6 February 1956 “Planning a Dream Kitchen and some Recipes”

I found this wonderful film from 1949 about remodeling your kitchen. They performed various tests and studies at colleges to decide the best way to lay out a kitchen by using and studying homemakers. Take a moment to watch it as I discuss it below.

For some reason the whole movie may not show up, if it does not, then follow this link HERE.

I have been studying my various homemaker manuals, magazines of the year and keeping my own running list of my ‘wishes’ and ‘needs’ for my ‘new kitchen’. This film does a great job of an overall layout plan. I like when they show how to make affordable lighting for the farmer who has less money (and they use fluorescent bulbs, which might seem not as pretty but really, how green they were then and they didn’t even know it!)

I think the planning center so important.

The Cookbook holder in the door in the ‘mixing center’ is pure genius. Such a simple solution and yet, so many times I have had to juggle my cookbooks and how I hate to get anything on my nice vintage books.

The pull down bins for flour and such are just as they have in the old Hoosier cabinets (which these 1950’s ladies mother’s and grandmothers most likely used)

Even the spinning corner cabinet has the intelligent move of a smaller shelf on top.

It’s funny when you think how small, but effective, these kitchens were and how kitchens have grown so LARGE to the present day and yet how many of them sit unused or just to heat up premade foods!

You can bet I am going to make one of those pull out work centers. It is so nice and would be great when preparing vegetables for canning or peeling apples for applesauce etc. And I like that the worktable can be moved next to her. I wish I knew what she was doing while sitting there. It appears she is ironing some form of plastic that is sealing her food she is preparing. IN the 1950’s freezing food was all the vogue and canning thought rather old fashioned, so the new young wife was all about that. I, however, don’t mind freezing some things, but I prefer the idea of canning, as it will use less electricity than a large freezer and I am sure the ladies back then did not pay what WE pay for electricity today. Does anyone know what product she is using in that part of the film when she is ironing plastic at the work station?

When I saw the hole in the counter with the bucket underneath for vegetable prep I almost sprang from my chair! Yes, I want that. So smart and makes so much sense. And great, if you like to compost, as you can take your bucket and empty it into your mulch pile. Really wonderful. That is a definite for my ‘new’ kitchen. I like the idea of the potato and onion storage there as well, though I would probably have that much smaller or not at all. I will most likely have a dark space build in my pantry for those.

I like the bins over the stove (cooker) but not sure if tea and spices should be kept over the heat. I have heard that that can spoil their flavor, yet, it is nice to have them there. Maybe, as they are in little tins set into the wall behind wood, they are protected. I am definitely going to think about it. I have some cute little vintage milk glass bottles of spices (in one of my old blogs from last year I showed how I copied a pattern from my collection of corning ware bowls to decorate them) But it might be nice to buy the spices, empty the contents into a drawer with a little scoop (they sell these scoops at a local store that is a darling old place) and then just scoop as need be, then I wouldn’t have to fuss when the little holes in the jars get plugged from the spices.

I also like that in this area over the stove there is even a secondary place for flour which is used when thickening sauces and gravies, so well thought out! I also like that the counter space next the stove shares the wall with the dining room and then those dish cabinets have a slider that opens into the dining room. So smart and saves steps for setting the table, clever indeed!

I love the little cabinet behind the sink for the soaps and things you use most. I hate to have packaging out and sometimes put my dish soap in a cute decanter, but to be able to just keep that away in the closed cupboard but not have to stoop under the sink would be great. This built out area would also afford a great spot to have plants, such as herbs, on a good size sill and obviously to orient the sink towards the sunniest part of the kitchen.

I like the idea of cutlery and silver drawers being above counter height and that space to dry dishtowels, very smart as well. It would save on having to feel the need to wash the dishtowels more than needed. I would think a well dried dish towel would last a few days and still be clean, as it is just wiping off clean dishes.

The smaller storage closet would also be a boon to keep your broom and stepstool etc at hand but out of the way, this could really be a fairly shallow closet. I love that all of the cabinets are just built from basic lumber. I am going to have to try my hand at making simple drawers and such, as I want to really specialize my cabinets to MY needs. It will be so much cheaper than buying prefab cabinets, they will be of nice wood and I can finish them how I like! I also want to make space for a kitchen table, or breakfast nook area when I do our kitchen. Now, hubby and I eat our breakfast in the dining room and while it being darker is nice in the evening as you are winding down with dinner, not very good in the morning. Bright light and a view of the garden would be my hope. Maybe cheery white and butter yellow with display for my inherited collection of milk glass.

The ledge at the kitchen dining area is also so smart. Lately I have been wanting to make room on the sideboard to have the percolator plugged in while we are eating breakfast, but this shelf in the breakfast nook would be perfect and you could have the toaster there as well as the coffee plugged in. And of course some plants and maybe some light reading material to enjoy on a Sunday morning.

I like that the point, at the end of the film, is that the homemaker, due to the well planned kitchen, can actually sit down and enjoy the meal with her family. So important, I think. Even though I am the one doing all the ‘work’, I really enjoy mealtime with hubby. To be sat down at a nicely set table, linens, water pitcher everything at hand, is really enjoyable. We can sit and talk at our leisure and it really frames out our days together.

So, I am not sure if any of those ideas would apply to any of you, but I was really impressed with how well laid out that small space was. It definitely helps me to realize I do not need a kitchen much larger other than space for a table to eat and a ‘workstation’.

Now, that film was immediately post war and meant as a very efficient work space for a farmers wife (though I am going to apply many of it’s suggestions)

Now, gals, lets look at another film on Kitchen Design, this one is from 1957. You will see some differences, but still good ideas. Perhaps this film will be more helpful to you in your kitchen design. Let’s watch first, then discuss.

Again, if the movie isn’t showing the whole picture go to this link HERE.

 

Okay, first off, I adore her dressing gown! That might have to be one of my monthly dress making challenges, maybe March. And I love her high heeled gold slippers.

Now, this film is more about concept than actual practical know how like the first film. You can see how in only 8 years things such as washing machines/dryers and dishwashers as well as the kitchen ‘family room’ are becoming typical parts of the middle class American household. Still, some good advice and fun images and what a pretty dress too!

I found some more interesting films of the time that I will be sharing in future blogs.

  I am beginning to like the idea of wall ovens and a separate stove top. Although I really like many of the vintage stove (combined cooker and range top) I think, especially for me as I am tall, that the stoop to the oven would be nice to leave behind. I also like the idea of storage under the cook top. The only downfall will be that it must be much harder to find vintage separate pieces such as this.

