To The Rescue!

Guilty Confession: I'm a serial Craigslist browser.  I know, I know, it's so embarrassing...

But come on - aren't we all?  I mean, there is something fascinating about searching through all of the random chaos that people list on that forum!  Sometimes you stumble across the most amazing finds, and other times you stumble upon the most...interesting...items (personal "scary item" favorite craigslist ad: edible underwear from 1984!  You know how much they wanted for it?  A THOUSAND bucks!  Can't say anyone was surprised when the ad was taken down after about a day...).

This time, however, my craigslist trolling paid off!  I found a person selling 1940s/1950s vintage clothing (an entire lot for $20).  I raced down there, and sadly found that much of the clothing was in desperate need of TLC.  Hideous stains (that no amount of effort could remove in some cases), tears, moth chews, etc.  However, there was also a lot that I was able to salvage, some nice pieces, and the most lovely vintage westernwear (gorgeous embroidered blouse/slacks/beaded belt)!  I dropped that off at the dry cleaner's, and will get pictures of it once it is nice and clean and pressed!

I'm still working my way through handwashing everything...there were 12 pieces total, and each and every piece needs to be carefully handwashed (with stain removal treatment), pressed, mended, and in some cases dyed a slightly darker shade to hide the stains.  The 12 clothing pieces were as follows: westernwear set, emerald green two-piece knit set (skirt, cardigan sweater), nubby purple wool two-piece knit set (skirt, short-sleeved sweater), 1960s red satin evening gown with matching belt, 1940s knit wool two-piece suit with rhinestone detailing (unfortunately, it's terribly stained and will need to be dyed a darker shade in order to be wearable), 4 1950s cotton dresses, 1 linen dress, 1 silk dress, and one wild blue wool dress with matching belt.

I've only finished up 5 pieces thus far, and I'm showing pictures of four of them.  The first is a lovely 1950s cotton dress with vibrant stripes & the skirt is cut in a gorgeous bias pattern.  There is an adorable bow in front, and the dress buttons up the back.

1950s "Mode O Day" cotton dress with cute rose-patterned fabric, two front pockets, tie shoulders, and black rickrack trim.  Fabric is pretty threadbare, with numerous tiny pinholes and stains - in short, the perfect gardening dress!

1940s/1950s "Fashion Frock" red linen dress with white racing stripes down the side - some very light staining near the zipper, but otherwise in excellent condition.  The perfect summer frock!

1950s cotton dress with pretty floral design and adorable bow in front.  Unfortunately, there is a great deal of yellow staining on the front, but again, this makes it the perfect gardening dress!