Follow a Pattern

"Follow a Pattern" blog post banner

collection of vintage 1950s-1970s fashion paper patterns

We bought a job lot at auction recently. Initially, it was the tray of kitchen utensils that caught our eye…

vintage 1950s "Le Roy" paper pattern of women's Capri pants and pedalpushers

… but, in amongst it all, was a large box of sewing paraphernalia…

mosaic of vintage 1950s Leachway paper patterns

… embroidery silks, cotton reels and dozens of vintage patterns.

vintage 1950s "Style" paper pattern for women's blouse and skirt

They date from the 1930s all the way up to the 1980s.

vintage 1950s McCall's paper pattern for women's "New Look" dress and jacket

There were lots of 1950s examples by Leach-Way and McCall’s including some fabulous ‘New Look’ ones.

vintage 1950s "Practical Patterns" paper pattern for a teenager's pajama set

vintage 1950s "Maudella" paper pattern of a bridesmaid's dress

There was this one for a bridesmaid’s dress if you’re into that complete DIY wedding!

vintage paper pattern for a men's shirt

and patterns for the boys!

vintage 1970 "Womens Weekly" paper pattern for an asymetric midi skirt and puff sleeved blousevintage 1975 "Women's Weekly" paper pattern for midi skirt, long waistcoat and flared trousers

These ones given away free with Woman’s Weekly are a couple of favourites – especially the asymmetric midi skirt and puff sleeved blouse.

vintage 1950s paper pattern given away with Woman's Own magazine

Free patterns with your weekly reading was a common thing at that time…

vintage paper pattern from the News of the World for a woman's blouse and midi skirt

…as these giveaways from Woman’s Own and News of the World show.

vintage 1970s Butterick paper pattern for women's shirt dress, tunic and trousers

Doesn’t everything about this Butterick pattern for shirt dress and pants suit just sum up the 1970s?

It’s been a real pleasure sorting through this particular box.

Nada

'Nada' blog post banner

detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl | H is for Home

It’s funny, sometimes, how things happen…

detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

…we were looking at these vintage doll patterns for Oxfam on the internet last night… then we walked into a local antiques centre today and found one!

vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

This one’s called Nada and features a young Algerian girl in traditional dress. Here’s another similar one of her patterns that we found featured recently on the Pass the Pattern blog.

detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

They were designed by illustrator, Belinda Lyon. There isn’t a great deal of information about her on the internet. We know she was working in the 1960s/70s – designing fab stuff – including textiles, books etc. She illustrated a number of books by Janet Barber.

vintage psychedelic tea towel of a camel designed by Belinda Lyon

In addition to the sewing patterns, she also produced a series of tea towels for Oxfam – this is her psychedelic camel!

We’ve just set up a new Belinda Lyon Flickr group to share images of her work, so if you have any, please share!

We Make London summer spectacular!

"We Make London summer spectacular" banner

"We Make London summer spectacular" advertisement

Our friends over at We Make London have kindly awarded H is for Home blog readers a special visitor offer.

The first 20 of our readers who email Mary at wemakelondonpr@googlemail.com get FREE entry to this Saturday’s summer fair.

All you need to do is put H is for Home as the subject of your message then just click “send”… easy peasy!

Check out the We Make London website for a sneak peak of the 80+ hand picked exhibitors!

We Make Summer Spectacular is open 11am-5pm, Saturday 26 June 2010 at Chelsea Town Hall, Kings Road, London. (nearest tube: Sloane Square)

Give ’em the slip

We’re still thinking about some of the smashing things we saw at the GNCCF. One of our favourite stands was the slipware pottery produced by Hannah McAndrew shown below.

This pottery decoration technique is very ancient – and involves applying wet clay over unglazed pot… either by dipping, piping or painting. Hannah’s pieces have an almost Medieval quality whilst maintaining a modern feel. These small ‘Birdie’ mugs are great, and she also had some fantastic larger pieces…

…such as this jug & plates with oak leaf decoration.

We have a few bits of slipware dotted around our house such as this lovely little candleholder. Slipware has a timeless quality and is very good at tying together antique & modern pieces.

We picked up this amazing  charger a few years ago at a bric-a-brac shop down on the south coast.

It now sits on an antique coffer – it looks lovely against the patina of the old oak.

This large pottery tankard was also a good find – picked up relatively recently at a local flea market. It’s got a bit of age to it – and we think it’s absolutely beautiful!

This mug was made relatively recently but is very interesting all the same because of its social history.

This simple little fish plate is another favourite. The scales look to have been created by dragging a small stick through stripes of the wet slip.

And finally, this bowl which sits on our bathroom window sill and is normally full of bath salts & a little scoop – ready to ease the aches & pains brought on by our constant moving of boxes and furniture!