VTT - Christmas Postcard & Potholders

The little maid on my postcard is carrying a flaming plum pudding. She looks like she could use one of my vintage Christmas potholders.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - National Handcraft Garden Medley Apron

I have seen many postcards showing craft kits from National Handcraft Institute of Des Moines, Iowa. There is quite a bit of unused stock in the hands of postcard collectors and dealers. Until recently I assumed that these postcards were made to be mailed as advertisements. Now I think that most (possibly all) were made to be placed in the corresponding kit to show the completed product.

Some of the complete unused kits are also available on eBay and elsewhere, and most of pictures of the kits I have seen include the postcard. The front of the Garden Medley Apron kit postcard is shown above. The description below is from the postcard back. I find the descriptions on the postcards very amusing--the copywriters really got carried away.

Below is a picture of the complete unassembled apron kit and a scan of the first page of the directions (with even more of their amusing copy). These are "Copyright 1971, Fad-of-the-Month Club, Div. of NATIONAL HANDCRAFT INSTITUTE, INC., Des Moines, Iowa."

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - Ovens & Oven Mitts

This postcard has a light green Frigidaire kitchen range. On the back it says: "Now Frigidaire brings you the joy of COOKING without SLAVING in the new '59 electric ranges with the 'PULL 'N CLEAN" OVEN!'" This looks very similar to the green range my parents had, though theirs would have been a 1954 model without a "pull 'n clean" oven.

Other colors of Pull 'n Clean ovens, as shown in magazine ads of the 1960s, were pink and yellow. The first color-matched appliances were offered by Frigidaire in 1954. The Pull 'N Clean oven which pulled out for "stand-up cleaning" was introduced in 1958.

These oven mitts look like they would have been a lot of fun to use or play with. The long-eared one must be a bunny. The short-eared one is probably meant to be a dog.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - Pink & Yellow Easter Dresses

Pink and yellow are nice springlike colors for Easter dresses--and I just happen to have some old postcards and potholder thingies in these colors.

I seem to keep accumulating more vintage potholder dresses even though I have plenty. I think there are so many available because they were saved instead of being used. They are definitely not as practical for holding hot pans as are other shapes of potholders.

I like to collect vintage potholder pattern books as well as the potholders themselves. There are patterns for so many different shapes of potholders. It seems like it is easier to find the books than the potholders they show. However, the opposite is true with regard to the dresses. I haven't been able to find any vintage crochet books with potholder dress patterns.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - The Wearing of the Green

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

We associate the wearing of green with St. Patrick's Day. Historically, the color green was used as a symbol of Irish patriotism and of sympathy for Irish independence. The song "The Wearing of the Green" is about the repression around the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Wearing the green was prohibited at that time and was punishable. Many versions of the song lyrics exist. Here is one version (source: Triskelle)

"O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that's going round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish gound!
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his colour can't be seen
For there's a cruel law against the Wearing of the Green."

I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
"She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,
For they're hanging men and women there for Wearing of the Green."

"So if the colour we must wear be England's cruel red
Let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed;
And pull the shamrock from your hat, and trow it on the sod
But never fear, it will take root there, though underfoot 'tis trod.

When laws can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow
And whem the leaves in summer time their colour dare not show,
Then I will change the colour too I wear in my caubeen;
But till that day, please God, I'll stick to the Wearing of the Green."

My thingies this week are potholder versions of green wearables. First is a pair of crocheted potholder dresses.

Next is an "Overall Sam" applique potholder. Overall Sam is the male counterpart to Sunbonnet Sue. Both Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam have sun hats hiding their heads. Sue is usually shown in a side view, while Sam is often shown in a rear view.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - The Romance of Hats

Romantic postcards like this were popular in the early 1900s. These cards usually were published in series. I have another postcard from this series with the title ""Let's get together." That one shows the same man with his arms around two different girls.

Crocheted potholders in the shape of hats are more common than most shapes, but not nearly as common as dresses and panties. I think it is interesting to see the variations on the same basic idea of a broad-brimmed hat with flowers.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

VTT - Turtle Thingies

The first turtle thingie is a crochet potholder. I think the turtle looks a lot like the comic turtle on the postcard.

The turtle thingies below are soap holders. These seem to have been a popular thing to crochet. One of them has a little vintage gift card attached to it. There is a handwritten verse inside the card:

When you bathe
In Shower or tub,
Use this Turtle
When you rub.
Then, to keep your soap
Nice & Dry
Hang it by the tail
So High.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

VTT - Scuola Mazzon Postcards & Funny Face Potholders

I have had these Scuola Mazzon art postcards for many years, but I didn't realize what they really were until I started thinking about what postcards resembled the Funny Face potholders. I had assumed that "Scuola Mazzon" was the artist's name. I just recently realized that "Scuola Mazzon" is Italian for "Mazzon School." These four postcards show work by four different 13- and 14-year-old students--Ezio Sgarbi, Graziella Pozzi, Eugenia Caimi, Giorgina Lanzi. The art was done between 1950 and 1954.

