Month of Vintage Underwear: Keeping Warm

Winter is coming, and I’m not going to stop wearing skirts.

Not this year. Not this time.

I really like skirts and dresses. I wear pants, and a good pair of jeans is nice, and all, but most of the time I feel the most like myself in skirts and dresses. The problem, of course, is winter. It gets cold, and all of my resolve departs, and back into pants I go.

One of the primary purposes of undergarments is keeping warm. Now with things like central heating and better insulation, and lives where many go from house to car to building without much time spent outside, it’s easy to forget that.

Modern bras and panties are not good at keeping you warm. A long-line bra with a girdle that covers your core is way more effective. Throw on some big tall socks and it’s downright cozy.   Continue reading “Month of Vintage Underwear: Keeping Warm”

Month of Vintage Underwear: Sourcing Reproduction Garments

There’s a lot to be said for a good vintage reproduction.

Reproduction garments are new and shiny, and have never been worn. Their elastic is not 50 years old. They are less delicate. You can pick your size. You can sometimes even choose the color!

And yet, I don’t buy much repro, mostly because of the cost. However, there are some brands I like.

Merchants With Which I Have Experience

Rago Shapewear 

Rago is not technically a reproduction brand–they’ve just been making stuff since 1945. A lot of it is pretty much the same. My (used) Rago cincher-girdle-thing is this one. It does the mid-century job. This is shape wear that does not mess.

Leg Avenue

Your basic stockings. Ubiquitous to costume shops and sex stores. I think they’re overpriced, but it’s convenient if you need to pick up a pair of stockings in real life.

Ebay

Not just the world’s garage sale–there are sellers of reproduction lingerie! Some of my favorites have been:

Europastyle0092–Good quality steel-boned corsets at an unbeatable price.

Handmade Petticoats–I love my petticoat from this seller–a collective of sewing ladies in Wales–and their prices are very reasonable. Goodness knows I don’t want to gather all that organza!

Brands I Don’t Have, but Have Seen Up Close and Covet 

What Katie Did

If I were going to spend significant money on vintage reproduction lingerie, this is where I would. They have a variety of period-appropriate silhouettes in period-appropriate colors and it’s so purty I can hardly stand it. But I refuse to spend $50 on a pair of tap pants. That’s just not going to happen.

Orchard Corset

A wide selection of corset styles, and they’re well made and sturdy. Many colors and fabrics, sometimes good deals to be found in their clearance section. I don’t wear corsets enough to need more than one, at present.

Any good sources I missed?

 

 

Month of Vintage Underwear: Sourcing True Vintage Lingerie

“Where do you even get those things?”

Since you can’t pick up a 1950 girdle at Target, I often get questions about just where my underwear comes from. The short answer is: “Dead people. Almost every time.”

Ebay finds, 2014. I.e. most of my true vintage underthings (the black one is repro).
Most of my true vintage underthings (the black one is repro)..

The longer answer is the following sources:

Continue reading “Month of Vintage Underwear: Sourcing True Vintage Lingerie”

Day 11: A Vintage Product I Clearly Need

I was paging through the 1948 December edition of Mademoiselle’s Living (“The magazine for  smart young homemakers”) as one is wont to do.

Vintage advertisements are a trip. Sometimes the products are enticing (“Why don’t they make that anymore?”), sometimes baffling (“Why did they ever make that?”). Often they are reeeeeeeeeally racist or sexist.  In my perusal of this smart young homemaker magazine, I found a pretty spectacular example of what I like to call the “You know your husband hates you, right?” school of houseware adverts.

First off, this is an ad for a product I clearly need. It’s a folding rack to dry your stockings on. So handy. It just looks like a decorative plastic seashell (so tasteful) when it’s folded up, and then folds down into a stocking rack. Introducing the “SafTdri Stocking Shell!”

Made in Chicago, IL!
Made in Chicago, IL!

The basic pitch is that it’s a small space solution–quit cluttering up your bathroom with your drying delicates. But the best thing is, it will make your husband stop hating you. Continue reading “Day 11: A Vintage Product I Clearly Need”

Month of Vintage Underwear: DIY Pillowcase Pettipants

The thing eventually makes November a poor choice for Vintage Underwear Month is how cold one gets without tights.

I clip on my stockings, and adjust my skirt, and one good cold wind gets up in my business and I’m just done.

So one of my solutions (more solutions to come) is a little pair of undershorts. I chose the softest pillowcase at the thrift store, washed it really well, and then turned it into a silky pair of drawers.

IMG_20151106_211003_656
A lovely pale blue pillowcase.

Continue reading “Month of Vintage Underwear: DIY Pillowcase Pettipants”