Victor Keyboard model 101 Made in Japan

We were emptying some boxes of old computer equipment and came across this gem - a Victor 101 KB keyboard, made in Japan.  This is old - and we don't know if it is working, but it could be used for parts.  So, we're offering it up for sale.

Victor was an early competitor to IBM, and were a favorite of typists and programmers alike for the 'clicky keyboards', mechanical keyboards that gave you a definite response for each key typed. 

Victor 101 Keyboard buy it on Ebay

serial and part numbers 108815-01
Victor Keyboard Unit Model 101 KB

It has this connector on it, so I can't test it anymore.  But we're sending it up to be offered for parts, and maybe for just plain vintage appeal.

January Jumpstart Day Five

The best pencil box ever

This is the most amazing pencil box, ever.  It has a useful easel and three drawers with lots of partitions and little locks on the side.  If I needed to I could lock everything down, grab it by the handle and go.

vintage books and vintage sewing patterns

I've posted these books and sewing patterns on mariemeyer.etsy.com   A 1963 fishing book with amazing illsutrations including color fly fishing lure plates and knot tying.  

Then there is the McCall 7302 sport dress from 1948, of which I made the skirt once and loved it.  It can be very hard to find those patterns in the larger sizes of today - and this one is bust size 38.  

And Simplicity 6824 girls size 7 wardrobe which has a wonderful pants pattern, that can be made into shorts, and a short or long sleeved shirt.


We read this Total Money Makeover together last summer and it had a lot of really good information. 

Did some little paint sketches tonight on some loose hexagon tiles

bits of school stuff and organizing

We went to meet Esme's third grade teacher this morning.  I'm optimistic... she didn't blow Esme's questions off or roll her eyes at her stutter like the last teacher did (and threw up warning signs we didn't follow through on fast enough).  I just hope Esme doesn't give her too much grief.. she will some... there are going to be a LOT of changes she will have to face the next few weeks.

Bedtime routine is one of them.  We've been going earlier and getting up at 6 every morning.  She is crabby.  She doesn't want to read her book with me at night - I can read, but she doesn't want to.  I solicited some advice, and bedtime is going to change.  And there is going to be a clearly written list of things in order.  She won't have to read, but if she acts up during the list, or during the reading I will do to finish out our book. I'm done with it then and there.  It does make sense.  I hope I can stick to it.  She has been even more of a pain than usual on the bedtime routine since I started moving it earlier - and anxiety from worrying about school is there a bit, too.

KNITOWL
I'm working out my own anxiety a bit by organizing my huge supply of craft stuff.  Sorting out, purging some trash out of it etc...  I also started listing some of my vintage patterns on the Etsy shop MarieMeyer.etsy.com again.  These are patterns too small to use for Esme now, and I would like someone else to use them before they are ruined one way or another.  I've been keeping them nice, but well... I'm not using them.  They need a better home.

There's some from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s ... mostly sizes 2 to 6 little girls.

Simplicity 7196 and Simplicity 3316, two of the patterns I've used and am now ready to pass on.

//

Organized a lot in the sewing area - still have a ways to go... sat down and cut apart the skirt on one of her  old dresses and made a pair of night shorts for her.  Got everything ready for school tomorrow, lunch and snack packed, shoes and backpack located etc etc... made a list so we don't forget to get the lunch and take a picture tomorrow.

Super simple purple sleeveless

Two down and a few more to go. I made this super simple purple sleeveless dress tonight while Mark was stewing chili. Esme had said she liked this dress at Niddle Noddle quite a bit, so we found a fabric similar to it when we were in town today. I omitted the sleeves of her regular pattern and made it a single button overlap closure instead of a zipper, to keep it cool. She says it fits well.

I think I have a few other things to plan - a pair of pants from the brown/blue flower fabric she chose and she has asked me for a cat doll with green eyes - which I have stalled on in favor of getting real clothes made. I like the fact that I was able to make good use of the machine these past two days - sitting down and actually DOING the job is only about an hour or two, but getting myself up to the task of sitting down and devoting that hour or so, that is usually the hard part. There are so many other things clamoring for attention, but the sewing is very rewarding.

A new-to-me blog I like : Bliss by mrs. french I have already gleaned some beautiful ideas from her inspirational pictures.