The Mazzon School was an art school for children founded in 1929 by the Italian artist Galliano Mazzon (1896 - 1978). According to a British Museum webpage (with text quoted from Martin Hopkinson, 'Italian Prints 1875-1975'), "Mazzon challenged accepted academic methods, banning his students from copying from nature, and encouraging spontaneous expression of the emotions, fantasy, the imagination, and dreams."

There seems to be a difference of opinion about whether the school encouraged "spontaneous" expression. A review in Art Digest of a 1955 Mazzon School exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art says that "the teaching method represented in these pictures, emphasizes not the spontaneous approaches encouraged in more creative American schools…but more formal, flat decorative patterns which give most of the paintings here a handsomely stylized quality--and, it must be added, a rather similar style as well: with a few exceptions the paintings seem more like a one-man show than works by 15 or 20 children."

The Coates & Clark's Book No. 312 with "Funny Face" potholders on the cover is © 1955. The Funny Face Potholders Kit is © 1960 by Lisbeth Whiting Co. I found both of these items on eBay.

I didn't get these items at the same time and didn't realize at first that the kit was based on the same faces as the book. The potholders in the kit use thicker yarn and instructions adapted for children "ages 6 to 16." The next picture shows a side-by-side comparison of the designs.

The inside of the book's front cover is shown below. this page includes instructions for the designs of the man and woman wearing feathered hats.

click image to enlarge and read this!

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Smiley Faces

This postcard has an undivided back and was published by The Metropolitan News Co., Boston. The hearts may indicate that it is a Valentine, though I had it filed with my general comics.

These potholders are ones I found online a few weeks ago. They represent a new direction for my potholder collection. I like thingies with faces, and I also want to collect some potholders with appliques or pieces of vintage print material. I was lucky to get three at a time, all of which are in like new condition.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Time Rolls On

It's time for the Tour de France and time for some more vintage crocheted postholders. So this week I have an old postcard of a bicycle with clocks for wheels and potholders in the shape of clocks.

I have a potholder pattern book that has a crochet clock pattern that is similar to my clock potholders. This book is No. 243 ©1948, The Spool Cotton company.

I am including a copy of the instructions from this book. This potholder pattern would probably be easier than most crochet patterns because the clock potholder is basically a circle with embroidered numerals and hands.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Dressed in Red, White, and Blue

This postcard was postmarked 100 years years ago on July 2, 1909. Although it doesn't say anything about the 4th of July holiday, I would still consider it a 4th of July postcard because of the date it was mailed. This little girl is dressed as Miss Columbia. Although this card does not label her, I have seen a postcard with an identical picture that has "Miss Columbia" printed on the front of the card.

It is somewhat of a custom in the U. S. to dress in red, white, and blue on the 4th of July. I remember wearing red and white striped T-shirts and blue shorts when I was a child. More recently, T-shirts with patriotic symbols have been popular for all ages.

My vintage thingies this week are red, white, and blue potholder dresses. Potholder dresses seem to be the most common of the potholders shaped as things. I quit buying the potholder dresses some time ago because I thought I was getting too many. I didn't realize how many I had until I got them out to photograph for my blog. I have other colors of potholder dresses too, but red is definitely the most common.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Coffee, Cream, & Sugar

This postcard is oversize (5" x 7-3/4") and is made of heavy cardboard. It is ©1965 Faroy, Houston, Texas, Card No. 25-5. My mother added my name to the cup and mailed it to me in the 1960s. On the back is a long letter-length message beginning as follows:

"I thot this card suited you - so I couldn't resist it! Bot it at Harper Court - a new group of 'arty' shops…"

Harper Court is in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. It was purchased by the University of Chicago in 2008 and is now on the verge of redevelopment.

Below are some of my potholder thingies — sugar bowls and creamers to go with the coffee on the postcard.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Vintage Thingies Thursday - His & Hers Panties Potholders

This week I am showing vintage panties potholders. Panties were one of the most common of the unusually shaped (not a common geometric shape like a square or circle) potholders. There are so many of these still around that I suspect many were given for wedding showers, which is why I included the newlywed postcard (after all, this is a postcard blog). Does anyone know if there actually was a wedding connection?

Many are still in pairs of "his and hers" styles, some labeled and some not. Most are a double thinkness with an opening at the bottom. Some are open at the top also. The third pair is a single thickness of somewhat thicker thread. The last pair shown is a pair of identical design; the picture shows front and back.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays