June 27, 2018

Cataloging Catalogs: Spring/Summer 1950 (Montgomery Ward's)


More dresses today, some maternity dresses even, and house dresses for the "fastidious homemaker". I find "house frocks" such and odd concept really, because it always seems to me they are just as cute as the "real" dresses to be worn out and about! Plus, I don't care if it's 1950 or 2018, I'm not gonna look cute when I'm cleaning the house, I'm just not. Twas' a different time indeed.

It took me ages to scan these pages and stitch them together today because I kept getting distracted and typing a few lines of dialog that came to me, or outlining the general plot line for a few chapters, or thinking of how I could keep that one character involved and jotting that down, all in an open Word document I keep by my side (as it were) like a notepad. My brain couldn't focus! Which doesn't mean these dresses aren't delightful of course, but obviously I need to go work on writing instead for the rest of the night. Too many interests, too many projects, not enough time. Not a bad problem to have really :)





















4 comments:

  1. Back wraps and zippers seem to be the hallmark of the housedress - but like you, I think they're just as pretty as the day dresses. Simpler in shape, perhaps, and easier to keep clean, but still lovely.

    I really like the Schiffli embroidery a lot of them use. I saw the last working schiffli machine in the UK some years back - it's no longer in industrial use, a university has it for their fashion students.

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    1. I had never heard the term Schiffli before so it's really interesting to hear you've seen the specific machine used! Sounds super interesting, those students are lucky :)

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    2. They basically have loads of needles lined up, all producing the same embroidery pattern.

      AH! Here's the one I saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxnY4kAxv_I You can see how all the needles are copying the design the artist is tracing. When it was used for industrial-scale fabric production, I guess the operators would have had templates to follow, but it must still have taken some skill not to ruin a whole run of cloth.

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    3. I was not expecting it to be this huge! Wow, what a crazy machine, super cool!

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