I still equate summer with reading, and to encourage all my readers to find a good book and sit and just enjoy, I'm giving away a vintage themed novel.  This book is Cupid and Diana, by Christina Bartolomeo.  From the back cover:

Diana Campanella is the owner of a vintage clothing store in Washington, DC, teetering on the brink of disaster.  She and her blue-blood lawyer fiance still have not set a date for their wedding.  And it's becoming more difficult than ever for Diana to keep the peace in her big, unruly Catholic family.

But just when all hope is lost, Diana meets a rumpled New Yorker named Harry, who casts a new light on her life and its possibilities.  Now all she has to do is decide whether Harry's warmth and great sense of humor is a better bet than the familiar security her fiance has to offer.

Okay, this is pretty predictable fare, but what else is summer for?

To enter, just post a reply here.  If you suggest another book for summer reading, I'll enter your name twice!  Name will be drawn on July 8th.  Good luck!

And just to mention, this book is "pre-read" so I'm recycling it.  Always multi-tasking!

I got the above ad from Pam at glamoursurf.com after she posted it during the VFG Sportswear workshop.  Not only is it a great ad, it was important to me because I have the shorts in the illustration!  It's always great to get a date verification for things in my collection, especially in the form of an ad or magazine copy.

The ad comes from 1944 - note the reference to War Bonds.  Even though clothes were rationed and fabric was in short supply, the American sportswear makers still managed to come up with some wonderful sportswear.  This pleated (front only, to save fabric) short style is one of the most flattering shorts ever made, and they look just as fresh in 2008 as they did in 1944.

I just returned from my niece's wedding in lovely Abington, Virginia.  I traveled up with my sister and another niece, and much to Niece Amelia's chagrin, we stopped at every junk and antique shop along the way!  Arriving in Abington, we dropped her off at our hotel and proceeded to explore the antique shops of the town, where I got really lucky: an early 1920s linen motoring coat.

Of all the small historic Southern towns I've visited, Abington is a favorite.  The Blue Ridge setting is gorgeous, as is the town itself.  Many of the buildings predate the Civil War and they are well preserved.  Just walking through the town, which I did this morning before breakfast, is a delight!

The wedding took place at a grand old home that is now a popular venue for such events.  It was outside, and was picture perfect.  Most of my family was able to attend, and it was just a joy spending this special time with my two brothers and my sister.  And here I am with two special nieces:

The above picture is me and niece Lauren Elizabeth, my beautiful namesake (I'm Sharon Elizabeth).  She is the sister of Bride Lindsay and was a bridesmaid.  Quote, "I'll never wear purple again!"  Silly girl looked great in her dress!

And this is me and niece Amari, also wearing purple, also looking beautiful.  Okay, I promise this is the very last time I'm going to show my dress.  Please note the sparkly Scotty!

After almost a week, I finally have the dress I've been making for my niece's wedding all finished and ready to wear!  The silk fabric worked up beautifully and using my new machine was a dream!

You might recall that the inspiraton for my dress was one worn by Mrs. Kennedy on her trip to India in 1962. Because I don't really like V necklines on me, I decided to go with a bateau neckline.  I also made the belt just a bit more narrow, mainly because I'm quite short and like a smaller belt on me.  Otherwise, the dress is very similar to the original...excepting the color, of course!

I didn't have time to line it, and it is a bit scratchy inside as it is underlined with silk organza, but I'll be wearing a 1930s silk teddy underneath.

So, there you have it!  It is a bit plain.  What about a big, sparkly Scotty Dog pin to spice it up?!

I got a package in the mail the other day from Robert Colman.  If you are a regular reader of this journal you know that he is the son of California sportswear maker Alex Colman, and himself a one-time president of the company.  The package contained a wonderful portfolio, a sort of 1950s "power-point" of the influence the Alex Colman brand was having on the fashion industry.  I'm not sure what the purpose of the portfolio was, but it is fascinating reading and a real delight to browse through.

I'm going to use the book to help finish the webpage I've started on Alex Colman.  It tells the story from 1949 - 1955 very nicely.

Funny, but I had always associated the Alex Colman with those fantastic prints the company produced in the 1960s, not realizing they did some pretty nifty ones in the 50s as well.  For some reason, most of the 50s things I've seen with the label have been solid in color.  But check these out:

And all this talk about the Colman label made me realize I did not have an example in my own collection, so what could I do but go shopping!  Here's the fruit of my labor:

I'm in the process of adding some new pages to the fuzzylizzie.com site.  These will be themed pages of my vintage photos.  I have the first one up: Camping and Hiking Outings.  Each photo links to an old blog entry where I wrote about each one.