I discovered an early 1900s artist Virginia Frances Sterrett, who created beautiful art nouveau (almost Japanesque) woodblocks and paintings for several fairy tale/mythology books in the early 1920s. I read the tale of Blondine at archive.org while Esme was napping yesterday and loved it, although it is simple it would still be just a bit much for her, mostly length. Several of the Sterrett artworks look much like things I have drawn in the past - her turtle especially, and the gorgeous dropback of Prosperine's choice whether to eat the pomegranate or not in Tanglewood Tales. They have been reprinted into paperbacks on Amazon, along with Arabian Nights, also illustrated by her. I should probably put those on our list for Christmas if they are still available.

---ramble----

I did buy a few books recently - a crop science book is coming in the mail, as well as a grisly but beautifully illustrated version of Grimms Fairy Tales from the 1940s. I looked it up on Abebooks expecting it to be outrageous and found a copy that said 'good' and listed all the right info for surprisingly cheap - I will see if I am astounded or disappointed in about a week. I went seeking a specific type of copy because, in my above-mentioned reading and Mark's trying to remember specifics of Hansel and Gretel, I realized our collection contained a nice volume of Hans Christen Anderson and a 1950s text-only Arabian Nights but not any Grimm at all! I thought: Esme's education will be lacking! *sarcasm* but honestly, there is a bit of truth in that. In three years when she is wanting something to pore over, we will have some things with beautiful pictures and stories that have historically enchanted generations.

This one, if it proves to be what it claims to be, will be the non-politically correct Grimms which we will have quite a bit more to talk about on as parents but are the copies we remember reading before they were 'cleaned up for the public' sometime after that. As I've said before, it feels like I was raised in another era compared to nearly everyone else 'my age'. The world I grew up in was nothing-new and passed-me-down so the 1920-1940 books and comics I was reading in the 1970s were not 'special' at the time, they were what we had and if you didn't rip the pages you could read them and not have to stare out the window because the library was far away and new books were few and far between. We also had a wood burning potbelly stove we hung mittens up on to dry in the winter, candle light when (often) the electricity went out and a pumphandle in the bathroom for the water there but running water in the kitchen. It was an interesting place to grow up in at the time, and doing so helped foster so many things I find interesting now. I also notice, at times, that the older language in the books I read at the time still follows me now in later life.


Dora Deane 1915 book at Gutenberg
I had a copy of this at the age of eleven or so, and I remember it made an impression on me similar to Oliver Twist or The Secret Garden or Cast Upon the Breakers did as well at the time.

a few thoughts on patterns

Patterns I have marked for 'later' to buy and sew, someday.
I would have to alter or find the right sizes for them.


McCalls 2329, centennial dress
the bodice front shape is interesting


6042 McCalls
gorgeous child's dress and apron


McCalls 7089
child robe and nightgown, raglan sleeves draw me to this one

LATER: Was looking at all of those patterns stalling doing something I knew I really needed to do while I still have one morning of sleeping in ahead of me :) Mark spurred me forward a little - and I'm glad he did. Pulled apart Esme's bed and washed it down of all the junk she got caught in the corners of it. Washed the floor everywhere around where she eats and under her old changing table. Took bleach to a large area of the shelving she used to use more often than she does now. Kept the roll going and washed down her table and computer desk. Moved to the kitchen for the last leg and mopped most of the floor down and around the dog food and water dishes. I'm a simple girl when it comes to that - I just want a simple mop that can be washed out in the shower and reused, and that the head does not come off of the mop every few minutes! Mine does the latter... so often I am doing better to actually just sit down on the floor and scrub. Now I know my back hurts much more than it did last time I did that much crawling around the floor... getting older, but it was worth it and I keep reminding myself that dirt is coming up, getting out and getting gone. There is more that could be done.... but now it is time to sit and eat some chips and knit on the blanket and drink coffee... I have tomorrow off, too.