I have, since I do love cooking so and want to further venture into that area in a more ‘gourmet’ turn, considered getting a modern commercial grade stove/oven, such as this. It can be rather expensive and I don’t want it to be overwhelming for my little kitchen, but the idea of 6 burners and double ovens does excite me. However, how often would I need so much cooking space. I most like will stick with something vintage.  So, I think over the next month or so I will include more info and discussion on planning our dream kitchens.

Now, for what goes on IN the kitchen, some recipes. I promised a few posts back to share one of my pot roast recipes.

For this roast, what I did was first heat a pan on the stove to VERY hot, but with no oil. Then, making sure you have dried off the raw meat (wipe it with a rag or some sort or cheesecloth). Then I use salt and pepper and thyme some dried rosemary and encrust the raw meat. Then, pan-sear it in the dry hot pan just until it browns. This should not take very long. Just turn it until all the sides are browned, then set aside. Now, into that hot pan with it’s lovely bits of meat/fat and seasonings from the roast, pour in some oil to cover the bottom of the pan (olive or vegetable). Then as that is heating up, cut up onions and garlic to cook in the oil until sweet brown. Now, to this add one cup of tomato sauce and bring to a boil, then cook to reduce it to about half the original amount. (I just eyeball it). When that is done, make a tinfoil boat and fill the bottom of it with half the cooked sauce and then put in the roast, pour the rest on, throw some fresh potatoes in there and tent it up tight. Now cook in a slow over (about 200-300) for a few hours. During the last 30 minutes, I add the vegetables. I don’t mind the vegetables being very cooked as the vitamins will be in the sauce.It is very good this way, I think.

I always say to save your grease/fat/drippings etc. You can make wonderful things with it. Last nights dinner was ‘stuffed chicken thighs’. I usually by my beat bone in, as then you can boil the bones for stock. I had some leftover drippings from something similiar to the above recipe, with tomato garlic etc that I had cooked chicken in earlier in the week. I just kept the fat in the freezer.

So, I deboned the chicken thighs (and set these aside to make soup stock). Then I spread them out and pan seared them in the heated leftover drippings until they were lightly browned. I made rice separately and as I had cornbread earlier in the week, I saved the crumbs and bits you sometimes get left in the pan. In the last few minutes of the rice cooking, I threw those in with some butter. Then I layed out two of the thighs, filled with stuffing and set another thigh on top and closed with toothpicks. SO, when I served it I used the toothpicks as little holders for some of the cooked mushrooms. I just love little touches like these as I feel they are part of the art of cooking and even if it is quaint, twee, or kitchsy, it seems rather vintage. It also elicits a smile from hubby, as well, and shows I put some thought into tonights dinner.This was really just to show how much can be made out of so little. Those bones got boiled yesterday with seasonings and will be soup with homemade biscuits for tonight’s dinner.

  I don’t recall if I ever showed my ‘birthday gift’ in action. Hubby had got me a vintage mixer with all the attachements and I was excited. Although I have two working handcrank meat grinders, the electric one really makes a difference. Here you can see it in action on some pork.I am going to get an attachment that will allow me to stuff my own sausages. This grinder is good not only for raw meat, as I have here with pork, but with cooked leftover meat. You can grind it up and make patties or rissoles. For example, cooked pork, bread, apple and onion sent through this mixer to make the base, then form into patties or balls then pan fry or oven bake, so yummy. A mincer/grinder allows you to take leftovers and make so many great dishes.

I think I have shared my cheesecracker recipe before, but if not here it is. If you have never tried it, you must. They are very easy and you won’t believe the taste. Here they are rolled out and I simply use a pizza cutter to cut to desired size.Here are some I cut out longer and made into cheese straws and served with a dinner I had for friends. They look lovely on the table and are so good before the meal with salad and straight on through to dessert!

1 Stick of Butter  at room temperature
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (also good with half cheddar and half Romano)
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon  pepper

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

1. Preheat your oven to 325°

2. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl until dough chases itself around the bowl.

3. Dump the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to bring it together forming a ball of dough.

4. Roll out dough to 1/8 or 1/4 inch.  If the dough is too loose to roll, toss it into the fridge for 15 minutes.

5. Once rolled out, cut the crackers.  You can use a knife, pizza cutter, ravioli cutter, cookie cutters, whatever you like. I like the rough texture of the hand cut, but for a tea or something, little shapes from cutters might be more appropriate.

6. Place the crackers onto a cookie sheet  with cooking paper. You can even butter the paper to make them yummier!

7. Bake for 11 minutes or until the crackers start to get just golden on the edges.

8. Place on a cooling rack until the crackers are no longer warm.

And then be prepared for you family to praise you and ask for the often!

5 February “Some lovely finds, crocheting a scrubber, a misunderstanding and apology, and a toast to a life lived”

This morning I drove into town to go to an Estate Sale. I was presently surprised. I noticed, right off the bat, that 1950’s midcentury furniture is starting to have more value, even here. I spotted a  chair with the price tag $5000.00 (not five hundred, mind)

The house was a darling little ‘cape’ style obviously built 1950’s. Though the Cape has many old houses built from the 1600’s and on, this was in a little development down by the sea of little homes in the ‘manner’ of  a cottage with a very 1950’s feel. There was a darling little breezeway connecting the kitchen and garage.

I was drawn to this sale as I saw the word “Sewing Machine” in the add. I was happy to see a lovely Singer, probably from the 40’s in a pretty case, but they wanted 200 dollars for it, and it was not quite the model I wanted. (I am saving my pin money for a Singer Model 401 or 500 with all its lovely accessories. I shall find it!)

If you have not been to these type of estate sales, let me explain them. You go into the house and it is very much set up as a house. The drawers are still full of things, priced of course, beds made and such, all priced. So, you rather feel, after the initial shock of feeling as if you are an intruder, as if you are a guest. I often begin to feel I can sense the person. And, by the time I had left two hours later, I felt rather acquainted with the old owner. I found out her name was Ann, as some of books of hers I bought had been inscribed to her. And I found out, from the nice lady in the basement, tending those things for sale ( I found this lovely metal cart and little lock box and lazy Susan and these old Saran wrap boxes) that the woman, Ann, who owned the house had literally died two days prior. She was 101 years old and had been a teacher of English and Literature. I felt so much more akin to her.

Many of the things I bought seemed odd to the older ladies who were running it. They wondered, was I a dealer, and when I explained to them, of course dressed in my tweed skirt, hose, matching coat hat and gloves, that I liked vintage fabric, buttons and such because I use them and make my own clothes. They thought it sweet, but you could tell they were, themselves, not interested. One lady said to me, in her jeans, and sweatshirt, “Oh, you look nice, did you just come from something” “No,”says I, “this is just how I dress”. She laughed and said, “I just told someone if they move to the Cape one nice thing is you don’t have to ‘dress up’”. I smiled.

