Star Gift Book 150- Potholders Pattern

This is a repost from my old blog. I have a small collection of vintage Star and Clark's books found at a thrift store, and transcribed some of the patterns.

I colorized the picture so you could get an idea how they look colorized. The reversed colors for the matched set, I didn't do. But I'm sure you'll be able to imagine. And shudder. Be afraid. Be very very afraid.

Pot Holders
Materials Required:
AMERICAN THREAD COMPANY "STAR" BLEND YARN, Article 75
1 skein each White and Red will make 2 Clown Potholders reversing colors
1 skein each Cerise and Lt. Yellow will make 2 Girl Potholders reversing colors
1 Bone Ring for each Potholder for hanging
2 Bone Rings for Earrings
Scrap of Black Felt for Clown
Scrap of Red Felt for Girl
Aluminum crochet hook size F

CLOWN
FACE:With White chain (ch) 4, 11 double crochet (dc) in 1st stitch (st) of ch, join in 4th st of ch.
2nd ROUND: Ch 3, counts as 1st dc, 1 dc in same space, 2 dc in each remaining dc, join in 3rd st of ch.
3rd ROUND: Ch 3, dc in same space, * 1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc, repeat from * all around ending with 1 dc in last dc, join in 3rd st of ch.
4th and 5th ROUNDS: Repeat 3rd round
6th ROUND: Ch 3, 1 dc in each dc, join in 3rd st of ch.
EARS: Ch 3, *yarn over hook, insert in next dc, pull through, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, repeat from * twice, yarn over and pull through all loops on needle, 1 dc in each of the next 3 dc, * yarn over, insert in next dc, pull through, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, repeat from * twice, yarn over and pull through all loops on needle, ch 3, sc in same space with last st, ch 3, turn. 1 sc in each st ending with a slip stitch (sl st) cut yarn. With right side facing, skip 36 dc, attach yarn in same space, and complete Ear in same manner. Work a 2nd section to correspond and crochet both sections together with sc.
EYES AND EYEBROWS: Cut strips of Black Felt as illustrated for Eyes and Eyebrows and applique in place.
NOSE: With Red work 1st round same as Face, cut yarn leaving an end. Thread yarn into needle and applique Nose in place.
MOUTH: Ch 35, join, cut yarn and applique in place as illustrated.
HAIR: With wrong side of Face toward you, join Red in next sc after Right Ear, work 3 loops in same space and in each of next 4 sc (loop st: wind yarn around index finger to form a 1 1/4 inch loop, insert hook in st, and complete sc) ch 1, turn.
2nd ROW: Work 1 sc in each loop st, ch 1, turn.
3rd ROW: Work 1 loop st in each sc, cut yarn.
Join Red in 5th st from Left Ear and complete Hair section to correspond.
NECK RUFF: With Red and right side facing, skip 10 sts after Right Ear, and join in next st, * work 1 sc in each of next 18 sc, ch 1, turn, work 1 sc in each sc, ch 1, turn, work 3 loop sts in each sc, ch 1, turn.
NEXT ROW:: Work 1 loop in each loop st, cut yarn. 
With White cover a bone ring with sc and attach to wrong side of Potholder. Reverse colors for 2nd Potholder

GIRL
Work 2 crocheted sections same as Clown.
HAIR: With wrong side facing join reversed color in 6th st from Right Ear and work 3-1 1/2 in loop sts in each of the 16 center sts, cut yarn.
EYES: Wind yarn 15 times over a 1 inch cardboard, sew strands in position one after the other, slip strands from cardboard and sew loops in place shaping as illustrated.
MOUTH AND NOSE: Cut sections from Red felt as illustrated and applique in place.
EARRINGS: Cover bone rings with sc, join, ch 20, cut yarn. Draw sc in center of bone ring. Form ch into bow and sew in place. Finish with bone ring same as Clown. Reverse colors for 2nd Potholder.

Classic vs. Not

Yesterday I took TG to the thrift store. She was thrilled to find a nice big bag of fabric scraps for herself. She uses them to make her dolls and other things. I was thrilled to find some wonderful craft books and magazines in the era I most like. The 70s!