I mention that last bit because I was reminding myself last night - hopefully I can remember to remind myself as it comes up then, when my back hurts I will keep moving - maybe not in the exact ways that made it hurt (putting toilets up on three foot high shelves etc.) but I will keep moving, walking, cleaning, staying active. I have a deep belief that is one of the things that made my mom get sicker and sicker - when she hurt, she stopped doing things because some of them hurt... and then with her diabetes (which I do not have, but have a good chance of getting if I am not careful and maybe if I am careful) she put on more and more weight, which made her back hurt more, and then she deteriorated further and further until now she is at the point where her weight interferes with doing nearly anything. I am very scared of that. I want to take after my father in that regard.... I'm really hoping I do.

Thought I'd sit down - but went to wash my hands and the bathroom sink being slow running got to me again. Put the mop bucket under it and cleaned out the p-trap. YUCK and yuck and yuck. But, success. Note to myself for the future - when putting the pop up clip back on, make sure the round nubbly circles are facing towards the front. I have been a plumbing specialist for how long and still failed on the first reassembly on my own faucet? And I even had the luck of having it put together for me the first time but hadn't taken a good solid note of that fact.

7302 McCalls skirt and soup

This is what Esme spent today doing.
Daddy bought her a sprinkler
that she can turn on by herself...


7302 McCalls

This is the 1950s pattern I am making the skirt from. It is really a full sundress but the top is attached separately to the skirt and it is a zipper back. I decided there was only enough of this particular fabric to make a skirt, and had to split the back panels in half again to make it work. I've pinned the waistline together with the zipper in it and tried it on - it seems to fit. If necessary, I have one portion of the scraps that could be used to make an 'expander' panel for the sides. I hope I won't need it.

The soup from the other beans turned out well! Mark put in some too-fatty steak that had been sitting in the freezer for almost too long. I put in leftover radishes and green beans from the garden. The radishes surprised me. After cooking they were like flavorless pearl onions in the soup. It seems like a wonderful use for radishes, even 'woody' ones that have been in the fridge for a few days.

Off to play with Esme and later to sew the seams on the skirt and work some in the garden. I was out there for a little bit early this morning and one thing I noted was how many happily buzzing bees there were all over the squash and bean flowers. It is nice to have happy bees :)


Candid camera
Mark catching an offhand shot
of Esme on her way in to have a bath
and the back of the new skirt, as well...

LATER I've finished the skirt all but the hem, and am wearing it! I need to redo the elastic just a little on the back, so it stays tight around the waist. Being a vintage size 20 (32 inch waist) it is just a few inches too big and that isn't a bad thing when it comes to a skirt, as elastic can fix that (and be changed at a later date) and nothing can fix too tight.

sewing geek blurb

Looking through my patterns trying to find something for Lizzie's pants I realize - there is a HUGE difference in the styles the vintage patterns had for 2-4 and 5-7. And her measurements put her solidly between a 4 and a 5 with chest/hips, and the waist of a 5-6, so I would have to be careful about the styles that I make.

The 5's I have, with the exception of one - are mostly A-line jumpers or tunics and pants. There is only one real 'dress' in the mix - the one I made Esme's dark green one from that is still waiting for her to grow into it.

Then the patterns jump up to the size 6 - which has quite a few nice dress styles that just couldn't be found in the 4 and under sizes. Then at size 7 they start looking like 'grown up' dresses and pants sized down, with a few 'awkward' patterns for dealing with the very skinny long middle problem. I've tried to keep away from buying too many 7s until I know Esme is still going to let me sew for her at that age!

All of that means nothing to anyone not faced with a stack of vintage children's patterns. ha. But anyway, Esme is going to get to that size in another 6 months to a year - so I need to think about it!

new dress for Lizzie

Lizzie's measurements showed she was a size 5 with a larger waist proportion than Esme - so I needed a pattern that was more 'straight' instead of hourglass - for safety, because she is 1800 miles away from me and I can't try it on her or even hold it up to her! This pattern has a lot of free swing in the middle and the skirt can be shortened to make more of a 'shirt' on the second pass if it constricts her legs too much. She is also a few inches taller than Esme - an inch taller in the legs. She must get that from my lumberjack of a brother (6'3"!) And her mom is taller, too. So - here we go. A size 5 vintage dress for my niece Elizabeth.