One lady, however, when she discovered that I was not a dealer, did not have a shop and had not intention of doing anything with the things I bought but to use them, kept following me about and chatting with me. I came to find out that she collects and sells vintage fabric and buttons. She gave me her card and I am going to check out her things. She also told me she sells sewn things made from vintage materials and said, if I were a good seamstress, which I told her she would have to be the judge of that, she would love to ‘hire me’ to do some sewing for her. I told her I would think about it. I am not sure I have the skill to sew for someone to resell, but it would be a good source of pin money and very 1950’s to do so. I am just not sure I have the time. SO, we shall see.

SO, here are some  pictures of my finds. After digging though this plastic box , I couldn’t believe I found this box of pen nibs . When hubby and I were first married he wrote with his typewriters (and still does) while I used a jar of ink and pen nibs such as these for all  my writings and journals. She had quite a record collection and when I began to go through them, another lady and gentleman turned to me and said, “Oh, it’s mostly classical. You would think with all this hip furniture (she had some nice mid century modern pieces) there would be some Beatles or something.” I just smiled and proceeded to sit on the floor and begin collecting up my pile of records to buy. I found quite a few and hubby especially loves “classical” music. I also found this wonderful Edith Piaf record and this great Burl Ives. Some lovely piano pieces and some Opera arias for me.

I fell in love with this sewing/knitting bag and this fabric and tablecloth. Here are some of the treasures I found. I just love ‘digging through’ the boxes to find the treasures once I get them home! In this picture you can see a treasure I found neatly tucked into a little brown bag into one of the boxes. They are the pink garters. Ann obviously, as you would, cut them out of things as they wore out to sew onto later. These will come in handy for me, as Sometimes I like to add garters to things for my stockings. And you can bet those old trims and things will end up on my dresses and clothes! This is a great little lock box and the tape dispenser, which you can barely see, if so heavy and going straight away onto my desk in my little sitting room. I wondered if it sat upon Ann’s desk as she taught English all those years? Aren’t these gloves dreamy? The pair with the cut out hole design are the MOST soft buttery kid I have ever felt. Here is the most darling little tin biscuit tin and I also found two boxes full of vintage Saran Wrap. The tin will either go in my pantry or my sewing, not sure. The saran, when it is empty, will hold new rolls of saran, as I think the colors and graphics will be happy living in my new (when I build it this spring) walk in pantry. look how darling the graphics are on the saran wrap (also on the box it says Dow made in Pennsylvania. I wonder if it still is?) This doesn’t look like much now, this metal cart, but it is so light and easy to pull around. And when I redo my kitchen, I wanted a metal cart with rollers to keep things on. I have to share (next post) a wonderful film form 1949 showing the perfect layout for a kitchen. It changed the way I am planning my kitchen. This tray will paint up a treat, as well!

I began to feel more and more akin to ‘Ann” the longer I spent in her home. Sad, then, that I could only ‘know’ her now. I am sure we would have been fast friends, but I could hardly wander into random homes asking to ‘befriend’ various people. But, had I done that, Ann and I would have seen eye to eye, “Beatles, indeed. Let’s put on Edith Piaf and talk about Moliere instead”.

Now, on one of my blog posts someone had asked me if I knew of the patterns for those crochet scrubby things you use on pots and pans. Well, I didn’t and I have never crocheted a stitch, at the time. So I found some patterns and today I found our local yarn shop. I am so happy to have it in our community. It is called the Black Purl (how adorable is that, sense it is on the sea and of course Purling is a knitting term).

Here is the blog where I found the pattern and she did say to share it so here it is:

Crochet Pattern: All Purpose Scrubbie

Here is a scrubbie that is soft enough to shower and wash your face with and still tough enough to clean dirty pots and pans. I wouldn’t recommend using it for all of these at one time, so be sure to make enough to go around. No matter if you are a beginner or an advanced crocheter here is a pattern you can enjoy. It doesn’t take much yarn and can be whipped up fairly quickly. For extra scrubbing power, add some nylon netting.

Skill Level:

Finished Size: 3” (8 cm) diameter

Materials:
Medium Weight Yarn (approximately 30 yards)
Crochet Hook H (5.00 mm)

Crochet Pattern: Scrubbie (make 2)
Round 1: ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook, place marker: 6 sc
Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around: 12 sc
Round 3: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc) around: 18 sc
Round 4: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc) around: 24 sc
Round 5: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc) around: 30 sc
Round 6: (2 sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc) around, sl st in next sc, finish off: 36 sc

With a yarn needle, sew two circles together.

Strap
Row 1: ch 19, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across: 18 sc
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across, finish off: 18 sc

Using photo as a guide, sew strap to scrubbie with a yarn needle.

If you needle help with this pattern, let me know by leaving a comment!

Share and Enjoy:

I went into our yard shop with enthusiasm and hope and came out with a skein of white cotton, a crochet hook and some knowledge. They were so kind, that one of the ladies sat down and showed me a chain stitch and then how to start the circle that will be needed for the scrubby. Here is my beginning. It will take some work, but I am determined.

I also found out that they have classes on Saturday and open days on wed and Friday every week where you can stop in with what you are working on, have a good gab and help one another out. The owners and others there will help you out if you are a newbie and have questions. Now, how is that for local community! I am rather excited on the whole.

Now, here is a video on how to do the basic single crochet (Which I just learned today. I don’t actually know how to follow the instructions on the above scrubby, but those who can will and  I will learn at my next trip to the yarn store. For now I am going to make a circle and then some chain stitches and hook them together and see what I get.

I thought this tutorial was good for a circle, though it was different than I was shown, but I might try it.

 

So, after my lovely morning out and my feeling so proud to have found some things and met some lovely people in my community, I opened my blog to find the following comment. I am not ashamed to tell you that I sat right down, after my elation of my finds and feeling so akin to the poor dead Ann and cried.

I think there must have been a misunderstanding in my last post (which really was just a film made in the 1950’s by Redbook Magazine) as this was the comment which saddened me, indeed.

Born in 1932 said...

I liked your blog a lot better last year when you were just a gal attempting to live a retro life. What a shame, that you now view the 1950s through the jaded eyes of 2010, instead of seeing them for what they were, a time of optimism and hope after the war years. Your socialist views seem to have clouded your vision of the 1950s and have caused you to view things in a bitter way. To say that our generation "sold out" is a great personal insult to us housewives of the 1950s. it is all well and good for you to play your game of make believe, but please do not insult those of us who lived though the 1950s with pride. Do not judge, because you have not waled a mile in our girdles, not matter how much time you spend playing dress up.