As I was leafing through the 1971-1972 Fall Goodhousekeeping Needlecraft magazine, my family had a conversation about classic vs not classic. How can you tell the difference? Vintage magazines are a great way. Is something still wearable today? Sometimes you have to look past the colors, and the accessories or look at things as separates to know if the lines and style are still wearable today. Other times you know instantly either way. Click on images to see larger, all images from the magazine I mentioned above.

This coat has wonderful lines for the under 25 set. My daughter is charmed by it. Not in those colors, I think if she decides to make it, she'll make it in Tom Baker scarf type colors. The soft hood and simple shape would also look good in a solid color. 

 This one, I have mixed feelings about. I love the sweep, and the lines remind me a lot of the capes my mother wore to great effect. Unfortunately, at 5'3.5" I'm too short for anything that dramatic, it would look like I left the house wearing a blanket. Check out those gloves! Aren't they great? The bobble edging on the cape adds a lovely amount of visual and textural interest. The colors, well. Not so much, maybe a medium grey with pewter grey and crimson?

Not classic. I love various elements of this, the button detailing, the hood, the striping, but it's really, really not classically wearable. Ponchos come in and out, but that one does look very much like a blanket.

 Oh the horror of knitted pants! I'm pretty sure that's always going to be a very bad idea. And the color is a mucky orange. The other outfit is a skirt and cardigan set. Taken by individual elements, I don't like the skirt or pants. The cardigan and pull over sweaters are nice. I'd lengthen the sleeves on the pullover and probably get rid of the bottom hem cables on the pullover for a straight bottom. The cable border detail with it's honeycomb effect is very pretty though. The cape doesn't work for me either. I like capes but that one isn't fitted right around the shoulders and is very boxy looking.

Oh lovely. Again, if you aren't a bright color sort, picture it with less going on for color. This dress has lovely classic lines and would look great with tights in black with jewel tone stripe detailing, or just a solid color.

Not classic. This coat is made by creating yarn loops as you knit, then after you're done, combing or brushing the loops to break up the twist and create a fur effect. It's a fun idea for a stuffed animal, doesn't work as well in a coat.

Classic- Sweater. Not Classic- those shorts!

The sweater is nice, the crocheted sash is fun, and I could totally see my daughter wearing something like that. The "funnel hood" is knit in Quaker rib and it's not really a classic design that's been wearable for the last 40 years since the magazine came out, but it *is* an idea that's come back around as a trend. The knitted gauchos though? Really didn't age well. I think maybe just any kind of pant thing knitted might be a bad idea.

Just.. wow. The colors, the lines, everything about this outfit. It doesn't age well at all does it? The great big checks with smaller checks in some of the big checks is a neat pattern. Maybe better for decorating than for clothing.

LOVE this simple teeshirt dress with it's bold graphic design. I think I'd like to make a custom fabric print on Spoonflower to make something like this dress with.  In the case of this dress, it's sewn with striped fabric and applique circles. Doing a custom fabric removes the need for applique for that same kind of bold style.

Wire hanger crafts from the past

For most of the day, I've been kind of caught up in old issues of Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Boy's Life.
When I was a kid, my mom had an old set of the Book of Knowledge for children. I loved that encyclopedia. Instead of being the big boring books of facts that I had to use for reports, these books were full of stories, crafts and lots of interesting things. I loved the crafts. Ottomans made from old coffee cans and all sorts of handy things.
Now I collect vintage craft books. Still love them. The crafts and ideas are frequently filled with measurements you need to take, and usually are made from reclaimed things. Crafts in the past were frequently made with stuff you might have around rather than stuff you had to make a special trip to a craft store for.
So.. now there is Google Books. Full of lots of old magazines. You can also specify a time frame. So after running across some cute wire bookends in an old issue of Popular Science, I did a search on wire coat hangers, specifying the time frame 1910-1950.

This clever flowerpot holder comes from the September 1934 issue of Popular Science.There are also projects for a telephone book holder, newspaper rack and a sock stretcher.

The August 1945 issue of Boy's Life says that blanket pins are very handy to have, but hard to find for sale anymore. If they were hard to find in 1945, I imagine they are nearly impossible to find now. The pin, made of hard wire, would be gorgeous accented with beads and used as a shawl pin now.

Also instructions for a double toaster or hand grill, an egg whip and a couple other cooking outdoors sorts of tools.

These are the bookends that sparked the search. You can find them, along with a very nifty clothes dryer in the December 1939 issue of Popular Science.