I used remnants (washed but not pressed) I had lying around the shop - because I'm not sure it will fit. It took three hours from the time her mom gave me the measurements until I was ready to put the zipper in. Of course - that counts getting Esme and I drinks and playing with random toys here and there and quite a bit of discussion about being careful with my pin cushion she had every single pin out of and was counting them and handing me some one by one while I put in the sleeves. I'm pretty proud of the way the front turned out - because once I got to cutting that piece out I didn't have enough room anywhere for the whole thing - or enough of the print to get the entire top of the bodice out of it either... so I compromised and put a stripe across the front. It looks like it was meant to be that way ;)

This is the pattern I used - something I had saved for Esme but she hasn't caught up to yet. I just LOVE the illustrations on this pattern envelope - and the dress itself is very 'plain and simple' - easy to alter into anything needed.


McCalls 8715
year was 1967
made the top view in size 5 for Lizzie

Butterick 2194

This is the first time I've posted to Sew Retro!. Thanks for visiting!



I used 1960's pattern, Butterick 2194



I'm very taken by these side ties... but I'm not sure why. I'm making view 'B' (the girl in the blue dress) but without the collar... I think... I can change my mind later on that if I want after using some scrap fabric to try the pattern out. The pattern is a vintage size 2, 21inch breast when Esme is really a size 3, 22inch breast. But - as I am using a modern seam allowance (1/4 inch) it should work out okay. I tested it against a modern size 3 that was of similar construction and it looks like the pieces are VERY near the same size - millimeters off etc.

I chose the very bright cow landscape fabric I have and some green print leftover from some garage sale finds a friend gave me. Esme kissed both fabrics and said they were beautiful... while at the same time telling me the blue I was originally wanting to make it in was ugly and blech. HMMMMMM.... Fate may have a hand in this dress!


The cow dress nearing completion

The tie straps had to be sewn in between the front bodice and the sides at the bottom -- and then the back tie was sewn to the center-back. I probably should have gathered the back and side all as one piece - in fact, now that I look back at the instructions I think that was the idea. But, I looked at the pattern envelope for view 'B' and somehow got the idea that the side skirts were gathered and the back was 'flat'... and everyone says the dress looks so pretty that way. There really would not have been a lot of gathering at all if I hadn't left the back flat.

I decided to hand-sew the sleeves in while at work on lunch hour, and then bring them home and give a better machine-stitch and zigzag to them. Now all that is left is the zipper in the back and a try-on.

Finished and on!


She is saying: 'I'm a big girl!'

It fits her well enough - there is a lot of room to grow in for being a size less than she measured for (vintage sizes are always large on her). The sleeves were not a problem at all... However, the neckline is fairly close-fitting, and I can see it getting tight when she grows into the rest of the dress. So - if I made it again I would cut the neckline deeper all around... then it would fit her frame much better and still have room to grow from dress to 'top'. If I had wanted it to fit her better now I would make a second one with a compressed neck-to-shoulder seam and set the sleeves much deeper into the main garment.

And further on: With a few natural alterations this dress has become a staple for my next round of Esme's clothing. I've made three of them, so far - and probably will make a few more. This one is her favorite: See it in this post in-progress and also in this post wearing the dress

Green cow dress and bag puppet

I don't really have a thing for cows, but Esme likes them... so we bought this cow fabric for a quilt I was going to make for her. And she got quite a few cow things for her birthday - which she plays with daily. My favorite animals lean more to rabbits, owls and then cats. Esme seems to focus on cows, cats and elephants... other animals come and go, but she returns to them.

This is the progress on the green cow dress started last night. Gathering the sides while keeping the back 'flat' was harder than I had thought! I still need to sew in the sleeves - they are just pinned on. And then put a zipper in the back and it will be ready to try on. The sleeves seem quite small compared to most of her clothes, but the ones she has tend to fit loosely.



And here is Esme looking sneaky as I am taking pictures - coming up to play with the checkwriter. She is wearing her jacket and has been wearing it since early this morning - I can't weasel her out of it yet. Now she is sitting 'up high' on her changing table intently watching Roy Rogers sing to puppet cows and horses on the Muppet Show.

This is a paper bag puppet from a craft kit Esme received for her birthday. Thank you Elizabeth and Emily :) I know it is nothing like the instructions for that particular one. Esme placed all the pieces except the eyebrows - and she insisted on feathers!

