31 May 1957 “Dungaree Doll and How To Make An Adorable Mother and Child Bunny Dolls from Socks”

These Darling Bunny dolls are easy to make from socks. I have included the pattern today. A great way to either use up old socks or a fun way to use new socks!

Well, Dickie Bennet is singing about a different kind of a doll: a teen girl in dungarees, but its such a nifty ditty, I thought it’d make a great song to accompany you as you make a cute doll out of socks.

What is fun about this song is it mentions a few things teens must have done in the mid 1950’s, such as 1) writing boyfriends initials on jeans 2)wearing old letterman sweaters and 3) making paperclip jewelry.

Enjoy these patterns and if any of you make them, please share your finished results and we can post about them and your results. Simply click on the images and they will enlarge. The second pattern should be printer reader and not need to be increased in scale.

I am going to skip news today as I am not sure if any of you are enjoying it or even reading it really. It takes some time to hunt things down, but if you are enjoying it, let  me know and I shall continue.

Have Fun and Happy Homemaking!

30 May 1957 “Geodesic Dome : Part Two and Memorial Day”

  Today is Memorial Day here in the U.S. We celebrate and honor those who have fought in the military.

Interestingly enough, it was first celebrated by formerly enslaved Black Americans  to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War who had died in the cause of their freedom.  After  World War I  it came to represent and honor those Americans who had died in all wars. After WWII it began to include visiting graves and reflecting on all those in the military, rather they had fallen or not. It also marks the official beginning of the Summer Season. This is particularly felt here where I live on Cape Cod, a summer destination.
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28 May 1957 “Buckminster Fuller and the Geodesic Dome”

Richard Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller was an American engineer, designer, inventor, author, and futurist. He hails from my home state of Massachusetts and had a very colorful youth. He was kicked out of Harvard twice, once for “spending all his money partying with a vaudeville troupe”.
His most famous work is with the geodesic dome, which even garnered names for Carbon molecules known as ”fullerenes”, named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.

Though many associate the dome with the earth/natural movement of the 1970’s, Fuller had created these unique forms in the 1950’s. Today I am sharing this article with you on his work from a 1954 Better Homes and Gardens.

I just want to go off topic here for a moment and point out that I loved that a woman’s magazine in the 1950’s thought to include up to the minute news in design and science. How odd to consider a homemaker, a woman to boot, would be interested in science and design. Again, another example of our perceived idea of how women were treated or represented in the 1950s and the actual fact. Compare this with a woman’s magazine of today.
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27 May 1957 “Bad Tenants and Loss of Freedoms”

I would like to apologize for not posting yesterday. As many of you may know, I have been dealing with the worse tenant situation I have ever had. We have a house we rent out for the amount it costs to pay the mortgage. We make zero dollars from it and quite often end up paying more for various things like water and repairs.

Our latest tenants have stopped paying rent two months ago. They have destroyed the house beyond belief. The home reeks of animal waste and the yard has bags of actual garbage as well as an odd array of broken furniture, various appliances in disrepair and more ‘free’ garbage, not bagged. It appears they literally eat, drink, or smoke something and then let it fall where it may.

The last week has been one of talking to lawyers, going to various government offices (where they seem to care very little) and to the local sheriffs office. What I have come to fine, and this is not an exaggeration, as a homeowner/landlord in MA I have NO legal rights to the house. I have to give a 30 day amount of time AFTER they have stopped paying rent. It has to be delivered BEFORE the last of the month it gives as the final month. It has to be signed for by the tenant by certifies mail (which I paid for) BUT if they do NOT accept the letter and go pick it up. That counts as their NOT having it! I couldn’t believe that, because obviously they have done this before.
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25 May 1957 “Mind your Manners”

First off, I want to start today’s post with a kind, “Thank you” to one of my wonderful new followers: Daisy Lew

She recently commented the following and made me feel rather quite good:


“I did it! I read through all of your blog posts, starting at the very beginning! I feel as though I know you very well now. I hope that's not too creepy and stalker-ish. I admire you very much and think very highly of all of your accomplishments over the past 2 1/2 years. You are an inspiration, as I'm sure you know!

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24 May 1957 “Rhubarb Blueberry Crumble”

I was lucky enough to receive some wonderful fresh rhubarb from Gussie the other day, from the farm where she works.  Never one to miss an opportunity for an ‘artsy’ close up, aren’t these colors wonderful? Now these would be good cues to take to decorate a room. Even a green and red kitchen (though sounding rather Christmas) is indeed a lovely thing. Especially with accents of ice cream pink and pistachio green…ah, can’t you just imagine it?

Well, back to the task at hand, my new found rhubarb. I was lucky to have had in the freezer some leftover fresh-picked local blueberries from last year, so I considered the two and thought, “A crumble!”
Ever since my first adventure in the kitchen back on that fateful day of 1955, I have found such continuing adventures to still be intoxicating. Once having learned some of the basics of cooking and baking, the artist in me took flight. When one knows how a crumble is made, say, then one considers the endless possibility of crumbles to be had.
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23 May 1957 “The Typewriter”

The glorious typewriter. It has been around for some time, by 1957, but was an integral part of the mid-century lifestyle. Offices, schools, students and yes, Homemakers, were often happy to have the helpful tool.
Today, with computers, cell phones/texting, and of course the i-Pad type devices, typewriters might seem to be even further an anachronism. This, I am happy to say, seems to not be entirely true.

22 May 1957 "Sunday News Day"

There is no new post today, but there is new news below in the Vintage Daily News, including a fun show to watch this rainy Sunday, "The People's Choice" starring Jackie Cooper.
You can either scroll down and read today's stories or if it is not 22 May go to the News Archive button at the top and choose that day.
Have a great Sunday and Happy Homemaking.

21 May 1957 “Space Age Pop: The Future of Music”

Here in 1957 we are rather obsessed with Space. The hopeful look to other planets and that great dark but starry mystery beyond is a pull to hard to resist.
Man always being an explorer, has begun to find the Earth over explored. After WWII technology had suddenly been sped up rather quickly and now, post war, we want that technology for everything. From increasing products (leading to our current consumer culture which, as we know in the 21st century, only becomes greater) to mapping out quicker ways to travel through air with jet aeroplanes and super highways, we see the sky not as the limit, but as the next great frontier.

Our Space story begins “The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) because the scientists knew that the cycles of solar activity would be at a high point then. In October 1954, the council adopted a resolution calling for artificial satellites to be launched during the IGY to map the Earth's surface.
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20 May 1957 “The Last Episode of I Love Lucy and now the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”

The last episode of that quintessential 1950’s sit-com “I Love Lucy” ends this month, and aired on 6 May 1957. It was the highest rated show in the country at this time.

The last episode was entitled “The Minuteman and the Redhead”. I could not find it in its entirety, but here is a great recap of that episode.

The final episodes had Lucy and Ricky living in Westport CT. Of course, they actually lived in CA and it was all filmed there. Therefore, some of their information about Westport was not completely accurate. See today's Vintage Daily News below to see an article comparing the right and wrong of this final episode.


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