An extra that's not from the time range I specified. 

This cute mobile comes from the March 1963 issue of Boy's Life.

Vintage Craft Books

Saturday, my beloved husband took me to Bishop's Attic. Bishop's Attic is a local thrift store that's just the absolute definition of thrift store to my mind. They will sell almost anything they are donated. There are half tubes of paint, fabric, books all over the place and my favorite is their 3/1.00 "work clothes" rack. Jeans, button down shirts, teeshirts, all sorts of things that are a little too worn or a little too stained for most places to sell, but they do sell them. 34 cent jeans are great for upcycling!

I spent 20 dollars and walked out with 8 books including 2 new old craft books for my collection and a few cookbooks, a bunch of fabric for The Turnip including a scrap of a loteria print which I might steal a piece of for a pin, a skirt each for The Turnip and I. Mine is a plain black skirt, hers is a wild diagonal pink stripe she loves and wore with complete disregard for fashion with a red blouse and a blue diagonally striped tie, and a nice bunch of dpns. Some incomplete sets but incomplete sets make nice hair sticks.

One of the craft books was Better Homes and Garden's Treasures from Throwaways published in 1976. Some of the ideas in it are brilliant. Closer to Christmas I'll post scans of my 2 favorite Christmas ideas. I really loved this idea for a stool to sit on.

 

Pretty sure I can get a couple old tire rims if I ask around. The cushions are sewn to fit. I imagine you could use the depression on the insides of the rims for some storage as well, or strip the hardware off an old door and make a coffee table using the same idea.

The real treasure was this.

  

Nifty enough. I love old cake decorating book, but what made it just wonderful was the inside cover.

  

I think the person who owned it originally did wedding cakes and took pictures of them. Aren't those brides lovely? The lines of their dresses are so gorgeous.

  

  

I do so hope they had their happily ever afters. 

Vintage Craft Books

I have a weakness for vintage craft books. I can never resist them when I'm at thrift stores. I have a book on how to re-use L'eggs eggs, and they don't come in eggs anymore. Mostly I focus on needlework and jewelry making books, but if it looks likely enough I'm not at all choosy really. I also like magazines. I've been slowly archiving patterns from my 1940s-50s crochet/knitting magazines.
From my most recent thrift store finds:

Inventive Jewelry Making by Ramona Solberg , pub 1972. The description for this picture says Angel pendant of inedible baker's clay by Vernon Koenig, in collection of Mrs. Spencer Mosley.

Lucky Mrs. Mosley, because I love this angel so much. She just looks so happy doesn't she? I really want to do something like this, but maybe in soft sculpture and bright colors.

The whole book is wonderful, there are some great projects and I'll be adapting some of them for projects on the bead site.

Woman Alive- Crafts for Fun and Profit - pub 1973

You look at this picture and think Ren faire right? Well, I had to post it because the blurb made me smile.

having opted out of the "rat-race", many hippies manage to gain a small income by making and selling objects such as bead necklaces or the soft toys shown here.

Okay.. THAT'S what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a hippie making a small income by selling bead necklaces. Esp. if I can have that dress. Really truly.

Recently I found a whole bunch of Workbasket magazines from the 70s. A box of about 125 issues for 15.00 at our local ASPCA thrift store. The September 1977 issue had 3 great projects to reuse plastic and since crafting green and upcycling are just wonderful, here they are.

First is this ad for Pack-o-fun magazine which suggests using plastic bottles to make a tote bag. Easily enough done, but I'm thinking milk jug plastic and soda pop bottle plastic crocheted together like the beer can hats would be awesome. Pre-punching pieces of plastic for little kids to sew together using yarn with a tape needle would work well too.

 Idea #2- Using a piece of plastic from a bottle to shape a coiled snake with. The snake in the article was sewn from bias cut fabric, but the idea would also work for an amigurumi snake, or even if you cut a spiral from a 20 ounce soda bottle working around the whole bottle as the center of a fun bright springy bracelet.

Idea #3- This one uses yogurt containers to make an herb planter. Love the idea. I also love the idea next to it to make a carry tray using plywood, handles and holes drilled partway through the wood in a sunburst pattern that can be fitted with dowels to hold a cake or something securely in place. Very clever.

 

Happiness is stacks and stacks of books. And I'm absolutely blissful.