In the next few days I'll be adding bathing suits and department stores of the past.

North Carolina used to be the textiles capital of the USA, and even today there are quite a few factories struggling along.  We are also associated with fabric shopping, and in the good old days, one could spend days going from factory outlet to factory outlet stocking up on the product of each factory.  Well, those days are no more, but there are still some pretty thrilling fabric opportunities in my part of the world.

As I posted a few days ago, I need a dress.  I decided on the design, and even found a pattern I could adapt.  Next step - fabric shopping.  First I looked through my own large stash of vintage fabrics, but my mostly cotton prints were just not what I needed.  Next thought: Mary Jo's.  Mary Jo's is a Gastonia institution, a sewer's destination, to some, Nirvana.  But with time running out and the fact that the trip would cost $40  in gasoline, I decided to look a bit closer to home.

For a small city, Asheville has some incredible fabric shops.  I decided to first check out  Waechter's Silk Shop.  Waechter's has been around forever - actually since 1929.  I first went into the shop years ago with a friend and her mother, who was looking for fabric to make a coat.  I was already sewing and was completely blown away by Waechter's.  It was in a long narrow shop on Wall Street, and it was almost like going back in time.  And that was in the late 1960s!  I made my first purchase there - Pendleton wool for a jacket - in the late 1970s, shortly before they joined the exodus out of downtown. 

They ended up in their present location, on Charlotte Street, near the Grove Park Inn, and they are still the first place I think of when I want a quality fabric.  They even have a nice selection of Liberty Tana lawns - priced at $36 a yard!  In fact, the first Tana lawn I ever bought was from Waechter's in the 1980s.  I paid about $12 a yard and absolutely loved it.

They have a very nice selection of silks, and I pretty much decided on a blue/green dupioni.  But there was a line at the counter, so I decided to check out the secord store on my list, the House of Fabrics.   The House has been around a very long time too.  I can remember shopping there in the early 70s.  The best things about this store are the owners.  They are an elderly couple who know their business.  I was fingering the dupioni when she came over to help.  And in this store, you really get help.  Buying fabrics from a person who really knows her fabrics is an experience that one rarely gets at your local Hancocks.

She wanted to see the pattern I was using, and I whipped out the McCall's from 1963.  She was obviously delighted with my choice, going on about how the dress was perfect for the fabric, and how pretty the dresses were in the early 60s.  She was really interested when I told her that I sell vintage patterns, saying that she was sure I was doing well with them because the Butterick Retro patterns were her biggest sellers.  But, she added, so many people can't wear them because women do not have waists, these days!

So, here is what I ended up with, though the actual fabric is a bit brighter and greener.  My photo-shop skills just did not do it justice.  The dress is about finished, and since some of you have asked, I'll post a photo when it is completed.

Starting on Monday, June 23rd, I'll be conducting a workshop on the development of American Sportswear.  This will take place on the Vintagefashionguild.org public forums, which are open to all.  You don't have to register in order to read the workshop, but in order to post a question or a photo, you will need to register as a friend.

The workshop will continue through Wednesday, with a different topic being discussed each day.  So a bit of a preview: The workshop will start with a brief historical overview, and will slide right into bathing suits. I'd love to see what you have in the way of vintage swimwear, and also vintage photos of bathing beauties would be good to share.

On Tuesday, I'll talk about how sportswear evolved in private situations: women's colleges, summer camps... Got gymsuits? Time to show them off. Again vintage photos would also be great.

On Wednesday, I'll talk a little about active sportswear - tennis, bicycling, golf, hiking, skiing.... And then how active sportswear spilled over into the everyday lives of women. I'll briefly mention some of the sportswear greats- McCardell, Carolyn Schurner, Tom Brigance and many more.

Workshop starts around noon.  See you there!

Bravo TV announced last week that the next season of Project Runway will debut on July 16.  I watch very few TV shows, but for a fashion lover, Project Runway is a don't miss show.  Even non-fashionistas love it for the drama of the Parsons workroom!

I'm not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg:  the renewed interest in home sewing or Project Runway.  I know for my ownself, watching the show makes me want to dig out a pattern and go to work.  In fact, I recently decided that I needed a new sewing machine.  Considering that I've been limping along on my husband's grandmother's old Kenmore, I think I was overdue for one!