I, in my anger filled tears, reacted straight away and wished I had not.  Things said in anger and haste are often only defense against what we hold dear. I don’t think I could hold the 1950’s housewife generation any dearer or with any more respect than I do presently. I have found the strength and determination of their generation SO inspiring to me, that I have patterned my life after it as much as I can.

I am not sure where the idea came to her that I feel that the 1950’s generation ‘sold out’. Perhaps I was not careful with my words, but I felt it important enough to make this statement here, in the midst of my blog, that that could not be any more false. And need to make it very clear:

I HOLD THE 1950’S  GENERATION IN VERY HIGH STANDARD AND RESPECT. THEIR STRUGGLE THROUGH THE DEPRESSION AND WAR AND HAPPY IDEALISM IN THE 1950’S IS AN INSPIRATION TO ME.

I hold that generation very high in standards. Any selling out I felt happened with their children, the Baby Boomers, and not that THEY sold out, but that they were unfortunately ‘lured’ by the siren song of turning their backs on their parents generation. SO, I blame neither, but am sad that it happened.

I find many things of that 1950’s generation to be things I am striving to return to. In fact, one of the reasons I wanted to start the Apron Revolution website was so that we could encourage one another in these things and to also keep ourselves AWARE of the modern world so we can try to change it for the better.

Now, in this country, Socialism is a dirty word. I have never said I am a Socialist and not sure exactly what 1932 meant when she called me thus.  Perhaps we should, in the future, discuss exactly what Socialism DOES mean to us? Our definition of it and such.

I, on the other hand, feel that what I want in our return to the 1950’s is not government aid and hand outs (which is often what is meant by ‘socialism’ in this country) but in fact to the world where we could have production and supplies and business more IN the U.S.A. Currently, that is not the case. There is more and more production leaving, but I won’t get into that. I want us to be more like that generation in their idealism, smarts and ability to live within a changing world and to also have that world create and make what it needs WITHIN our country. So, if that is Socialism, than perhaps that is what I should be called.

I, honestly, don’t like titles. To brand oneself a Republican or Democrat or Socialist, is to take a side. I think as a unified country we should have no sides but to work as one. We all live in the country and want it to be successful and I think to act with our minds and hearts rather than to follow behind the line of ‘this group or that’ is rather  very American, but enough said about that.

I hold much respect and honor and am proud to attempt to do even half of what that generation was capable. I don’t play ‘dress up’ to mock but to celebrate and uphold. To me it is almost a uniform to which I am proud to wear. I may not ever be of the same fiber and strength of that generation, but in my emulation of them, with my uniform (as a soldier wears the uniform of his forefathers) I take on the pride and respect of it. I never mean or intend to offend and hope, if I have, to be forgiven.

Please know all I do is out of RESPECT and to feel that I can help my own Generation (generation X) and other generations to not be only a faceless non brand, but to want to make a change and to live in a way that is something  of which to feel proud. SO, again, apologies where they are due and hopefully misunderstandings cleared up.

And I am glad, ‘born in 1932,’ that you have  ( up until now of course) found my words interesting enough to read since last year. To that I am honored to have one of the ‘real ladies of the 1950’s’ deem to view my meager words, ideas and oft times rather silly attempts at what I am sure you have excelled, a great honor. I copy to honor not to offend. And, if you have not given up on me, hope you can forgive me and still be a part of our community. We need you and your generation to help and lead our generation to better understand our past and build a better future.

Now, on the subject of that generation: on the way home, feeling so happy to have felt a part of the departed Ann’s life, I stopped and  bought a bottle of champagne. I plan that tonight, with hubby, I am going to listen to some of Ann’s records, thumb through her books and toast the good ole gal. I want to feel I have, in some way though I never met her,  taken on a piece of her to hold onto and keep her alive.

No matter what you believe in religion or afterlife, if we can, any of us, just take a moment of our life and remember and hold onto those who have gone before us, even if they were strangers we never met, than we have made a sort of memorial for the past generations. Those who were not in the history books but everyday men and women like we, who loved their books and dog-eared them in places, kept that little glass bottle from the World’s Fair, or a pressed flower given, when young, and kept to molder in old pages. If we, those of us alive, take the time to care for those things and save them from the trash and landfills, we can keep them alive in our hearts and actions. And then, maybe if we are kind and good and want to make a difference, one day that little post card we loved and kept in the mirror of our dressing table will land in the hand of someone one hundred years from now. They will smile and wonder and we will live on just a bit more.

SO, to you Ann, 1909-2010, we salute you. Your love of classical music, Edith Piaf, sewing, and your passion for the written word lives on. We drink a toast to you and your life well lived. You were not in the limelight nor in the History books, but in the brief years of my own life, you shall live on. And from your own little book of Emily Dickenson, inscribed with your name,  I give you these words while I sit amongst your things that I have “gathered these to-day”:

IF recollecting were forgetting,

  Then I remember not;

And if forgetting, recollecting,

  How near I had forgot!

 

And if to miss were merry,
       

And if to mourn were gay,

How very blithe the fingers

  That gathered these to-day!

4 February 1956 "A movie about Young Americans"

I though for this morning it would be fun to watch this old video made by Redbook Magazine. It is interesting for the look and feel of the late 1950s.
Enjoy:

3 February 1956 “Company Towns”

Though this very popular song by Ford was in fact a very real story seen in the 20’s and 30’s of poor workers struggling and trading at the ‘company store’, the young teens in 56 really had no idea what this sort of life meant, to them the world was lovely and growing lovelier for them.

I was amazed by this article in Time Magazine from 1956 (this is actually an April issue, so I shouldn’t be seeing it yet, but wanted to share). It is entitled “Company Towns”. It is amazing how, at this point, the growing company was an actual person who cared about a community as well as his growing business. Today, the top corporations are held by corporations. You do not see the names of actual people behind it, but rather names like Citicorp, Vanguard etc. This anonymity of the corporation getting to have itself be considered a ‘person’ makes it easier to be cruel and heartless. A building or a Stock symbol doesn’t care when a town literally closes down because all of its work is sent overseas to India or China. Once, however, it seems their was a face behind a corporation and it wanted not only profit for himself but a better life and happier worker.

