I'm still here.

Deja vu

Lately we've been watching alot of '70s tv on DVD, thanks to the swap meet and eBay. Wonder Woman,  Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Fantasy Island ... we still haven't located an affordable Incredible Hulk or Six Million Dollar Man tho.

We started with Wonder Woman season 2, so we skipped the WWII season. Funny how the second season began with storylines that involved military jeeps, installations and uniforms ;)
We also noticed something else!

* Here's a couple of screencaps from Episode 1: The Return of Wonder Woman

Most awesome "robot" with a zipper ever.

Nice villian's lair Dr. Solano's got there, solidly constructed of cinderblocks.


* And here's Episode 2: Anschluss '77

They are creating a clone of Hitler by putting his clothes in a glass box and filling them with smoke. I'm not kidding.

The Nazi's underground bunker is solidly constructed of cinderblocks, all the better to hold up to bombing.


* Episode 4: The Bermuda Triangle Crisis

The '70s were alll about the Bermuda Triangle. psst - I lived in Bermuda; there's no triangle.

Many buildings in Bermuda are solidly constructed of cinderblocks, to better withstand hurricanes.


* Episode 7: The Queen and the Thief

Juliet Mills is The Queen, originally from Boston but with a crisp British accent and a swanky pad in Palm Beach.

Hey, here's an underground vault solidly constructed of cinderblocks - Florida gets hurricanes, too.


* Episode 12: The Deadly Toys

Robotic Wonder Woman!

Maybe he inherited it from Dr. Solano?


* Episode 14: Screaming Javelins

With special guest star Rick Springfield!

Looks like they kept some of the wooden beams from Episode 12!
This is one of the weirdest episodes, and that's saying alot. We've got Henry Gibson as a completely over-the-top madman, dressed all in sparkly purple clothes. His character is called Mariposa - which means "butterfly" in Spanish - not very scary, no? And he's kidnapping athletes so his pretend country, Mariposalia, can compete in the Olympic Games. yup.


* and, in conclusion, Episode 15: Diana's Disappearing Act

I got nothin'.

Sadly, sadly, we are 6 episodes into Season 3 and the solidly constructed cinderblock lair hasn't made an appearance.


Big thanks to my husband for getting all these screen captures and providing comic-ized tags!

polka dot polka dot polka dot afro!

Lately I've been depressed, blue, down, filled with melancholy (misfiring chemicals + unemployment + fear of driving + still wearing a sweater in JUNE).
Two days ago, we got The Adventures of Tintin from the library - meh. Something creepy about the way the bodies looked real but the heads were distorted :P
But on the DVD was a preview:



that end bit made me laugh sooo hard I cried! A quick you tube search shows I'm not the only one.


10 minutes!!



all the languages!



Dreamworks figured it out and added more!

I think Afro Circus might join "Ponyo wants ham!" as a random happy phrase.

my latest projects

* To match my bluebird pillowcase (but with fewer flowers and birds ;), I put a Mr. on Glen's pillowcase!

He approves.

And, for the April stitch-along, but not actually completed until ... May 22(!), I stitched up a kitten in a hammock for the theme "No Housework Day". 

The plan is to make a pillow cover for the cushion on my hammock ;)
For June, everyone is going to stitch up the same design - should be fun!

* In other news, we have an Etsy store! Look over there, in the sidebar, I even made a widget! So some of the vintage goodies that I've written about and enjoyed are now being released into the world to entertain other folks.

vintage embroidery pattern IDs - unknown!

* For my last trick, I'm posting scans of patterns that were either a) in an envelope with no identification; b) in the wrong envelope; or c) in a grab bag.

Mystery 1
dark blue dotted lines on white tissue paper. One sheet of designs has a Canadian flag, maple leaves, and "1867-1967" so that dates the pattern set. There are 16 sheets of designs in the envelope, and they all look the same, but I don't know if they all originally came in this envelope.
Mystery envelope:

No manufacturer or newspaper name listed on the envelope.

Sample designs:

Some designs in the envelope have 3 digit numbers on the bottom.

Some designs in the envelope have 5 digit numbers.

Mystery 2
red solid lines on white paper.
Number on mystery design:

ID on mystery design:

Mystery 3
dark blue lines on white tissue paper. The design is labeled "Fleetway" but I can't find a single thing on the internets about Fleetway and embroidery.

If anyone has any info on the above designs, please let me know!


this just in: I bought a Laura Wheeler Design (newspaper mailorder) from 1941 in a thrift store upisland - will be adding to the design id chart soon!

vintage embroidery pattern ID - Walker's

Here we are at the last of the known hot iron transfers! 
There's hardly any info on Walker's Hot Iron Transfers, and it doesn't help that there's a moving company called Walker, and a machine embroidery shop in California with the name. Walker's also has different numbers on the outside of the envelope and the transfer sheet on the inside. 
I have four different envelopes but no dates, so I'm putting them in serial number order.

Walker's The Original Transfer Pattern No. 54 (serial number 1749) - dark blue dotted lines on brown tissue paper.
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

top of sheet

bottom of sheet

Walker's Hot Iron Transfer Patterns No. 922 (serial number 1862) - dark blue dotted lines on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet: 

Walker's The Original Transfer Pattern No. 54 (serial number 1749) - dark blue dotted lines on brown tissue paper. 
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet is exactly as no. 1862.