So now I'm working on my first major project, a dress for my niece's up-coming wedding.  I had planned on wearing my newly-found Harvey Berin dress, but I've just decided that it is just not festive enough.  So I went on an internet search for an early 60s cocktail dress that

1. Was not black.  2.  Was not dowdy  3.  Fit me. 

Now I've seen hundreds of these pretty little dresses in my time, but of course the moment I go in search of one I'm not going to find a single suitable thing.  So I look through some books for inspiration, and there it is being worn by Mrs. Kennedy on a trip to India in 1962:

From Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years  (You need this book)

My version will have this dress as its base:

Now to find the fabric!  I'm pretty sure I won't buy the same shade of orange..more likely something in the blue family.

What some women think to be the perfect summer dress got its start about 60 years ago as a wrap around house dress.  Yes, this is another Swirl post.

About a month ago a VFG friend sent me a link to an unusual Swirl she had found for sale.  Unusual because it was floor length.  The lenght wasn't the only oddity - this dress was clearly before 1966, and it had the regular Swirl label, not the later ones associated with maxi dresses: SwirlGirl, Concepts 70s and 80s, and Swirl with Maxine.  I knew that the changing times were fastly making the "housedress" obsolete, but I did not realize that even before the introduction of the new labels that Swirl was attempting to update their image and to market their products to a younger crowd.

So it was not so much of a surprise whan I spotted this dress in the March, 1964 Seventeen magazine this week:

"For relaxing or entertaining at home, Susan chooses this long, full whirl of dotted swiss cotton.  It has an easy back-wrapped skirt strewn with embroidered flowers, a demure square neckline and a pretty ribbon tie belt in a rose pink.  In sizes 7 - 15J.  By Swirl, about $20."

From this you can see that by 1963 Swirl was planning to move into the juniors market.  It must have been a real coup, getting a Swirl pictured in the youthful Seventeen!    By the next year, teens had their own Swirl label, SwirlGirl.

Last week, I had business in Easley, SC, the town where Swirls were manufactured.  The factory, built in 1953, stood empty for years after the company shut down its operation.  But now the building is being used again, converted into multiple business spaces.

Before you read any further, you should be advised that I sell things on the internet.  Not, many things, but until a few months ago I was selling quite a bit.  So I'm very sympathetic to internet sellers.  I think my real problem here is that so many more people are doing it now, and, well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I also buy a lot from interent sellers.  It is much cheaper than filling my car with that liquid gold aka gasoline.  It helps out small business people and it is great knowing I've given old things a new life, far from the landfill.  So I get lots of packages in the mail.  But it was quite a shock to open one of my latest finds and to see this:

The cutest 1970s novelty knit ever - with the Salvation Army tag still attached.

First, it does not bother me in the least that the fabric came from the Salvation Army.  I'm no stranger to that chain of stores.  It does not bother me that the seller paid .99 plus tax for an item that I turned around and gave her $6 plus shipping for.

In fact, I'm exactly sure what bothered me about this.  It is that the seller didn't care enough to remove the tag.  It wasn't at all hidden, so she must have seen it.  Can you imagine walking into a retail store and on the tags was the actual cost of the item to Gap or Ann Taylor or Armani?  Most people would put the item back and wonder why they were being cheated!  You can be darned sure these big companies do not want consumers to know that the sweater you are thinking about plunking down $98 for, actually cost them $8.67.

And then you have the thrift stores who have decided they do not want to sell to resellers.  It doesn't matter that thrift stores are booming in a time when retailers are struggling.  And a lot of that is due to the 1000s of people who are shopping thrifts for items to resale.  Some thrifts have put up signs saying they do not sell to ebayers, and so on, and others simply deface the merchandise:

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that any efforts to reuse old objects should be applauded.  One of the great things about the internet is that it has allowed people to sell millions of items that might have otherwise ended up in the trash.  The thrift store gets the same amount of money whether the buyer is a reseller or not.

And unfortunately, some thrift stores still have not heard about the resurgance in home sewing, as I know of at least three stores near me who refuse to "fool with" old patterns.  I'm doing my best to enlighten them.

Despite the forecast high of 100*F on Friday, I decided to make the drive to one of my favorite flea markets.  Yes, it was hot, and yes, I was miserable at times, but all in all, it was a great trip.

First, I found some 1940s and early 50s American Fabrics  magazines.  I've loved this vintage magazine for years, and had quite a few issues, but I'm always on the prowl for more.  They come up on eBay pretty often, but they are big and bulky, and the postage is always expensive, as are the magazines themselves.  So I was delighted to find a stack of them at the flea Market on Friday.  The seller was a lovely Scotsman, not an Englishman, and he had the good sense to be exhibiting inside an air conditioned building.

Check out the Dali cover!