Here is an excerpt:

To the jukebox generation the words were all but meaningless. Yet, as late as the 1920s, the ballad's bitter plaint was a real-life refrain to millions of U.S. workers from Georgia's green-roofed cotton villages to Oregon's bleak lumber settlements. Those workers had lived, like Composer Merle Travis' coalminer father, in company towns—drab, depressed communities where the worker traded at a company store,* rented a company house, was watched by company cops. Today company towns are still flourishing in the U.S. But the towns, and the tune, have changed.

Could it be there was a time when the corporation cared about its workers to this level?

Typical of today's company towns is New Cuyama, a California community that sprang up from the sagebrush after Richfield Oil Corp. made the state's biggest petroleum strike of the decade in a barren desert valley southwest of Bakersfield eight years ago. Determined to create a community that would match its underground wealth, Richfield sold 201 model homes at cost to employees, put up a handsome shopping center and leased it to independent merchants. The company also provided a $75,000 community hall, a $250,000 motel-restaurant, a $20,000 playground, plus land for two new churches and a $1,500,000 high school. Says a Richfield executive: "Most of these families never owned a home before. Now they are settling down to grow with the valley."

Treat People Like People.

This was really an amazing article and deserves a full read, so if you are so inclined go HERE.

So, really at this stage the Corporation almost becomes a ruling class where you must rely on the ‘goodness’ of who is in power. They build the town and decide the level of comfort of its people and workers. In a true Dictatorship or the Kingdoms of old, If one king is kind then he will care for and make good the world for his subjects, but if his son is self involved and cares less, than there goes the world of his subjects. In many ways, modern U.S.A. has become such a place. The corporation of today is not the corp. of 1956, when there was a face and a man who could want and give to his employees because he cared. Today it is overseas conglomerates and even the Government, for all intents and purposes, is part of the corporation.

That is why I think it silly, all this Republican and Democrat business. One side may say they want big government the other side big business but they are both right as the government and big business are almost not a separate entity. It is as long as they can keep us, the actual people of the country, separated by silly differences that they can continue to control and grow. We should not stand on different sides of a fence and toss mud at one another while the Corporation and the Gov pretend to be separate and smile down on our silliness as they grow richer without any care of it’s subjects.

We need to look around us and realize our community our individual help must come from one another. When we vote it should be for what is good for all of us and besides politics, just working together to help restore our towns and communities and for goodness sake, throw the stone at Goliath. If you don’t shop at Wal-Mart and Target and Old Navy and Starbucks, then joe’s  and ma and pa’s and sally’s store down the street can grow and another store can be made. We must realize WE are the people. We mustn't let talking pieces such as news papers and news channels drive a wedge between us. Gone are the old corporate heads making lovely towns for its workers, but if we start new and grow and support our own small businesses  then when and if any of us ever got to the corporate level, we COULD think with our hearts AND heads. Again, a quiet revolution of rational, calm realistic living and spending. Nothing would be easier than we merely living to be a better person and that means thinking of others first. So, what if it costs more to buy veg and meat from the local guy, get out the old 40’s cookbooks when we HAD to economize and start doing it, because this war is also worth fighting .The war to get the US back into our hands, WE THE PEOPLE, not Fox News, or CNN or Wal-Mart or any other corporate owned and run business without a human face or heart.

Here is more from that same 56 article:

The big change in company towns stems from the social and economic maturity of U.S. industry. Community and employee relations are as important a factor in modern management as raw materials, markets and transportation. Most companies today bend over backward to be good neighbors in their communities.

There once was that time when the company and the community were a team. Now, there are ghost towns where once was production and all of that was left in the lurch.

This is just another case where I feel we were at the crux of making the Modern world a fine place where there was money to be made, but we could also be human beings who cared for one another. If this practice had continued, such things as environmental concerns, unfair labor treatment, overseas production might never have happened. IF those in charge had lead with their heart and head and not through a faceless stock symbol, we might be in a very different place today. And yet, we too are too blame, for business succeeds by our dollars and laws passed by our hands. We have allowed ourselves to be swayed when we, the people, should have paid better attention.

Paying attention and be aware of our politics and corporations/business  isn't’ easy and really that might be where our 50’s forefathers went wrong. They wanted to make it perfect and easy for their children. To come out of the war and make a new beautiful world for them free of the troubles of worry. But we must HAVE worry in that we must be aware and weary while not being frightened and suspicious. Even today such tools of fear, as ‘terrorist threats’ are used, I believe, to keep us in fear and to want to hoard and buy. We must be aware but not afraid, we must act with our heads but think with our hearts sometimes.

We must not let ourselves lose sight of “struggle and work”. It mustn't be something to rise above but to embrace and realize it will be very the thing that will not lead to complacency. The type of complacency that has lead to our living in a world where we are satiated sheep, watching our tv, and computers, buying up our cheap goods in heaps to make our lives seem to have meaning and purpose and to have the tv tell us which side we are one and whom to hate.

If we could do the 1950’s over again, we should and would teach the children to work harder and to work for one another to hold those around them accountable, even the businesses they shop at. If they to big for their breeches and DON’T care for people, then they will die by our not supporting them. It isn’t easy, but a life worth living shouldn’t only be easy. Even if you are fabulously wealthy, without a purpose and a struggle to achieve and overcome, you will feel pointless and become complacent. And COMPLACENCY is the surest way to forget HUMANITY. Only when we see and realize we are ALL in this together we all MUST work hard and sometimes we may not like the hard work but it is for the good of all of us. No big Government nor Big business, but towns and communities of and for the people run and cared for by its inhabitants.

What is oddly true and strangely real, is thae song, 16 TONS,  is rather fitting today:

 What do you get? another day older and deeper in Debt…I owe my soul to the company store.

In this case we own our souls to the corporation. It isn’t the free business and enterprise of the old U.S.A. We can have that back, but it’s easier to just go to BJ’s and Wal-Mart and save some pennies as we watch our country slide deeper into the oligarchy of Government/Corporate tyranny. Why worry of future generations, our grandchildren's future, I WANT TO PLAY WII AND SAVE MONEY AT OLD NAVY! and besides, my SHOWS are on. And I can’t work with THOSE people, I’m This and They are THAT.

It is silly, these sides, Republican and Democrat. We have Dick Cheney on one side on the Board of Halliburton while he sat in office making money off of the war. Putting money in HIS pocket without any moral fiber or concern for human life. Then we have the CLINTONS who sat on the Board of Wal-Mart and helped it to grow and it helped them to get into office. Hilary Clinton daring to say, “It takes a village” while she contributes to the very corporation that is destroying the villages and putting the small business out. There is no ‘right’ side only the ‘right way’ and that is to consider people first. We are people: our neighbors, our family, our future generations, we must come first. And that doesn’t mean a state controlled by a government nor does it mean a world where everything is privatized,including the military, because then we return to feudal warring states of the middle ages. Even I don’t want to live ‘My Year 1300’.

