Reuse An Old Umbrella To Dry Your Clothes

This would have been nice to know when I was in college; those flimsy fold-up racks for drying clothes took up a lot of space in the tiny dorm room -- especially when you consider the few times you actually put them to use. I imagine a broken umbrella would work nearly as well, giving an old umbrella new recycled life.

Crochet A Powder-Puff Top

Authentic vintage crochet instructions for making a pretty cover for your powder puff; 1952 issue of The Workbasket.

Laundry Lines

I love hanging clothes out to dry -- sheets & linens smell especially nice this way. And it's a nice way to save money & energy, skipping use of the dryer. But people (who shall remain nameless; but they know who they are!) complain when I line dry jeans & towels, complaining that they are too stiff & scratchy when dried this way.


I have two ways I cheat and (unless they read this!) the complainers are none the wiser.

First, line dry the items (while they are away & can't see) and then I either:

* put them on "air" in the dryer for just two minutes, to add the "fluff" magic

or

* hand "fluff" by rubbing each item, relaxing the fibers (just crumple and rub the jeans or towel on itself) and then fold them.

It may add time to your day, but it saves you money -- and the arguments *wink*

Image credits: Laundry Hanging Out to Dry, photographic print by Nina Leen.

How To Remove Grass Stains

More from that vintage Eddy's Bread booklet; this time, removing grass stains from white fabric:

Truths About Fruit Tree Seedlings

From a vintage issue of The Workbasket, the truths about getting fruits from fruit trees: don't get seedlings (unless you can wait years!), get grafted fruit trees.

Pennsylvania Dutch Shoo-fly Pie Recipe

This recipe for Pennsylvania Dutch Shoo-fly pie was found in Pot Luck.

Keeping Clothes Damp While Ironing

I fell in love with this vintage figural elephant clothes sprinkler bottle, so I looked for other vintage clothes sprinklers (even saved the search at eBay). Such fun ways to keep from being ironing bored!

Retro Recipes For Marriage

In contrast to the many products inspired by or incorporating vintage & retro images of female domesticity that only really offer humor, Secret Recipes for the Modern Wife: All the Dishes You’ll Need to Make from the Day You Say “I Do” Until Death (or Divorce) Do You Part, by Nava Atlas, offers some wisdom with the chuckles. Read my review here!

Ironing Board - Not Ironing Bored

A vintage tip for getting the pad on your ironing board to be tight & smooth (otherwise you actually press wrinkles into the fabric!), from a 1940's issue of Modern Woman magazine:


We don't do much ironing nowadays, but I have very vivid memories of my mom ironing around dinner time...

Sometimes she ironed while dinner was in the oven; other times, after we ate dinner. I remember sitting on the floor with my sister watching local news (very vivid memories because of Albert The Alley Cat!), while my mom stood ironing and talking with us about what we were watching. I often consider ironing again just for this reason.

In our household, we not only monitor what our children watch on TV but consider television less of a "passive entertainment evil" if our family is discussing what's on. (Sometimes this is part of educating them about what they are seeing; other times it's far more conversational.) If I were ironing, I'd be less bored out of my mind watching shows I do not enjoy but the kids do.

I would not dress like this -- nor did my mom! -- but who can pass up showing off this vintage ironing photograph from Life magazine? *wink*

Soap Saving Wash Cloths

My dad sent me this email:

I have one for your Grandma blog.

This came from the depression era and carried through the war years. (In my childhood it lasted into the early fifties.)

Two standard wash cloths were machine sown together on three sides with the forth side loosely hand stitched. Inside was placed the small leftover bits of hand or bath soap bars, that we toss out today. This was then used for your bath. No shower in our house in them days.

Dad

To which I replied:

Dude, I vaguely remember that! Did she make [my sister] and I do that too?

He replied that he wasn't sure if his mother did it that long or not... But if it wasn't grandma, then who or how?

...That woman was a saver. For example, she did hoard toilet paper. Seriously -- she had an entire pantry in the basement full of it. When she passed away, we donated hundreds of rolls of toilet paper -- in designer shades & by makers long gone by then. So it's entirely possible she had my sister and I take baths with the soap-saving wash cloths.

Thanks, Dad, for the tip & the memories!

A Wash Cloth Footnote: One of our kids continues to be confounded by the term "wash cloths" -- she calls them, much to my chagrin, "rags." This because she's almost 13 (her birthday is Sunday!) and for her entire life she's used one of those "shower gel poofs." Plus, she washes whatever dishes that do not fit or belong in the dishwasher with a sponge; so I guess the only small squares of fabric she is used to are rags for dusting, washing floors etc.

Adorable Animal Adorned Cupcakes

While this 1941 issue of Modern Woman Magazine (V10 n5) doesn't have the recipe or instructions for the adorable cupcakes, I'm inspired to try this with animal cookies and icing.