Handmade Happy Hour - A Photo Recap

Check out the photos from last week's Handmade Happy Hour by fabulous photographer Cami Wade:

 

J.C. Petersen Co. - Vintage Mensware - A History

I love vintage fashion and I think that coming across beautiful, unique pieces that were actually created in the Midwest is quite the treat! I'm lucky to work in downtown St. Louis on Washington Ave, which was once the thriving hub of the garment district. You can still seen the fade worn painted signs on the sides of buildings touting shoe companies, clothiers and hat manufactures as you drive toward my office building, heading East. It brings a sense of nostalgia to my every day and always makes me curious when I locate a piece that was made here in St. Louis if it was perhaps sewn just up the street or maybe even in the very building where I work!

As I find pieces I always try to do a little bit of research on them before I post them online or put them out for sale at events, as I think knowing the item or garment's history is part of loving the piece. One of the coolest pieces I pulled while at Donnaland's warehouse was a men's sports coat. I grabbed it first because the pattern excited me and secondly, because of the stunning condition it seemed to be in. Yes, it was wrinkly and smelly, but all the buttons were there, the seems intact, the lining perfect and the shape had potential!

After taking it home, cleaning it and getting it back into form I started doing research on the maker - J.C. Petersen Co. Clothier out of Boone, IA. The first thing I thought was "Really, they had high end mensware designers in Boone?!?" I know Boone, IA from my day job. It's where I spent every other birthday for 6 years while the city hosted The Farm Progress Show - one of the largest farm trade shows and events in the U.S. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the most  unique piece, with the best print, I had pulled was designed and manufactured in Boone.

There's not a lot of information out there on the company, but I was able to scrounge up a bio on the man who created the company. JC Petersen was born in Germany in 1868. He's a classic example of the huge immigration movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. At the age of 16 he boarded a boat in Hamburg and set off for New York. Once he arrived in the U.S. he headed West to make his destiny and ended up in Iowa. Petersen started out as a farmer. He worked and went to school in Iowa in order to learn English and more about the America. He's first recorded as a resident of Boone in 1893, where he became a clerk at a local clothing store. He worked for a number of years in the shop, putting aside his earnings in order to one day strike out on his own.

Petersen put that dream into motion in 1897 when he started Petersen & Samson. Unfortunately Samson died rather young, leaving Petersen running the business on his own. In 1902 he shortened the business name to just JC Petersen Co and hired new business partners. Together they launched a large department store that specialized in men's clothing and furnishings.The business remained thriving until the 1950s roughly. The family still has some of the mensware pieces from the shop and JC's great-great-grandson sells vintage mensware as The Houndstooth Kid!

I believe the sports coat I have to be from about the 1920s based on the tag and pattern. I hope to have it up on Etsy soon, but for now, it's a bit of history for you!

Hawaiian Diamonds

 The other day at an auction I picked up a 3-piece set of vintage costume jewelry that I liked because you don't find a set with a necklace/brooch (the pendant has a pin on the back so you can wear it as a brooch instead of a necklace), earrings and a ring that are a perfect match in vintage. Plus these looked really beautiful, the bright goldtone filigree really set off the green stone and the coral.

When I got home I found a slip of paper inside the box that was written in very shaky handwriting, but from the description the two things I took away were "Hawaiian" and "Diamond." I have to say the word diamond really perked my attention, but I had never seen diamonds that looked like this. The Hawaiian motif made sense - I mean the pendant is three pineapples in a basket! However, I put the pieces aside and didn't get back to them until earlier this week when I was putting together a Treasury on Etsy featuring peridot, my birthstone for the month of August.

While searching Etsy for peridot items to feature I came across a pineapple brooch that looked a lot like my set and discovered that, indeed, they were very similar. I read the description for that brooch and it turns out that "Hawaiian Diamonds" are actually uncut olivine, the mineral that peridot is created from! So I started doing more research and learned that in the United States peridot can be found in Arizona and New Mexico and also in Hawaii, where it is known as "Pele's Tears" after the Hawaiian goddess. 

Olivine forms as certain types of lava cool, before it breaks through the surface. This type of rock is called basalt and from the basalt you can harvest olivine. Olivine gets it's color from the iron found in the mineral and the more pure the green color, the more it is worth.

Today most of the peridot found in the United States comes from Arizona on the San Carlos Reservation. However, larger amounts of peridot used to be found in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu. In fact if you visit the island there is a beach where the sand is green! If I ever make it to Hawaii, that beach will be top of my list!

The set I have is most likely from the 1950s and is a very common design from Hawaii. The stones on the pieces are peridot that is uncut, but smoothed. The pink flowers and pineapple bodies are actually cut coral and then the goldtone metal is formed around the stones for a very natural setting in the earrings and ring.

So while Hawaiian Diamonds don't have the same value as actual diamonds, they have a pretty awesome story and history!