We must  not think “I am a Republican therefore I like this and I am a Democrat therefore I think that”. This is the very divide that can exist to keep us from really making a change. The only means to get business back in the hands of the middle class is to support that very class by our spending and by voting, when we can, for measures that support that despite what ‘side’ that vote may land.We have more power in the dollar we spend then the vote we cast now. For we spend daily and vote sparingly.

So, if you have read this far you are probably wondering, “what does this have to do with sewing dresses, making schedules, canning your own food, manners, hankies etc” Well, honestly, I believe in order for us to bring back the good ole’ days and to truly live a Vintage lifestyle, we MUST realize what it was to live then and what things went into making it a place we ‘yearn for’. To truly live it now, just a petticoat, some vintage kitchen canisters and some canned food in the pantry is not enough. If we don’t want to just live in a sort of ‘theatre production of a life’ but to have a true honest to goodness return to the old ways, we MUST be aware of all facets of our life. These things affect our community, our pay, our very way of thinking and acting towards one another. I don’t see learning to sew a darling vintage style dress and shopping locally not corporately, or voting for what is for the good of all as separate things. They are ALL puzzle pieces of a great jigsaw of yesteryear that we want to rebuild. We can do it. I know we can.

So, whether you get upset with what I have said, or think, “Here she goes again,” I really am just passionate about it because I know we can, we homemakers, use or skills and talents to build a new world outward. WE can make a wonderful home with hard work and expect it of our families and then out to our communities and outwards on. I am not Liberal nor Right wing, I am a person, a homemaker and a lady. And I think we should use our brains, know how, and skill to make our own lives and world structured and make choices for the good and it shall spill out. A ‘trickle upward’ if you will.

So, if you have made it this far, thanks for listening to my rant. I promise next post will have recipes, and household tips. But, sometimes a gal, when she gets out the soapbox to do the laundry, feels the need to get on it and Rant! Thank you for listening, if you have.

Here is how it once was:

31 January 1956 “My Computer Troubles, A Challenge for February, and Technology”

 

I both love this technology that has allowed me to meet all of you and for we to form this wonderful community. Yet, I loathe it for some of it’s scarier elements. This past week, my computer has been acting odd and we began to suspect it had a virus. It became so slow and froze so many times, that hubby has had to spend the past two days saving all my data, images info etc, backing it all up and then wiping the hard rive. Then he had to reinstall all my programs and various data. This ‘scare’ has also included some odd emails showing information concerning my banking accounts etc.

I try to do as little online of that as possible. I pay my bills with checks in the mail, but my bank is Online, rather I want it to be or not. And, if and when I wish to buy from eBay or Esty, I have to do so online with PayPal. There is no real way to get ‘unplugged’ unless, I wanted to give up all of you, which I do not.

As I have said before, one can live a Vintage Lifestyle WITH technology, if we remember to use it as a tool and not let it use us and own our time and our lives. Yet, the real danger of all our money becoming digital information merely being ‘passed’ over the internet is something one cannot escape, unless you keep all your cash in your mattress. Even then, you might need a card (debit) to rent a car or make travel arrangements. It seems we cannot escape or unplug from technology. So, the lesson I have learned, is with my computer, I have to be, as I have learned and am learning to be with my home, VERY organized and downsize things.

If I keep all of my files, etc, in a few easily to access folders, than every few months hubby can erase and reinstall windows on my computer, so as to best protect me. He is also a Linux man. He has wanted me to switch to it for sometime, but all of my expensive programs I use for my website are on windows as well as the program I use for my blog. So, he has partitioned my computer so that I can run both Windows and Linux. I am rather pleased with the outcome, as Linux (I have Ubuntu) has so many free programs that are great for organizing. So, that has made me happy.

But, I feel as if I am behind on my “Website” to do list. I am, today, trying  to catch up. First off, I have been working on getting our page ready for the FEBRUARY VINTAGE DIET & EXERCISE CHALLENGE. I hope, any of you who do not visit the website, would do so or like to do so for this challenge. We are going to be following a rough calorie counting diet plan for the month as well as using Jack Lalane’s original 1950’s broadcast exercises. IF you want to join in, go to the WEBSITE and then on the left click the Diet and Exercise page button and you will see some info. The Jack Lalane link can be found there as well as HERE. We will be discussing and sharing our ideas and victories on the Forums page under the February Diet Challenge topic. Join in, if you like!

 

This image on the cover of the 30 January 1956 Time magazine is a scary look into our future. The brain and the pointing hand in the missile. The post war years to now have been fraught with such fears.

Even here, in 1956, the Middle East is an issue:

Gathering his experts about him, Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden got set to visit the U.S. this week. The major problem on his agenda was finding Anglo-American agreement on the Middle East where, warned Eden, "a universal explosion could easily be touched off."
(To read the whole article from the 1956 issue go HERE)

 

I was thinking today how there have been other times in history when others ‘looked back’ in hopes of making a better Future. I thought of Robert Browning’s Poem today:

Home Thoughts From Abroad

OH, to be in England

Now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England -- now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops--at the bent spray's edge--

That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower

-- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning

Whilst Browning was writing this, his world was changing around him. The Bucolic setting of England was fast becoming littered with factories and the air filled with the black soot of the Industrial Revolution. Certainly, he saw an idyllic England where “…the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough” was on its way to an end.

This, of course, makes me think of our own time. My own longing to an older time, even to the post war years when technology was really beginning seems almost as if seen through a fairy mist. It has a touch of Avalon about it, as it sits on the threshold of the old and new worlds of technology and consumerism.

Certainly, my own problems with the computer and subsequent scare and anger over my own dependence on technology often makes me want to turn back the clock. Yet, there is so much that cannot be changed, so we must learn to live with it in a more aware or intellectual readied state.

If we could but embrace technology with its scientific merit, but distance ourselves with our human heart, then surely we could begin to ‘use’ technology when it is truly helpful and spurn it when it exits merely for ‘its own sake’. Why do we need a new cell phone every 6 months? Why does my phone need to be a camera, video recorder, TV, etc? Is my life better plugged into music all day at the expense of those around me, in getting to see and hear them, to know them? Are we now as isolated in crowds and on busy streets as we are at home in the darkened room: alone with the eerie flash of the TV or computer upon our glazed eyes? Each of us in our own room, disconnected from those around us, connected digitally to somewhere else?