Walker's For Attractive Embroidery No. 702 (serial number 2002) - dark blue solid lines on brown tissue paper. 
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet is exactly as no. 1862.

Next time - transfers from unknown/unmarked companies!

Vintage embroidery pattern ID - Vogart

There's tons of info out there about Vogart, because they seem to have been the most prolific of the hot iron transfer companies. They are out of business, but the copyright is owned by Plaid Enterprises. Sadly, Plaid does not nor do they have any plans to reissue the patterns, but they doggedly protect their copyright just the same. So, no public sharing of Vogart patterns unless you want to hear from a lawyer. I do believe sharing envelope images is okay, though. (and I'm assuming that sharing portions of designs for the purposes of identification is also okay - if not, Lawyers, please tell me and I'll remove them.)
Some patterns will have more than one number since designs were reprinted and rereleased under a different number. I have pattern sets with three different envelopes, but I'm not sure of the dates of any of them.

Vogart Transfer Pattern 147 - light blue solid lines on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Vogart Repeat Transfer Patterns 696 - dark purple solid lines on white paper
Envelope:

Pattern number on transfer sheet:

I love the kittens.

Instructions on transfer sheet:

Vogart Repeat Transfer Patterns 706 - blue solid lines on white paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

I have my suspicions that this last pattern sheet isn't the original one. 

• the pattern lines are not solid solid, they are blurred and look as though some of the ink has flaked off. Common enough, but
• there's no ink dust in the envelope as if the ink had flaked off.
• there's no accidental transfer of pattern ink where the sheet has been folded.
• the pattern number is handwritten, and not in the usual place (above Made in USA).

However, the patterns are all on one large sheet, and it is folded in the usual manner, so it may be a case of Vogart changing the way they printed their patterns. I won't know for sure until I either see another version of this pattern, or another pattern from this era.

Next time - 4 examples of Walker's!

vintage embroidery pattern ID - Simplicity and Superior

Simplicity
Yup, the embroidery pattern envelopes look like their sewing pattern envelopes. Again, I don't think they still produce embroidery transfer patterns. 
I have 2 different transfer sets.

1945 pattern set - light blue solid lines on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Whoever cut and used the designs in this envelope cut the words off the sheet, but bothered to keep them in the envelope.

1960s (?) pattern set - dark blue solid line on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

and instructions on transfer sheet:

Superior
No longer in business.

1930s or '40s (?) - blue/green solid lines on brown craft paper. (the paper in mine is quite brittle)
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Next time: the queen of vintage embroidery patterns, Vogart!

vintage embroidery pattern IDs - McCall's and Monarch

McCall's
McCall's patterns come in envelopes that look like their regular sewing ones. The envelopes specify whether the transfers are yellow or blue. 
I don't think they do embroidery patterns any more.
I have 4 different pattern envelopes.

1920s or '30s pattern set - dark blue solid line on brown tissue paper.  
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Hmm, I don't think I'll continue to do a sample design because, if I'm using this to identify unmarked transfers, knowing what the design looks like all cleaned up doesn't help.

1944 pattern set - yellow solid line on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

1952 pattern set - dark blue solid line on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

1980s (?) pattern set - yellow solid line on white tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

aaaand a bonus transfer that has no envelope!

I googled - it's from a 1957 little girls' nightgown, pajamas and shortie pattern. The phrase "early to bed early to rise" is meant to be embroidered around the yoke of the outfit. Cute!


Monarch
Not much info out there. I just have 1 pattern set. It has a separate piece of paper with instructions and colour suggestions for each towel. They are kind enough to not only put their name on the transfer sheet, but to put M in the pattern number.

1950s (?) - black dotted lines on brown tissue paper
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

According to the back of the envelope, Silver-Tex means that the transfers "will automatically give a white impression on black material and a black impression on white or light-colored materials."

Since the company seems to be out of business, I made these transfers available on my Flickr.

Next time: Simplicity and Superior.

vintage embroidery pattern ID - Butterick and Laura Wheeler

Butterick
Their patterns come in envelopes that look like their regular sewing ones. A search of the Butterick website found no embroidery patterns.
I have patterns from 2 different dates.

1923 pattern set - dark blue solid line on brown tissue paper. 
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Sample design:

This is from the kitchen set but I haven't the faintest idea what it's supposed to be! It looks like a safety razor and a shaving brush?

Early to mid- '70's pattern set - yellow solid line on white tissue paper. 
Envelope:

Text on transfer sheet:

Sample design:

Cleaned up, but working with bright yellow is not fun.

Laura Wheeler
The pattern I have is in a thin, white mailing envelope from Free Press Prairie Farmer Needlecraft Dept. I believe Laura Wheeler patterns were all mail order from newspapers. 

1941 pattern set - dark green solid line on beige paper. 
Envelope:

What an address - Wendigo Mines!

Text on transfer sheet:

Instruction sheet ID:

There were 2 patterns stuffed in the envelope - a peacock one (#2602, referenced on the mailing label) and one with 2 cats and a vase of flowers (#2721). I didn't know transfers came that large!

Next time - McCall's!