Mark is feeling poorly now - and Esme and I are still snorking some, but not doing quite so badly. I hope it passes for him as quickly as it did for me.. (and that mine is actually on the outgo).

Fried Chicken soup and more...

I brought this to work today and had numerous people following their noses to the lunchroom only to be surprised by the cause of it.

5 to 6 chunks of batter-fried chicken (Mark's recipe) frozen,
1 boullion cube, with water
olive oil
a handful of canned carrots
diced red pepper
diced onion
garlic and onion powder
oregano
lots and lots of black pepper ground up
a bit of salt

Put that all in a plastic container and brought it to work - it marinated together, and by lunchtime it was ready to put in my ceramic bowl in the microwave for about four minutes (2 min at a time). It was VERY good. I had made something like it at home last night as a steamer pack and it was quite good that way, too -- although I wished for more of a gravy-like garlic marinade to pour over it then.

Tonight when I got home I continued the cravings and went to the kitchen to make what I thought would be a soup and quesadilla sort of thing... but I ended up putting the raw tomato in the blender with some more carrots, spices, boullion, pepper and chopped cheese and mixing it all up fine and then cooking it to warm. Looked awful. Tasted great when dipped with tortilla shells and then drunk straight from the bowl.

I think the cold is about halfway fought - need to keep it up and hope it doesn't double back on me. Too bad Esme won't eat any of it - Daddy is getting her to eat some regular chicken noodle soup with him during the day.



Fabric from April, 2010.. some of it has been used and some is in my stash

Part of me says I should enlist help to buy 2 yards of light blue cotton fabric (any print or solid, content more important).... after the cutting table ladies keep running away from me :( But, I'm well and able (willing not quite) to wait until Wednesday (my next day off). My fingers are itching over the new pattern and I'll go poke in what I have to see if there is enough of anything. I know I have one yard left of the fabric in the very middle... maybe I can find something to coordinate with it. Maybe I can scrape together some of those purples and make something? Not sure...


Patterns that came in the mail! YAY!
The one on top is the next dress I hope to make for Esme

LATER: I just realized something. My vintage 1960 size 2 pattern and the modern size 3 pattern are the SAME size.... but the vintage one has a 5/8 inch seam allowance and the modern one has a 1/4 inch seam allowance. So.... I'm shooting for the size 2 pattern anyway, with some ludicrous fabric I have hanging about that Esme is bound to like... I'm thinking LOUD large cow print, with green bits in between.... Maybe the cold virus rewired something - but I'm in the mood to be silly.

working on the footies

Simplicity #3493 from 1940s - original unprinted pieces

I bought this pattern on Ebay last year. I didn't really WANT a 1940s footed pajama pattern - but it was hard to find any recent ones and this one was somewhere around five dollars. That is a lot for me to spend on a pattern, vintage or not - usually I'm looking at 25 cents up to three dollars shipped. Also, the construction of this type of clothing - with FEET, intrigued me enough to have to buy it. And now, I'm trying to put it to use.

I have the pattern all cut out and am examining the way it is put together to start some basting tacks in certain pieces. I had to use two different fabrics as the one I had bought specifically for the pattern fell short a bit. I'm only making the facings, belt and sleeves out of a regular lightweight flannel, and the rest is in a knit that is stamped 'suitable for children's sleepwear.' The lightweight flannel is leftover from backing Esme's baby blankets quite a long time ago now (or so it seems).

These pajamas have a backside that drops open when the belt is untied *giggle*... well we might need that soon, so.... **correction: umm... I was mistaken, the rear is just gathered funny right there - but it is enclosed**



I thought the pattern pieces looked very very LONG for Esme's height - and it is a size 4, not a size 3. BUT - I took a measuring tape from her shoulder to the start of her foot and across the top of her foot to the very tips of her toes.. and then the measurement seemed about right. So - I cut it out and am going to try it as it is. If anything, she'll grow into that one and I'll downsize it and try again.

Mama make the pink this one shirt the dress the shirt

This is a 'mama please' expression I don't often catch on the camera.
It's kind of like the 'dog face' from the movie BOLT *hehe*


"Mumum make the pink, this one shirt the dress the shirt..." That is Esme-speak for 'Mama please make this dress here and make it out of this pink fabric.' She definitely tells me what she wants, although she does change her mind often! She has really been into the idea of pink color lately, since a little before that pink sweatshirt came into our lives (put upon bunny dog post) but definitely en force since then! I finished the OTHER pink dress but left off the red gingham ties for now... Mark isn't sure it needs it but I might make some thin ties for it later anyway. Now, I have another pink one to make.