Do we not have our own will? Can we not say, ‘no thank you’ and turn away? Need there be a TV/dvd player in the seats of cars to ‘entertain’ children? How about talking and discussing? If they scream and shout, ask them why? Isn’t it better to hear their complaints then to fill their little brains with flashing images preparing them to become future consumers?

Yes, I truly become scared of the future, but not because OF technology, but because of the way we let it USE us and our need for it FOR ITS OWN SAKE? It, itself, is not bad. It is neutral, it has no heart nor soul. It can only be what WE make it. WE cannot say, “OH I hate it but, I MUST do this or that online  it is easier.”

Well, YOU then are making it in control of your life. You can say no. You can do thinks simply and use it as a tool, which is why it was first made. SO many good intentions have lead to bad results. When factories were built to weave cloth, it is true it was to make a profit for the owner, but it also made jobs and fabric easier and cheaper for more people to have access to it. But then it made nature and the countryside change for the worse, it polluted, people were hurt, children, in the machines, the prices were then affective on local markets when overseas competition could now ship into your community.  Even now, our over abundance of clothes due to cheap and easy cloth and production makes us waste more money and more time and resources cleaning them, buying them, storing them. Imagine if you and your family each had exactly five outfits for each day of the week. One ‘play/work’ clothes for Saturday and your Sunday best. Imagine how easy wash day would be! Imagine the reduction in clothing cost! Especially if you mended those rather than replace them with new. Of course we say, “No that is impossible” But, it is not. We may think, well my kids need to be fashionable and we need to have more clothes, but why? Do we want to teach ourselves and our children that what others think of us or how we are viewed THROUGH consumerism is of higher value than savings, thrift, economy and more time away from caring for THINGS and instead spent on PEOPLE?

The Industrial Revolution was not done intentionally to hurt, but it has come to hurt. If we could have stopped along the way and thought of the WHOLE picture which is not JUST profit or EASE but HUMAN CONDITION and the outcome of our world and to smaller business and communities. Think what a different world it would be if we did consider those things FIRST. Yet, we accept every new thing without question and then ask, as we sit in our piles of STUFF, ‘Why is the world the way it is? WHY can’t it be like the old days?’

Well IT CAN, but it is up to YOU! It is up to all of US to say no. EASIER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER and to think a thing through to its end possible result just makes sound human sense. Yes, my kids need cell phones because then I can know where they are all the time. But, now they are more disconnected from one another and from you. They are growing up in a world where everything is at their fingertips and yet they cannot relate to the world or one another as humans as a whole or a community.

Every action has a reaction. We must THINK and we must ACT and we must be RESPONSIBLE. WE CAN HAVE THE GOOD OF THE ODL DAYS BACK. If we don’t want the chain stores to take over STOP SHOPPING THERE! “Oh, but it is so cheap and so easy”. I should rather have lived a hard but satisfying life than to save a few pennies and some time to have more to waste in front of the TV or to merely buy more junk we do not need. Truly, our Apron Revolution can only be if WE act and if we take ACTION. I want the old days as well, how bad do you want them?

So, though technology and advancement itself is never done specifically to hurt or is something in and of itself to fear, how we use and allow it to control our lives can be the hurtful thing. We need to use our technology wisely and when it does not serve our purpose, stop using it. If we don’t want the chain store in our town then stop shopping there.

With the discussion of Browning and his own look back to a less technological age, it  is somehow eerily fitting, then, that at his funeral was played the latest technology: an Edison Wax cylinder of his own voice reading one of his poems.  It was said it was the first time that a man ‘spoke from beyond the grave”

28 January 1956 “Elvis on TV, Ekberg on Life, Cookies and A Recipe for a Dress”

Elvis Presley would occasionally pop up in my 1955 year, but he was still not ELVIS yet. Today, he makes his first TV appearance on the Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. The Dorsey Brothers were the famous Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Tommy Dorsey was very well known from the 30s-40s. From 1955-'56 the Brothers had their own show on the CBS network, "Stage Show," which gave them nationwide coverage.

  On the cover of Life from the 16th of this month, 1956, we see Anita Ekberg filming War and Peace. It is interesting that she is on the cover as she was not yet that famous in this film, staring Audrey Hepburn.  In fact, she is only billed at the bottom of the movie poster. Here is a trailer I would see for the film here in 56.

Ekberg would eventually become a cult ‘sex symbol’ appearing in playboy and participating in various ‘stunts arranged by the studios’, such as her top coming off while photographers were on hand. She is most remembered for this scene in the 1960 Fellini film La Dolce Vita.(four years away for me, how the world will begin to change)

