A few Goodies from 1940...

Hello my dears,
The other day I was flipping through a tall, dusty stack of McCall Needlework magazines and I was reminded just how amazing they are.

McCall Needlework, at least in the 40's was usually published quarterly. It was a bit like modern sewing magazines with some free projects here and there, knit and crochet patterns, tutorials on the trendy crafts of the time, and sewing pattern advertisements.
And of course it's the sewing pattern advertisements that caught my attention, and I got lost for entirely too long just admiring them.

So naturally, I had to scan and share them with you all. This is a handy resource to date your sewing patterns, and really just fun eye candy, too.

Who else is head over heals in love with the hooded robe on the upper left?! I'm so in love with patterns that have hoods! If you have a copy of this one and you're willing to part with it, let me know!

Happy sewing,

Sew Expensive... Wealthy Knitters Unite!

 Today for our semi-regular (when I feel like it) installment of Sew Expensive we have a knitting/ crochet book instead of a sewing pattern.
Last night (night for me, at least) Worth's Hand Knitted Creations sold on eBay for a sum that made me spill my morning coffee all over the damn place.

The 72 page booklet from 1936 sold for a painfully exciting $213.58. Why? Hell if I know. Maybe it was because it looked like this:

And had a pattern for this in it:

Wow. I mean, WOW.

It's beautiful to be sure, and very rare. I would pay $213 for this dress, but I'm not sure I would pay that for the pattern.
How about you? Is there something that you would pay almost anything for, that might not seem very valuable to others?
Philosophical answers are welcome too.