I also made friends with Travis:

Travis's trick was to sneak under the table covering to check  out the customers.  Travis wasn't mad; he too was inside where he was nice and cool.  This was no day for a dog to be outside!

So that only leaves the Flea Market Fanatic, and I'm afraid I did go out in the noonday sun, though I did arrive early and did the outside exhibitors first.

I spent the day yesterday recovering, enjoying the American Fabrics.  And I got a bit of a surprise when I looked through the last one.  The issue is on paisleys, and one of the prints featured was the Springmaid Persian print that I posted here a couple of weeks ago.

And this ad:

The ad doesn't say that the dress is by Schnurer, but I'm betting that it is.  And check out her shoes!  Even they are made from the Persian fabric.

"Experts call it one of the finest examples of American printed fabric.  You'll call it a dream date - and so will your beaux.  Springmaid's new Persian print features all the bevy of Springmaid beauties in glowing color,  Watch for it in dresses, sportswear, beachwear, blouses, skirts, men;s sport shirts, shorts and pajamas at the finer stores soon."  American Fabrics, Spring 1951

I felt really bad yesterday, featuring a company that was renowned for prints, and then showing none.  So some of my vintage friends have contributed photos for a little Alex Colman Print Fest.  Some of these are still for sale; click the links.

Thanks to Sydneysvintageclothing

Thanks to Cemetarian

Thanks to Dandelionvintage

Thanks to Joules

Thanks to VintageClothesLine

Thanks to Dorothea's Closet

Thanks to DaisyFairbanks

Long ago sold, but still great!  Thanks to APrizeEveryTime

If you know vintage clothing, then you know the Alex Colman label.  The California company produced some of the best printed clothes ever, in my humble opinion.  I was delighted recently to be contacted by Robert Colman, the son of the founders, and himself a president of the company during the 1970s.  He very graciously agreed to answer a few questions.

Again, I'd like to thank Mr. Colman for sharing this important company history with us!

I love the idea of Karma, truly love it.

I had my own little karma-phala recently.  Because I'm retired, I have time to work with groups that need a hand.  One thing I love doing is transporting dogs to new homes or to adoption shelters.  The drive is usually less than 2 hours, and I spend the return trip exploring new towns and hopefully, finding an antique shop or two.  Saturday, after I dropped off my two new friends, Cody and Delta. with another transporter, I went to a resale shop I hadn't  visited in years.

And there, in the racks of Kathy Lee and Mossimo, was a real treasure - an early 1960s Harvey Berin LBD.

Now, my photo is truly sorry, but this dress is a dream!  It's made from a nice woven rayon and is completely lined in silk.  There's almost as much handwork as there is machine stitching.  Best of all, it fits me, and thus, is a keeper.  It will probably make its debut at my niece's wedding later this month.  I might even post a picture of me wearing it.

I'm not saying that I make such a nice discovery everytime I do a dog transport.  But I'm always rewarded, nevertheless.

A non-animal-loving friend recently asked if I didn't get tried of working to help creatures that can't show their appreciation.  Only a person who does not know dogs would have asked such a thing.  I never fail to get a good measure of friendly tail wags and loving licks.  But the best thing is how not one of them has ever judged how I do the job.  My driving isn't too slow or too fast.  They don't mind my Sinatra CDs.  They don't even mind me singing with Sinatra! 

If only people could be so kind.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev'ryone come on.

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna knock you off your feet,
Better recognize your brothers,
Ev'ryone you meet,
Why in the world are we here,
Surely not to live in pain and fear,
Why on earth are you there,
When you're ev'rywhere,
Come and get your share.

John Lennon

It's almost summer camp time.  The first camps for girls were opened in 1902, and within a few years they were located throughout the eastern US. Because these camps were for girls only, the prohibition against girls wearing pants in public did not apply, and in photos of even the earliest camps you see girls and young women wearing bloomers. By the 1920s middies and bloomers were standard wear at camp. In a 1920 list of articles to bring to Camp Keystone near Brevard, NC, girls were instructed to bring 8 middies, 4 bloomers and a heavy sweater. Skirts were not mentioned at all.

So the younger sisters, and even daughters, of the pioneering college students who first wore bloomers on a regular basis spent their summers attired in the relative freedom of middies and bloomers. And before long, this "uniform" was pretty much standard schoolgirl attire, although middies were worn with skirts outside the gymnasium. The girls of the teens became women in the Twenties and Thirties, and were the first to wear short and slacks in public. Not surprising, really.

