September 2007
My ebay auctions this week- Simplicity dress pattern
This week amongst my listings on Ebay, I've put up this pattern for sale. The story of how I acquired this pattern is one of determination.
In those days I lived at my parents'. One night I saw a pile of several garbage bags on the curb down the street and seeing that there were so many of them made me curious as to what they could contain- a single home doesn't usually have that much garbage to throw out unless it's "good" garbage- actual stuff. Hmm, maybe even vintage stuff. As I investigated I discovered that, peaking from the bags, I could see fragments of vintage porcelain and glass. I didn't need anymore encouragement to decide I had to rummage through them! I didn't want to do this on the corner of the street and be run off by people trying to sleep so my only solution was to start hauling the full garbage bags to the house so I could take a better look.
It was raining. If you think that would keep me from looking through a pile of vintage stuff, you really don't know me at all! I hauled what I could up the street, dragging the bag on the cement but careful not to break anything and so managing to pull several small muscles. Strangely, my parents were not too thrilled when I dragged the many many wet mucky garbage bags that smelled like basement or worse into the house. Curiously they did not encourage me when I said I wanted to go back the next garbage night and the one after that. Nevertheless, I somehow bullied enlisted their help and my dad drove the car to the end of the street so I could get the rest of the bags before the neighbours shooed us off or someone else got to it.
It turned out I had been right. Each bag was better than the last! Retro dresses, old greeting cards, teacups, hats, pictures from 1900's. I hadn't found any trophies, any priceless items but the sheer joy of a story being told was the best reward. Each broken strand of necklace, each frayed silk garment, each fragment of yellowed letter imparted me the wisdom of the sovereign past, the stories that cannot be erased.
She enjoyed airy organza and straightforward tweed, the former owner of these pieces, as her hands fashioned elegant outfits, the many home made dresses and the large quantity of designer patterns I found attest to that. Her name was Dorothy. She helped soothe fevered brows as she had chosen to be a nurse. She had a pink Pyrex cup circa 1950's and fabulous tropical themed wallpaper in her upstairs bathroom in myriad shades of green palmy leaves. She did not have children and yet you read about her now and so we leave a legacy through the things we hold dear.
You'll get a peek at her beautiful handywork in weeks to come as I'll be offering a few of her beautiful cocktail dresses and more patterns. And of course I'll keep you posted on how the pattern does.
One thing was obvious to me - I was meant to find all these treasures. Months after discovering the garbage bag loot, I visited the Valois Flea market which I used to frequent regularly where the usual array of tempting gems glittered from my favourite dealer's table. I finally decided on a necklace scintillating with the Titanic's refined extravagance, it sparkled like wine. The dealer told me she had gotten it at a sale not far from where I lived as the resident of the house was moving to a senior center since she was over 90 years old. It had been Dorothy's.
The aluminum chair of Cairo
Past a row of steel colored doors, there is one door that stands ajar, there is one chair. Opposite the steel desk, the chair sits bathed in the stark light of the office lamp. No confusion or fear of losing one's way in this room, here, where clarity and justice triumph.
My husband took me away to Perth, Ontario for my birthday.The Fiddleheads pub felt a bit like being in England and I enjoyed the bed and breakfast with its wooded property but what would be a birthday weekend without a good rummage around the Salvation army shops?! After looking over the shop and finding nothing of interest, I saw this vintage aluminum chair in a room off to one side of the store which suggested that it was either already sold? Not for sale? Not one to let mere reality stand in my way, I decided to interrupt a gaggle of lady volunteers raising a ruckus laughing in the break room where they were having tea. I was greeted effusively and was told the chair was for sale.It was a dollar! For a moment I thought the tag said 100$, but the volunteer confirmed it, a buck. Cons: the chair is heavy. Pros: it's a buck and I don't care, I've got to have it because it's very unlike me to like this chair, and yet. And yet, is it not the chair that appeared in so many late 50's and early 60's movies, featured in college professors' offices and hospitals and news rooms with men and women "about to make crucial decisions..." and other places of reassurance, looking efficient, looking as though its jewel like metal would straighten out any wrongdoing.
Its efficient beauty completely subjugates me, because it turns this object into a portal to vintage movies.It's like The purple rose of Cairo but a chair instead of the main hero visiting me or more like the reverse, the chair projects me in the movie world. So it meant we had to walk back with the steel chair to our car. 10 blocks away. You may wonder who carried it - my husband did. I am happy to report we are still married.
Coleen is well place to appreciate the above sentiment. As you will see in her blog freshvintage, she recently found a similar chair. And, she has a fabulous contest where all you have to do for a chance to win some lovely vintage time traveling treasures is leave a comment on her blog :)
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Reply #3 on : Sun September 23, 2007, 17:49:14