Contest & Vintage Tips

This isn't the usual link round-up; all the links are to my antiques and vintage collectibles site, Inherited Values, where I'm giving away American Pickers DVDs!

While you're there, you might want to check out these other tips and articles posted there. Some are handy, some explain the condition you might find your vintage things in, and some are just cool bits of history:

Help Dating & Identifying WWII Fashions

Vintage Beauty & Cosmetic Tips Explain Vanity Collectible Conditions

A Guide To Collecting Vintage Fashions & Lingerie

Learning From Vintage Ephemera About The Condition Of Collectibles

World War II Makeup Tip

From a wartime issue of Modern Woman magazine, a tip from Frances Gifford on adding lipstick to your cold cream to add glowing color to your cheeks.

What Women Want From Clothing

According to research by Mintel, women are still enjoying shopping for clothing but they are picky about what they want -- and even pickier about what they don't want. And what they don't want is clothing that requires dry cleaning, hand washing, or ironing:

Indeed, three out of four female clothes shoppers (75%) say they avoid items that require a trip to the cleaners. Meanwhile, 59% are loathe to purchase clothing that has to be hand washed separately—and women aged 65 and up are even more likely to pass on fashions with tags that bear the hand wash separately mandate, with 68% reporting as much.

“Dry clean only or hand wash separately account for one more errand or household chore that busy women simply don’t have time for,” says Kat Fay, senior beauty analyst at Mintel. “When you consider the demands of work, family obligations, children and a social life—some women may just find it easier and less time-consuming to purchase an item that doesn’t have specific cleaning instructions.”

...So, if women are turned off by dry clean only or hand wash separate garments, what clothing attributes constitute the perfect fit? It seems 84% of female clothes shoppers are seeking out easy to mix and match separates, while 78% are drawn to classic styles that don’t go out of style and 71% are looking for items that don’t have to be ironed.

While it's true that dry cleaning is expensive (and the chemicals are no good for the planet), and that hand washing and ironing take time, perhaps if more people know how to iron and launder clothing by hand, it would be less a matter of "fuss" and more a matter of pride.

How To Wash Problem Fabrics

This article was published in Modern Woman Magazine (Volume 17, Number 1, 1948) and is credited to Mrs. Jean Robinson, "Washability Expert, White King Soap Co." The problem fabrics covered are highly colored prints; jersey fabrics and jersey-type fabrics; chintzes and glazed fabrics; rayon crepes, taffetas, organdies and nylons. Since textiles have changed a lot since 1948, these tips are probably of most use to those who love and wear vintage fashions and collectors of vintage textiles.

How To Wash & Iron Shirt Collars

Several tips on collars from that vintage Watkins Household Hints by Elaine Allen.

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Step-By-Step Instructions For Binding The Past Issues Of Your Magazines

As a collector of vintage magazines, I'm sitting uncomfortably on the fence on this one... In some ways binding your own magazines is a better way to protect them through the years, so that's a good thing; but you do risk damaging them as far as collectors of pristine items go. However, I'm not a collector who is concerned with pristine conditions at the price of rendering vintage publications useless. I'm more about vintage items living on and this how to article in the February 1964 issue of Work Basket does seem to be a thrifty way for homemakers to save past issues of magazines they wish to save as resources.

Cottage Cheese Scrambled Eggs Recipe

Another recipe from Creative Cooking With Cottage Cheese; this one provides four main dish servings.

How To Clean A Felt Hat

How to remove dirt and dust from a felt hat using fine sandpaper; tip from that Hint Hunt booklet.

Keeping Light Colored Fabric Clean While Sewing

Using cornstarch to keep hands dry; tip from that October 1960 newspaper clipping.