Antique Shopping

Saturday I went to a local Antique store for their spring event. a trunk of 100 year old clothes was being displayed and for sale.

 It was my day off, after spending all week with the children on spring break, Mama needed a break, so I went out by my self to antique shopping.

I wasn't expecting to purchase anything, but before I went, I asked my husband what  my "allowance" was, as money is tight with us. I of course knew that I would spend more on something if I really wanted it, but I know what I want and what I was looking for. (McDowel Pattern Drafting set, Doll Corset, Corsets, Victorian Magazines with patterns, Victorian Patterns.)


Some of the items were being worn by young slender models, others still in the trunk.
I dug through the trunk and looked at everything, at the bottom I found this mid 19th century corslet.

It is black silk, lacing at both front and back, the back retains it original spiral lacing. the front baleen bone is much broken and coming out of the broken silk. the beaded trim at the top edge is a bit loose and coming off in some places. The interior is a brown polished cotton?

In another part of the store I spotted this drafting set, which was too shiny for me to pass up. You see my husband is a Draftsman (which is where I learned CAD) and has a few of these vintage sets, though the case of this one is probably in the best condition of all of them!

I browsed through the other antique stores in the area, looking for an item that had been mentioned to me at the first store. Well I found it, and yes it was something I wanted.

Behold my sexy new underwear!

I think I will save more on this for later, I am in the research mode right now! But I will tell you it is from about 1890's to 1910's

All this for about $60, which happened to be the number my husband told me. when I got home with my treasures he said "you could have spent more" I told him I knew, but that I was only interested in purchasing things I would use.

The drafting set was much ohhed and ahhed over for it's shininess and was deemed to have been worth the price of all my purchases. (men, they like shiny tools) I particularly am looking forward to using it to make larger circles!

 The drafting set has been photographed on the drafting table, and the ruler you see is attached to the drafting arm.

I am looking forward to taking patterns off my new clothes, and yes I do want to make the union suit for next winter, though I doubt I will be able to find the right fabric. (It's a tube made naturally narrower at the waist.) and I need to do a bit more research to date these items more accurately. Oh and clean the union suit a bit too....