McCalls 7708 copyright 1965

Esme wants the white one in the top left, but in pink... or she just wanted the windmill toy. She also wants the red balloon. I'm much more partial to the top right or the bottom center... for reasons of ease of edge finishing.


bodice facing for 'D' top center

AFTERNOON: Esme is napping. I'm staring at this bodice facing. It is supposed to be sewn face-to-face and then turned inside out and finished some more. It hurts my brain a little I think.. but not as much as the view 'E' top left that Esme wanted! For some reason they want you to finish that one inside-out and then baste the edge and turn it right-side out and stitch on a braided trim. I was thinking of bias cut fabric could work for it... maybe that would be second-time-around try. It's funny: the views I thought were easiest to make (A,C) were the exact and only one cut out of the 1965 pattern. All the rest of the pattern pieces were uncut and intact. I'm cutting out D,E now and reading ahead.

Mark read my post yesterday about needing to make more clothes - so he tried his hand at this.



I told him tubes don't wash well ;) He said we'd just throw her out in the rain. Haha! He is kidding, of course. It says 'if found return to:' and 'reward - one oatmeal cookie' on it in magic marker.

I made the paper tube into a tree with cardboard leaves after she got out of it. Then we made a construction paper family of brown bears with 'honey' and other food which were just squares of other colors of paper I had lying on the table. She is still playing that game with it this morning. They jump down the hole into the bottom of the tree, she tosses 'food' into them.. she makes 'eating' noises and then she pulls the tube back off the pile of bears/squares and picks them up to start again. It is extremely cute. She was trying to explain it to my mom on the phone last night but my mom of course could not see any of it and had a very hard time understanding her. Esme kept saying 'it fantastic Nana! Fan-TAS-TICK!' And then she would roll into laughter and Nana would, too.. and they had a lot of fun with hardly any 'real' conversation at all.

NIGHT: Woohoo! It probably took me an hour to cut out the dress - as I was very careful with the pattern. I also tend to take breaks in between cutting bits of the dress out (facing / bodice / skirt) or I get frustrated with it in an odd way. And then it took exactly four hours (but there was also dinner in there after Esme woke up) to sew the entire thing up and try it on Esme. It fits a little large, and the skirt is SO poufy she looks like a flower fairy! I am proud of it, and I think she is, too. Pictures tomorrow I hope! And second time around - there probably will be one, with a slightly smaller bodice back piece and much less skirt. The bodice facing I was thinking would be hard was actually quite elegant... I like how they did that!


link to the post with the finished pictures of this dress

Main street toy

I knew she'd love it because it has a 'slide.'
It is supposed to have another one on the other side - but it is remarkably complete for something found in the back of a thrift store. I remember having something like this as a kid - but my people were made of wood and there was a school, as well. They put so much detail into these toys back then, the little payphone booth, mailslots on the doors for little plastic letters lost from this set, holes in the cars for 'gas' pumps, pictures on the inside of the shops, a 'manhole' that opens up that toys can drop inside the fire station through... etc... The thing that sticks up in the back actually drops down to enclose two of the rooms for holding items safe while being carried by the handle. What kind of forethought is that? Good, that's what ;)

green size five - half done (no pic)

I've worked on it for a few hours and it is looking good! I have the entire body finished and one sleeve in. The zipper is pinned in already. Handsewing the zipper, putting in the second sleeve and hemming all around the bottom and the sleeve wrists is on tomorrow's agenda. I'll then find out if I want to make the belt pieces or keep it as it is. It is BIG compared to the size 4, and would go down to her feet. WOW... the green against the print fabric is looking excellent.

I think having the other fabric to make another size 4 (which she could wear now) gave me enough oompf to get going on this one -- which would lack some of the satisfaction of her being able to wear it immediately. Without the incentive of 'getting to play with the new fabric when it's done' it might have sat a bit longer (hang head) Gotta listen to the instincts :)