Early 20th century bodice

This is the second antique bodice that I found at the City Wide Garage sale back in June. It's tattered all to hell but I still had to have it. I've had it gracing my vintage Dritz My Double dress form for a while now. I squished the dress form down as small as I could and I could barely hook the waist closed.

It's pretty obviously a pigeon-front waist from the early 1900s. The sleeve style is so distinctive to me, with the fullness gathered at the cuff, and I knew I'd seen examples of that somewhere--probably on Isabella's blog. I managed to find this image from 1904 that is just exactly the style of my red plaid waist:

Every time I look at it I wonder who wore it. How old was the original owner when she wore this? Was she a young teen or a lady of a certain age? Was she a young mother? A wife? What was she like? I'd like to think this bold red plaid with the jaunty black buttons reflected the vivacious spirit of its owner.

That's why I love these things. I'll never make a pattern from it, because I think the pigeon-breasted styles were ugly to the extreme--who ever thought it would be a good idea to purposefully try to look sway-backed and pot-bellied??? But I just love to imagine who might have worn it. I don't feel like it's haunted, but I do feel like I get a little bit of a feeling of its previous owner. I also like to think that it was handed down in her family through the decades as a treasured reminder of her. I don't know how it ended up in the rag seller's hands but I'm glad it got into my hands after that. I don't care that it's shattered and torn to shreds in places. I just love the fact that 110 years later, this former beauty is still hanging around.

McCall's Magazine - July 1902 - Part the Second

I finished my project for the vintage sewing contest on patternreview.com and hated it, so I didn't enter it after all. I didn't even take pictures. That's all I'm going to say about that.

MOVING ON... Let's take a look at the rest of my July 1902 issue of McCall's Magazine. I have to start with this crazy article: "Toads as Domestic Helpers."

"A lady who lives near me has a toad so well trained that it jumps upon her lap and then upon a table near her in order to catch flies," writes August R. Pinney in Good Housekeeping.

I admit to being quite taken with the thought of having a troop of toads as little helpers, especially when the article went on to describe them as being "very orderly and clean. When they wish to sleep they go to their basin of sand, and when to wash, they go to their pan of water for a bath." AwwwwWWWW. Please, please click on the picture and read the whole story, it's ADORABLE.

Next up: advertisements. Check out the "Cozy Homes for a Dime," where houses cost anywhere from $300 to $2000 (that's $7835.30 to $52,235.36 in today's money).

Some of those "Useful Recipes" sound pretty good, particularly the recipe for Fig Cake. I might try that some time.

That buggy is cool. $60 in 1902 = $1567.06 today. Not a bad price, I think! I wasn't sure if this was before cars were invented, so I did a quick Google search and found the answer but didn't retain much of what I read except that cars were invented in the 1880s in Europe, and became popular in the US with the Model T around 1908. So this buggy must have been horse-drawn. The first cars looked just like horse-drawn carriages, to my untrained eye. But the best thing I learned was that the first long-distance driver was a woman! Bertha Benz, wife of Karl Benz, who is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.

More, with comments in the captions since I'm a bit rushed today.

Hah! Inflatable bras! Also, Tutti Frutti Ice Cream sounds yummy. I might try that. I bet it's good with the fig cake.

I always love looking at old-fashioned home remedies. Also, these are boys clothes. I didn't realize that until I looked at the descriptions.

That corset with the wrap-around belt closure looks really interesting. 

"Delicious Desserts for Summer Dinners." Chocolate jelly should sound unappetizing, but reading the recipe makes me want to try it.

And that wraps up my issue of McCall's Magazine, July 1902 issue. It's missing several pages, but what surprises me is how completely they cover the bases in their pattern listings--baby clothes, girl clothes, boy clothes, teenager clothes, women's, men's, fashion, underclothes, nightclothes, aprons, bonnets, etc. Also, was it uncommon/non-existent at this time to have separate pattern books? What were the other pattern companies? Did they put out magazines of their pattern collections including household tips, celebrity news, recipes, etc. too?