April Acquisitions - Part 2: Paper

Welcome to Part II of my April estate sale finds!

In my Part I post, I shared the fabric and trims I scored at my first successful estate sale. Here, in Part II, you'll get to have a peek at some paper-based goods I picked up.

Well, to start, I found a large grab-bag full of old stitching, sewing, and mostly knitting magazines, along with some pamphlets, and a couple books. The first thing I pulled out of the bag was this old Simplicity Sewing book. It's not quite as intense as my trusty Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, but it looks like a good resource...and there are some fun pictures.

1970 Simplicity Sewing Book - why are those things pinned to the dress form--scissors?

I think I'd be ok if my sewing room looked like this...colorful and organized!

After pulling out the Simplicity book, the bag was still pretty full...

Now, when you see the next items I found in the bag, you may find yourself wondering... "I thought she didn't knit..." and, you'd be right, I don't -- BUT I plan to at least start to learn by the end of the year! And once I've learned, I plan to be unstoppable, so don't worry. But, in the meantime, just drool with me over these:

Just LOOK at these! I want to wear/make/be in all of them. (do excuse the crooked photo, please)

SO CUTE - and cozy. Can I please be her??

...or her, she'd do as well.

Ok, are you done? Have you wiped the drool off your chin? Good.

Here's a kitty picture, too...for good measure. (Don't worry, I kept him from doing any actual damage).

Duke: "I'm sorry, were you trying to do something here?...No? Ok, good. I was just going to do some rolling, kneading, and scratching on these GLORIOUS crinkly pages."

You may have thought that was the tops, but up next I've saved what I think is the best for last: PATTERNS! I was able to get a good handful of 'em, which felt awesome as I can never find good old patterns (and in a reasonable size for me) at yard sales or thrift stores, and hardly ever any at antique stores. I usually end up resorting to ebay and Etsy.

1973 and 1976 Stretch & Sew patterns

Tom? Want a cardigan thingy?

simple shell - for knits

Cute collar options for the simple Stretch & Sew shell - but really..."Dog Ear Collar" ??? Weird.

um...?

super awkward, tacky styling - knee socks? - but a cute blouse pattern...I won't even discuss the shorts (1980s?) & a cute 1979 circle skirt

collared tops for her (1975) & him (1972)

THE JACKPOT! 1960s separates and dresses

You may recognize the center one (my favorite!) in this last photo, McCall's 9458 (c.1968), from a recent post over on Kestrel Finds and Makes. I'd admired it when Kerry posted about it, but didn't even recognize it (pattern amnesia!) when I actually encountered it in real life at this estate sale. Luckily, I snatched it up regardless - I mean, who wouldn't?

Yay, tops! McCall's 9456

And, that concludes my show and tell!

I'm pretty pleased with what I purchased and feel like I really lucked out, but, like I mentioned earlier, this experience kind of left me with some mixed feelings.

Like I said before, this was my first real estate sale. When I was there, I managed to stay pretty objective about assessing items and determining what I ought to buy (I only bought patterns close to my size - not the entire box - and only grabbed one of the THREE trash bags full of misc. fabric). What sparked a bit of uneasiness for me, though, was, after I'd brought everything home, going through the grab-bag of misc. magazines/papers and finding that many of the papers were hand-written notes about knitting and patterns on little note pad pages and scraps of paper.

Seeing these little notes solidified for me that the things I'd bought weren't just some random possessions but were important to the woman who'd owned them. She'd thoughtfully tucked them away to be referred to later. They are truly the artifacts of a life spent making things for herself and her family.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've always loved yard sales, thrifting, and the act of digging through people's old stuff in general, but I've come to realize (some of you will be saying "duh" here) that estate sales like this are actually a bit different.

Yes, at estate sales you can find some really great items, but you're not digging through some stuff that the owner has actively decided he/she no longer wants; you're basically unceremoniously rifling through the artifacts of a person's life, about which they no longer have a say, to see if you can find anything "good."

I keep thinking about the idea that these were a woman's saved belongings that she'd purposely held onto over the years. I think her saving them for so long is what gets me. She kept these things because she thought they were important, for whatever reason...who am I to undermine that?

Now, don't worry, eye rolling is welcome, but I'm a person who feels a strong connection to things (in case you hadn't guessed), especially small, practical, everyday things -- overly sentimental, you might call it. It's part of why I'm so fascinated with vintage stuff and old objects, clothes--anything tangible.

I myself am somewhat of a saver of stuff, but on the other hand, I can't (and don't) save everything.
Do I really need all of the fabric or knitting patterns I brought home? Nope.
Was I absolutely in love with every single thing I got? No, not every single thing 100%.
Does it make me a little sad to admit that? Sure.
I just have to tell myself, this woman didn't absolutely love and treasure every single thing she held on to. ...Right? Yes (say yes).

I guess the message I want to get out there is this: I'm very appreciative of the things I got, though I feel a little uneasy about how/why I acquired them, and I'll be passing on the things I'm not in love with to someone who will appreciate them...and so, this woman's thoughtful saving, wont be for naught...and I can sleep at night.
 


Thanks for bearing with me as I rambled through that -- I feel like I could go on and on in a circle all day about this, but at least I've got my thoughts out there so they'll stop eating away at me.
I've already started a project using a pattern and some fabric from this estate sale, so that makes me feel a little better. More details on that in a bit. :)