Just for fun, facts about peridot:

• Peridot has been found in ancient Egyptian and Grecian ruins
• Ancient peridot came from the Red Sea island of St. Johns
• Peridot forms during volcanic eruptions
• The largest cut peridot is 310 carats and located in The Smithsonian Institute
• It is thought that peridot brought power and influence to the owner
• Peridot has been found in meteors that have fallen from space
• Peridot has been mined for more than 3,000 years - since 1500 BC

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Vintage Clothing Picking - The Cleaning Process

The "Before" Picture

Cleaning vintage clothing is a much debated topic. I recently participated in a discussion among other vintage lovers and sellers about the best way to clean vintage items and the tips and tricks they use. After getting my large collection of clothing from the Donnaland warehouse I knew I needed to really clean these pieces. They were in storage for more than 20 years, they were dirty, grimy and smelly... I debated going to a dry cleaner, but figured that would up my costs significantly for the number of pieces I had and since I'm still growing my market base, it wasn't a cost I was comfortable passing along. So I asked around and got some advice and here is my tale! I went this route - but I recommend  you test items yourself and create a process that works well for you.

The Dirty Bath Water Soak Process

Step 1 - Pre-Soak
Many of the items I bought had pretty heavy dirt, so I purposely decided to do a presoak on them. I filled a bathtub with hot water and OxiClean and submerged a large number of items in the tub.

First lesson - Test bright colors for bleeding! The first item I put in the tub was a bright red vintage full-length coat. I just so happened to put several other coats on top of it as I was filling the tub and to my horror - the water started to turn blood red! I quickly removed the leaking culprit, drained the tub, rinsed all the other coats until no more pink came out and then refilled the tub. Same experience two tubs later with a purple jumpsuit, which got a private soaking in the sink.

The "After" Photos

Second lesson - Only soak/wash lingerie with other lingerie. The only color leaking piece I missed was a brown dress with flowers and it was less of a leak and more of a transfer. After finishing up the wash I discovered that several of the pretty slips I had put in the tub had flowers imprinted on them, so I sadly lost those. The rest of the slips, bras, camis, nighties and bustiers all got their own special bath.

Step 2 - Delicate Wash
After soaking in the tub for about an hour or two, I drained the tub, turned on the shower and rinsed all the clothes for about 5-10 minutes. Then I transferred it all to a bin and took it down to the washer. Now, I have a new washer with lots of fancy settings, I would have hesitated to do this in my old washer, just an FYI. My new washer does not have an agitator, so I felt safe to put the items in on delicate, slow spin and with an extra rinse cycle. I saw no damage from the washing and the clothes all smelled tons better. I used regular detergent with stain removal and color safe features and Clorox2 with color shield, as several of the pieces had some staining.

After photo women's coat, blouse and skirt.

After photo - clothes in action!

Step 3 - Delicate, Low-Heat Dry
I put all of the items in the dryer for at least a cycle. This allowed much of the wrinkles to come out and softened fabrics, that hadn't be in a good environment for over 20 years, into wearable clothing. I did however remove the coats and men's sports jackets after one cycle, even though they were still a little damp. I didn't want them to shrink or damage the lining, so I let them air dry for two days in order to make sure they kept their shape.

It's a lot of work, but I think the end results speak for themselves!

Handmade goods not just for the holidays

Handmade goods not just for the holidays

Don't forget about Handmade Happy Hour 2 this Friday at Katie's Pizzeria! Read all about it in the St. Louis Post Dispatch!

Vintage Clothing Picking - An Experience!

For as long as I can remember liking vintage things in the St. Louis region, I have continuously interacted with, in one shape or another, Donna Knott from Donnaland Vintage Variety. It started when I found her shop in University City, next to The Pageant (the shop is no longer there). I bought one of my favorite little purses that was made out of vintage pulp fiction novel covers and mesh - super cool! Then I discovered that Donna put on estate sales. I went to two before I started selling vintage myself and bought gorgeous costume jewelry pieces for me. Then I got into selling vintage and I started going to more sales, where I picked up beautiful hats, a few great coats and some wonderful dead stock jewelry.

At one of these sales I mentioned wishing I had gotten there earlier for a chance to get more vintage clothing and Donna said six epic words, "You should come to my warehouse." This was the first I've heard of the warehouse and instantly my vintage picking brain started to fixate on the idea. A chance to go into Donna's warehouse?!?!?

Well a few months went by and I figured it was just an off-hand remark, because I hadn't heard back from her after leaving my card. Then, as typical in St. Louis, a "it's a small world" incident occurred. At one of my basement sales in December I met a woman named Kim who does resale and vintage who really thought I should get to know a lady named Janet. Janet also sells a lot of vintage clothing and just so happens to be in one of my teams on Etsy. I looked her up on Etsy and found her linking an invitation to go to the Donnaland warehouse of all things! It turns out, Janet is Donna's sister! I introduced myself via Etsy, sent Donna an email and the rest is history. On one of the first days she's made her warehouse open to the public - I had an appointment!

I spent 3 1/2 hours digging through industrial sized boxes of vintage clothes. Donna purchased over 155 bales, yes bales!, of vintage clothing, each weighing around 1,000 lbs. As she and her team breaks them apart and sorts them they get put into general category boxes and you have to dig through them to find your pieces. There's a fair amount of stained, damage pieces, but there are also loads of treasures! I  ended up with 34 pieces, spending $200 on dresses, women and men's coats, men's sports coats and shirts, and women's skirts. I didn't even make it through five whole boxes... Nor did I manage to get to women's blouses... So I think that just means another trip is necessary once I acquire some more seed monies! 

 Just check out the photos! Now for the hard part, soaking, washing and pressing...