All of the above is from my up-coming workshop that I'll be presenting in 3 weeks on the VFG boards.  I have really neglected my poor lonely journal, because I got so involved in the writing of the workshop and finding just the right photos.  I had not planned to get it squared away quite so early, but I was afraid I've have one of those college class dreams - the one where I was enrolled in courses but was neglecting to go to class until the term was half over!  I had that dream all through college, and when I started contemplating grad school, I started having it again.  It was the single most important issue in my decision not to further my formal education!

But I digress.  The above photo is from Camp Merry Meeting.  I have no idea where this camp was located, but I got the photo in Ellijay, Georgia, not that that really means anything.  It was probably taken in the early 1920s when bloomers were still full. I love that their stockings are rolled to below their knees.  Rebels!

I've had this beautiful car ad on my desk for several weeks, knowing I'd eventually get around to posting it.  It's from 1922, and is for a Jordan Silhouette.  I'd never even heard of it.

From France, it comes -- chic -- bright -- and full of life.

On the road to Everywhere it goes -- silent -- supple -- smooth -- and smartly continental.

And gas was something like 25 cents to boot!

But looking at this ad all these weeks, I've gotten attached to it, so I decided to use it for a bit of an update to the journal.  I've made a tiny logo for here and the fuzzylizzie.com homepage, and I tweaked the name a bit, something I've been thinking about for a very long time.

What I really love about this ad is how the old peasant man and the boy are every bit as attractive as the stylish couples in the Jordan.  How could they top the crisp white smocks, and those snappy caps?  Impossible!

One of my favorite things about having my website and journal is that I get interesting email from people with like interests.  Last week, I got a fantastic one from Lisa of Deja Vu Antiques.  She had seen my article on the SpringMaid Pin-up fabric, and wrote to say she had a swimsuit from what she thought was the Harem or Persian fabric.  Not only that, but the suit was from designer Carolyn Schnurer, one of the sportswear greats from the 1940s and 50s.

Close Ups of the fabric:

What a great print.  The pin-ups aren't as "in your face" as they are in the originals, and I can imagine that the original wearer got more than one double-take as the print suddenly dawned on the person admiring her suit.  This print has a really interesting history, so if you haven't read the article, you might find it to be fun.

You can still find the fabric from time to time.  I ran across some of the original at a flea market several years ago, and I've seen it surface on eBay.  And there was a full line of sportswear produced by Cole of California.

Lisa also shared this great Schnurer dress with me, modeled by the lovely Ms. Sara Rott.  Schnurer and her business partner husband were great travelers, and she was obviously influenced by what she saw in other cultures.

So now, with all the other writing I've got planned, I *have* to fit in a new article on Carolyn Schnurer.  If anyone has any sources they would like to share, I'd love to know about them!

First, I want to announce a new site that I'll be running temporarily.  It's Marketeer Bags, and I'm doing this as a fund-raiser for an animal rescue group with which I'm involved, Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation.  Over the past few months I've been making these bags and now they are on the market.  They are made from 100% re-used materials, and all the prints come from rescued vintage fabrics.

If you see one that strikes your fancy, know that 100% of the profits will go to help rescue  homeless animals from my local animal shelter, which is not a no-kill shelter.  This organization is working hard to save lives and I'm proud to be a small part of it.

Also, I have a new article on my site, Philip Mangone.  I'm working toward adding biographies of some of the lesser known designers and makers of the 20th century.

And last of all, if you've noticed that I've not been posting as often lately, it is not because I'm a total slacker.  I'm working on a workshop that will be held on the VFG Public Boards June 23-25.  The topic is the History of Women's Sportswear.  You don't have to be a VFG member to participate, but you will need to register as a VFG Friend in order to post.  I'll make another reminder later in June.

I've been a fan of thrift stores since the early 1980s. Over the past 25 years I've found some incredible things in thrifts.  And I'm not one of those people who is always bemoaning the "fact" that there's no good vintage making its way to thrifts any longer.  The vintage is getting there,  but so are other buyers!

Lately I've had very little luck finding older stuff at thrifts.  They are great for craft supplies and fabrics, but I've made a lot of visits to my local thrifts and found very little vintage clothing or household accessories.  So I was delighted to find the print above in a thrift shop last week.

It came from a Habitat for Humanity thrift.  I love  their shops.  They don't carry clothes, but they do have fabrics, patterns and crafting things.  And then there is the occasional 1930s print find.  Still in its original frame, the colors and design are just stunning.

So get out there and find your own special treasure.  Thrifts are good shopping on so many levels.  They keep people's old junk out of landfills while raising money for worthy causes.  They make it possible for people to afford things that otherwise would be out of their reach financially.  And from time to time, they provide you with just the perfect object, which is usually something you did not know even existed!