Update 9/25/09: I bit off more than I can chew. It’s more than I can handle. I’ll be selling these by the box. Sorry friends! More details are here.
This has been a most unproductive week and I can’t say why. I feel like I haven’t gotten a thing done and no posts out of it to boot. Again, I’m trying to get rid of stuff, specifically boxes of vintage patterns. I accumulated these when I was addicted to estate sales. I’m happily recovered from the addiction but still dealing with the vestiges of my former affliction. It takes forever to photograph and sort these things, anyone have any ideas of how to get rid of them in quantity? I don’t think I’m inclined to list them singly on ebay. I’ve uploaded photos of the first box in a web album if you want to take a look.This particular lot has an assortment of collectibles like slippers, hats, aprons and toys.
For now, I’m going to try to sell them like this. You put a price on whichever ones you like and email me the style number and brand. No reasonable offer refused. Obviously I can’t sell the collectibles for less than the cost of a cup of coffee but you may be surprised at what I’d take because these really need a home where they’ll be loved and appreciated. This particular lot was from a lady who was fastidious about keeping the patterns intact, with no pieces missing and folding them up neatly (so you know I didn’t get my mitts on them). Some I’ll give away if you order some but you won’t know which those are. Then again, if you happen to be someone who’s donated to support the site, I may not accept money from you at all and just send you stuff so it doesn’t hurt to ask.
If you happen to know someone who buys lots of these, let me know? I’d be happier to sell them by the box. Lastly, it’s like anything around here. If it’s not a square deal for you and you’re dissatisfied, send it back with no hassle.
Contact Kathleen of Little Hunting Creek. She sells vintage patterns in her e-store.
http://www.thelittlehuntingcreekcompany.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=129
But don’t sell them all to her in a bulk lot until you let me pull all the pattern puzzles out for me. OK?
Your might try The Blue Gardenia or Vintage Martini or Evadress (.com) — they all deal in vintage patterns.
Kathleen, these are highly collectible on Etsy — some of the lovely ladies who buy and sell are
sandritocat, booty vintage , pattern stash and pattern shop
I tried to post links but I got marked as a spammer :( — go to Etsy if you’re interested and search for them by seller username.
Here are 4 contacts for you. They all sell vintage patterns and may be interested in bulk lots:
http://www.vintagefashionlibrary.com (Lisa Utter)
http://www.momspatterns.com (Jen Adolph)
http://www.sew-retro.com
http://www.misshelene.com – Miss Helene’s Sewing Shoppe
I’d try Lisa at Miss Helene’s or Jen at MOMSPatterns — they both buy patterns in bulk.
(Heck, share the love and sell a box to each!)
Kathleen
i would not call this a wasted week. Who knows neurons will fire in your head from looking at these.
I would love to buy McCalls 5318, Mc Calls 4309, Vogue 7427
Is 30 dollars sufficient?
yes, I am stuck in some time warp, as you can see by my choice…..
Here is another e-shop you check out–they have a good vintage pattern section:
Rusty Zipper http://www.rustyzipper.com/featured_sewingpatterns_womens.cfm?nav=left
And here’s another; Oldpatterns.com
I’ve sold them in bulk to her. She pays more money for the older vintage patterns and less for the ones that aren’t quite old enough to be charming yet. She has a cut off date but I forget what it is. Her name is Michelle.
Kathleen-
I’ll buy a box. I LOVE vintage patterns, especially 50’s and 60’s, and I happen to sell them singly as well. sanourra (at) yahoo.com
Hi Kathleen,
I’m interested in anything from the 30’s and 40’s, have any like that? I will take a look at your link….thanks!
I recently had pretty good luck selling them individually on eBay. I would take them on consignment to sell for you if you wanted. I pay the auction and take 50% of the selling price. They went for anywhere from $.99 to $17 with most going for around $5. It adds up. But it sounds like you have plenty of takers already.
I have not recovered from my addiction! I’ll buy by box!
Hi Kathleen,
Not sure this would help in terms of getting rid in quantity, but I would be interested in ladies clothing patterns that are bias cut, clever, and intricate.
If I wasn’t recovering from extended unemployment (and consequent lack of funds) right now I’d take the whole lot off your hands. I am still hopelessly addicted to vintage patterns, especially well-cared-for specimens like these look to be. I hope they find a good home where they’ll be appreciated as the treasures that they are.
One other option you might consider is donating them to the collection at URI. They’ve got some good projects going for documenting sewing patterns through the years. You might even get a tax deduction out of it.
Hi Kathleen, I’m a Spadea pattern collector, if you have any of those from the 50’s 60’s, I’d be interested in purchasing them from you for a lot more than the cost of a cup of coffee :-).
I don’t know about your view of the site but I’ve published two new entries and neither one is showing up -on my screen. How annoying. I also amended this entry which also isn’t displaying on my screen. The new entry is digitizing vintage patterns and part two of the lining and facings post. And I still have archives entries to put up.
Alesia, I think I have some of the Spadea patterns, not many tho. Are they good? I know I have the Spadea sewing book. It’s from the 60’s and kind of interesting.
Looks like I came to the party a little too late. I’d be happy to take any pre-1979 patterns off your hands in bulk with a minimum of fuss.
katherine@zipzapkap.com if interested
I’d love to have them ALL, but don’t have much cash to send your way yet, and by this time, you’ve probably already sold them. Actually, since I *can* make patterns, what is often useful is just the drawing of the garment and the drawing of the shapes of the pattern pieces.
What’s funny is, I had gotten a book at the library of photos of the fronts of ’50s patterns. One of them had the technical sketch. I made my own pattern from my slopers. Later I found the same pattern that one of the big 4 companies had reissued in their catalog. Then a friend of mine made the same dress for a play. I don’t remember the co. or the #, but it’s a 1 piece dress that you put over your head, tie or snap the front around the back and the back around the front; the front skirt is straight and the back is a half circle.