I made this little recipe up the other day, as I wanted to make a chocolate chip cookie without the chips, but wanted to give it a chocolate flavor. I merely ‘adjusted’ a chocolate chip recipe, but did have to add more liquid in order to give it the chewy, fudge like quality I wanted. They turned out really well and the recipe for 50’s Gal’s Fudgey Chip-less Cookies are going permanently in the recipe box!
50’s Gals Fudgey Chip-less Cookies
(you can also make these delicious Mocha cookies by adding 1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee to the flour/cocoa mixture.)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extract)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
coconut for topping (could use walnuts or whatever you prefer)
Beat the sugars and butter until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl blend ( I use a whisk or you could use a flour sifter) the flour, chocolate powder, and soda, salt and powder. Then gradually add to butter mixture. Spoon as you wood a chocolate chip cookie dough onto a greased or paper lined baking sheet and then sprinkle with coconut(it gets toasted in the oven, yum!) Bake about 9 minutes. If you watch these and take them out when they have spread and puffed some but still look a little underdone, that is the perfect time to take them out. This will keep them soft and fudgey.
I have not been able to find a pattern where in the bodice and sleeves are cut as two pieces. I have seen these following patterns which gave me the idea as well as seeing the look in many magazines.Here you can see thet the bodice and sleeve are cut together, but there still seems to be two pieces for the top. Sometimes you can see that when it is cut as one piece, as here you have a more ‘bat wing’ look. I am going to try making a pattern like this next, a more open roomy are. As you also see hereAnd for the summer, such a top as the short sleeved version here would be such a dream to cut and sew. I actually know very little about sewing. I have never had a formal class and though my mother was an amazing seamstress, would never really show me how, as she said it was easier to ‘just do it herself’. Therefore, at university I learned how to thread a machine, sew a straight line and guessed at putting in a zipper. I still have no idea how to make a button hole on a machine and will, when needed, simply hand stitch the opening. I hope, in time, to learn more. But, with the very basics, I feel comfortable enough to make clothes for myself and have done so in 1955 year. I wanted to ‘make a pattern’ for this dress I had in my head and I did.
I also wanted to try a fitted lower waist look, as seen here. Where the dress is fitted to you (not loose like a 1920’s style)but falls below the natural waist before it becomes full again. I also decided for wide pleats, but you could easily gather the skirt or cut the skirt as a circle or gored skirt. In making a dress, the skirt attaches to the bodice, that is it, so you can have the freedom to interpret this pattern any way you wish. It would also be lovely with a fitted pencil skirt bottom making it more of a ‘wiggle dress’ or a sheath dress.
Here is the steps I took. I did not, however, cut out a pattern to use again, as I wanted to make one up first and see how it fit, ease of sewing etc. SO, here we go:
Step one: I took a cardigan that fit me the way I wanted the finished bodice to fit and my main fabric and some white bleached muslin. Next, I determined how long I wanted the sleeves (knowing I would have the final sleeve have a fold to show the white lining).I then folded up the bottom of the cardigan to show where I wanted to hit my on the hip. You can see the curve of the cardigan and where I chose to have the fold or end of the bodice hit a little below my natural waist. I also used the buttons to denote where the centerline of the dress would be. I have the two pieces of fabric doubled on themselves so when I cut on the fold (the fold is under where the buttons are as that will be the middle of the bodice when the cut pieces are opened.) And by cutting both the outside and lining fabric at once, I am certain of their fitting together as I am not using a pattern.
What is nice about taking something that you know fits your bodice how you want the finish product to be, is perfect. And, I used my cardigan to show, you do not have to use a dress or fitted top to achieve this.
The cardigan obviously has some give, as it is yarn, while this dress was to be unforgiving cotton. SO, I cut about 2” around the outside as in here. Next time I will cut it a bit larger as I had forgot I would lose some inches when I sewed the two pieces (the fabric and the muslin lining) together I would lose inches when it was turned right side out.
So you can see how simple this bodice it. It is cut on the fold (the straight side) and cut in once with the muslin underneath. You can see the slight curve of the waist to the hit. I left the top straight as I wanted a boat neck I could iron down. But at this stage I could have cut a slope of any length or style to make a neckline.
Now I opened up the fabric and ended with four pieces (two of the dress fabric, two of the muslin lining). So with wrong sides facing in I pined a dress side to a muslin/lining side as show. Then, I simply sewed around the whole bodice around the neck arms all except the very bottom (which would be the waist). So that when I was done I simply flipped it right side out and had finished edges. I then pressed it flat.
So, now I have two identical pieces sewn to the lining and turned right side out and pressed flat. Those two pieces now get pinned to one another inside facing in. You can see here where I decided how long to make the ‘cuff’. I simply made sure I pinned to this point and then stopped sewing evenly so that the ‘cuff’ is really the two sides of the sleeve (with the finished ends) flipped out. Very easy and darling, I think. I also put it on while pinned on one side and sleeves pinned to determine how large to make the neck opening and then just pinned there. So , now just sew the arms and one side (leaving one side open for the zipper and the shoulers (don’t sew the neck shut). At this point I put it on and wanted to pin darts into it, but it was too tight, so I had to leave it as is. It looks fine and feels comfortable, but the bust would be more flattering with darts, so next time I will cut it larger to allow for this. You always are learning with sewing. (well I do, as I am NO expert at sewing that is for certain)
So that is your bodice done. Now, for the skirt you have many options. I chose to use a pleated skirt as it is very easy and looks very finished. I took the yardage of my remaining fabric (about 4 yards) and held it up to me to decide the length I wanted the skirt to be. I then pinned that and while it is still one long flat piece, I used the pattern as a guide and pre-hemmed the skirt. This, I am sure, will be a major no-no to you expert sewers out there, but I know when I was first learning (and really still am) hemming was always a bit scary. I discovered this makes a perfect hem and if you are careful when pinning the skirt to the bodice, it will not be crooked.
So, here you can see I found the length I wanted the skirt and then, using the pattern as a guide, pinned that straight line along the fabric. Then using the patern I sew the finished hem in while it was still a flat piece of material (later cutting the excess fabric off the inside hem). Here you can see up-close ( I drew a yellow line around it) how I followed the pattern as a guide to make a straight hem line that blends with the color of the fabric.
Next, even before I sew the skirt together to make a tube, I pleat it onto the bodice. An easier way is to gather the fabric and sew that on for a gathered skirt, I like the looks of the pleats and find it very easy to do as the skirt is not yet a skirt but on long piece of fabric pre-hemmed. Your pleat size will be determined by the amount of fabric you have. So, after that is pinned, I sewed that to the bodice. Then I take the zipper ( I used a 12”) and place it on the bodice side where it will go and see how far into the skirt it will need to be, then I pin that spot and sew the skirt together to that point. Now I know the opening is the exact size needed for the zipper.
Finally, the zipper is sewn in and then the dress pressed and you have a finished 1950’s inspired cotton dress. This is an easy dress that can be completed in one day.
  The skirt still needs to be pressed and darts in the front would be more flattering especially as I am on the smaller busted side and every little bit helps. But I like the lowered waits, the pleats are comfortable. The dress will also look nice with a petticoat ( I am not wearing one now and my face was not worth keeping in this shot ladies!)This shot also doesn’t show very well how the boat neck folds down to reveal the white and I didn't flip both sleeves very well either. These will be held in place by taking vintage buttons and hand sewing them in those spots both for decorative affect as well as to hold it in place. It would be fine without, but I love those little touches. This picture had to be snapped quickly by hubby last night as he was on his way to bed.
So, I hope this helped any of you wanting to start to learn to sew or wanting to try your own pattern.Though this is hardly a masterpiece, it was a doable dress from conception to finished dress in one afternoon. With this concept, I can now veer off this main idea and make patterns of varying degree. I could add a collar. Cut the neckline differently. Cut the back and front neckline differently. I could also cut the back piece as two pieces, rather than the one, to put the zip in the back.  Though, I really prefer the look and ease of a side zip.Cut the front as two pieces and add buttons; Endless possibilities.This pattern here (which I do not own) has inspired me to try my idea and cut the top half as I did in this dress up to the bust line and cut it larger )To allow for the darts. and then a separate fitted piece in the center and then add the skirt. Maybe that will be February’s dress challenge.
If you can learn to thread and run a straight stitch, you could easily follow these steps and make your own ‘vintage style’ dress. I hope you will try it. I will post these instructions on the website as well, for future reference.
And, for those amazing seamstresses out there, you will forgive  my ignorance and hopefully, tell us better ways this could have been done. We all must learn form one another, don’t you think? I would love any tips to make this ‘pattern making’ easier so let’s hear from you.