Just Being Childish!

Maybe it has something to do with me becoming a new grandma,

but my last four vintage fabric finds have been juvenile prints!

I think this first one is the oldest - the look, the feel, the faded fold.

For some reason, I want to say 1930s.  Could it be?

 Cupid bear is holding a 30's-green bow and arrow.

The girl's eyes seem Betty Boopish to me.

Look at the stockings and shoes.

36" width - four yards - cotton

Next is the kitty, sheep, goats, bunnies, ducks...

...but mostly kitties print.  I'd say early 70s on this one.

36" wide - 5 1/2 yards - cotton

 

This one is the mystical Marco Polo fabric!

How do I know it's the great Italian explorer of China - Marco Polo?

 Not because the drawings look like Marco sporting his favorite Tartar outfit...

 

It's all because of the wonderful information found on the selvage!
And you know how I love selvage information!

There are about nine yards of this 36" Little Golden Book Fabric.

Love the robin's egg blue.  

Maybe my Mandarin-speaking,

China-dwelling son would like this fabric for my new grand-daughter's nursery...

 

And if you're as curious as me, you would google the selvage-mentioned 

Marco Polo Little Golden Book and find out it was published in 1954.

So this fabric is from 1954 and the book is for sale on the internet.

And finally, we have this sweet yarn ball playing kitty,

hat-wearing, butterfly eating, ducky marching print. 

Seems kind of 40s-50s to me.  Maybe I'm wrong.

I have only a couple yards of this 36" width cotton.

 Lots of room for imagination in these sweet prints.

Resistance is Futile

If you execute a Google image search on the word, "Borg," you're going to see a lot of this: rigid and not very aerodynamic, the space ship of the drone-like, assimilating, arch enemy of Captain Picard and his Next Generation crew, the Godzilla of the galaxy, the Borg.

But this isn't my Trekkie husband's blog.  It's mine and as you all know, I like to talk fabric.  Did you know there is Borg fabric?  Made by Borg Textiles.  It's vintage, too! 

Here's a woman in a cube -- but not a Borg cube.  An ice cube!

And she isn't cold at all because she's wearing a Borg fur coat.

Apparently it was easier to find a needle in a haystack

than a coat made out of this soft, luxurious fabric - mostly sold out of NYC.

Enjoying it's heyday in the 1950s-70s, Borg Fabrics was said to be the largest producer of "deep pile" textiles in the world with manufacturing plants in England, Canada, Belgium, Connecticut, Georgia and whaddya know - their headquarters right here in my back yard in Delavan, Wisconsin!  I consider them the pioneers of fake fur - soft and yummy fake fur.  Or should I say "faux?"  If you believe this ad for their high quality coats, it's "soft and shimmery, pours like cream, light as a whisper, warm as the Golf Stream, and scoffs at moths."  And of course, "looks more like fur than fur itself."

According to this ad that probably wouldn't fly in our PC world of today, you shouldn't "blame the hunter" for mistaking this chic woman (see mounted head) wearing a Borgana coat for a prized hunting trophy.

Do you think turbans will come back any time soon?

 Not quite Zoolander's trademark "blue steel" look.

"You'd think it was born in the jungle."  Among the names Borg used for their fur lines were, "Borgana, Borgazia, and Borglura which was a short-lived longer pile fur which was not popular because it made women "look too fat" according to a 1957 Milwaukee Journal article.

Borg for the whole family.

Borg fabric coats are still popular with the vintage crowd because they have held up well.  You can find cozy coats of all kinds on sites like eBay and Etsy.  Here's a recent offering from Goodwill's online store.

This 1966 moss green (some might say "avocado") green bath set spills the beans that Borg Fabrics might be branching out from their lux coats roots.  Remember toilet tanks wrapped in fur?  I do.  But let's not stop there when we can also cover the scale, the waste basket, the tissue box, and the TOILET BRUSH HOLDER!!! In addition to apparel and home furnishings, Borg fabrics were also used for industrial applications including car shammies, paint rollers, work mitts and gun case linings.

The reason I researched Borg Fabrics?  While trolling around my local thrift store a few months ago, I noticed a large box (which I bought) of fake fur samples all with Borg tags.

And I didn't accept my husband's suggestion

that they had something to do with the Star Trek Borg...

...even if the Borg Fabric logo is surprisingly similar to the Star Trek Insignia.

Assimilate that.

Simplicity Fashion News

Finding some old pattern advertisements in a box of notions that I recently purchased was a fun discovery.  I remember piles of these laying on the cutting counters when I worked at Mary Lester Fabrics in Milwaukee.   Here's one by Simplicity from July 1968 when patterns were still 65¢ and 75¢! (click to enlarge)

 Very Twiggy-esque...

By the way, Twiggy is 63 now.

 These dresses look like they're made of polyester double knit...

 I must say that I love the shoes...

 ...but the hair-dos are another story.  Can you say "beehive?"

Love the quintessential yellow floral.
The second gal to the left is very early Carol Brady.
That show must have started very close to '68.

 Solid jewel-tone colors with touches of white are "cool" in 1968.

 Nice colors.  Nice socks.
Ok, maybe I do want knee socks to come back...
but not the sheer, cut-off-your-circulation-under-the-knee-cap kind.

I remember wearing dresses like these...

and pig-tail girl is having a little too much fun... 

and her dress is short.  

That's why we used to sing such taunts as, 

"I see London.  I see France.  I see (fill in the name)'s underpants!"

Oh, and the baby blue sport set on dad is, is, is... no words.

 A ruffle tutorial.

The "Answer Dress.
What's the question?

Gotta love the Don Ho "TV Spectacular" advertisement.

"Tiny bubbles..."

The Din From My Fabrics

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Vintage fabric talks to me.  Yes it does.  When I come across a three yard piece of vintage 60s daisy covered cotton, it shouts, "Make me into an A-line dress!"  Or a piece of 70s decorator fabric might say, "I want to be a granny chic pillow."  A piece of vintage bonded gold velour recently suggested, "Isn't it time you made your husband that replica of Captain Kirk's uniform - original series, of course?"

And well, you know... once the fabric starts talking to me... I have to buy it.  Thus explains the gajillion yards of vintage fabric in my house (I can no longer limit that statement to just, 'in my sewing room').  It's almost a problem.  My family might say it already is.   But I digress.

Back to the fabric.  It talks to me.

These next pictures represent recent conversations.

This 38" rayon wants to be made into this dress,

but maybe the sleeves will be cut off into a short bell

with a contrasting black yoke and belt.

I call this the "Luck fabric" with it's ladybugs, horseshoes, elephants,

shamrocks, #13, and palm reading.  It's a 40" wide rayon and

told me it wanted to be this little number.

This sweet 28" wide striped cotton wants to be a

waisted 50's dress with an accent belt of... red?

Oh yes I do.  I definitely listen to polyester double knit, too.

I don't discriminate much when it comes to cute vintage fabric.

This quaint flocked gingham print knit fabric

knew it would be perfect for this early 70s Butterick dress.

Maybe with red topstitching.

It was a recent conversation with this feminine 30" wide cotton.

I think it wants a contrasting rose colored collar.

This sheer dotted swiss and early 70s decorator fabric teamed up

and have been thinking about this 1970 dress

but maybe with short sleeves.

This 36" cotton plaid wants to be that 1967

A-line dress but with a lace collar please.

And last for today's conversations, this liquid and fluid

1940s or earlier 40 inch wide rayon with strange Qs on it longs

to be a flowing dress like this one... but maybe a bit shorter.

Yes, everywhere I go vintage fabric talks to me.

Do you agree with my vintage fabric and what it wants?