets are from the Sylvancroft estate.

I was inspired by a Bears Brand pattern for my first ‘wristlets’, more like gauntlets! I used the stitch pattern but that was all. Started to run out of yarn and decided to add fingers after all.

In the interest of wanting to knit something vintage…I used this pattern from an early 1940’s Vogue pattern book #15 (I couldn’t find a date, just going by the clothing and styling of the models).

Using Qiviuk yarn, the stitch pattern is a twisted rib and makes the fingers twist weirdly! The plastic glove holder is too big. They fit the recipient just fine.

Design decisions for the second pair of Qiviuk gloves. Again hoping to follow a vintage pattern, I choose one from the book “A Stitch in Time” Vintage Knitting Patterns 1930 – 1959 Vol 2. Originally a pattern from Weldon’s Knitwear Leaflet No B1249 from the early 1950s.

Determined to follow a pattern, I made up the stitch swatch, figured out my gauge to fit my hand, and proceeded to knit. It called for a double moss stitch, for some reason I used a stitch directory and not the pattern. My stitch swatch is not the same as their pattern which calls for K1 P1 and not K2 P2 etc.

Here is a vintage glove display piece from the early 1950s.

Orange gloves are hard to find.

Another pair of wristlets completed in time for the first snow!

Here is a picture of me in 1979 with mitts made by my mother. My friend Sharon took the picture for a photography assignment we were taking at Grant MacEwan. She received a good mark because of the clarity of the picture and capturing my feeling of being very cold!

SPANGLED!!

Sequins, Spangles and Sparkle

It is of no surprise that sequins and sparkle are back on everything fashionable; clothes, purses, shoes and hair accessories that were all the rage in the fall and winter 2011 collections.

The House of Worth in the late 1800’s mentions that one of their dresses was embellished with gold spangles – dashes of gold on the fabric.

Okay, this is the 50^th Anniversary Barbie, but her dress does have Spangles! And 1886 Harper's Bazaar gives a description of how to clean and use real fish scales in handywork! (precusor to sequins...?)

In the 1902 Sears Roebuck Catalogue – trimming is offered:

Sorry, this picture will not turn around.

1914 illustrator Etienne Drian made a watercolour of a long hobble gown in “evening dress moon-blue sequined silk” Costumes Parisiens, 1914 (no picture)

In the October 1918 Modern Priscilla magazine a headpiece – shaped like a tiara has black jet spangles:

Below - sequin detail on the shoulders of a black velvet, ivory silk lined hooded cloak from the late 1920s.

1920’s Hat and Detail

1930’s long black dress with green sequins

1940’s beaded cardigan

Black beaded and sequined purse, lined, metal  zipper; hard to say which decade this is from.

1952 Norman Norell, an American, designed a strapless, body hugging gown with all over red sequins.
(no picture)

1963 Vogue cover with black and white top using large sequins in a swirl pattern by Geoffery Beene. (love the hair)

1960’s red silk dress with silver sequins

1972 Halston – mauve and white jersey sequined evening gown with light silk mauve silk chiffon scarf trailing from the back neckline to hem. Sequins form flame pattern from hem to waist. Sleeveless, fitted bodice that drapes from the hips. (no picture)

1980’s pink silk short dress with pearl drop beads and sequins

1990’s wedding dress bodice with beads and sequins

2011 December Elle Canada cover featured a sequined dress with many other dresses and purses in the issue.

We knit with sequins,

Gene, the doll, wears sequins,

   

And Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz wore the most Famous sequined accessory of all time….the Ruby Red Slippers!  ( you get the picture…)