Identifying vintage and antique fabrics, I must admit, is not one of my strongest suits. I am constantly referring back to vintage catalogs for descriptions and fabric contents of similar clothing in my shop to get an idea of fabrics. Throughout the years of selling vintage online, I have gotten a bit better. I can identify rayons, silk, poly, cotton, linen... but there's just a few out there I get really stuck on. And well, when you get into more specific fabric terminology like pique, flannelette, jaconet... I definitely turn to my sources.

It is a dream of mine one day to own an antique and vintage fabric sample book. Can you imagine my absolute glee upon discovering these scanned fabric sample books from the Met Museum?

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We are back with another collection of vintage sewing patterns, this time from the 1930s! What a treat it is to be able to look back at these and see the transformation of styles from decade to decade. You can really tell the 30s apart from other vintage pieces because of the lines and shapes of the clothes, so striking. The bias cut skirts, the neckline details, those draped sleeves! Take a look below and some of the patterns we found below as well as our favorite vintage 1930s clothing that are now available at our vintage shop.


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VINTAGE 1930S SILK RAYON PEPLUM DRESS | Parade of Posies Dress
VINTAGE 1930S BLACK TAILORED DRESS | Mademoiselle Nitouche Dress


VINTAGE 1930S RED RAYON DRESS WITH SHOULDER RUFFLES | My Sweetheart Dress
VINTAGE 1930S SHEER CREAM RUFFLE FLORAL DRESS | The Garden of Elysium Dress


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Lately on Adored Vintage Instagram it seems I have been doing a lot of mending and repairing of vintage clothing. Well, actually, it's not "it seems", I AM mending and repairing a lot of vintage lately!

A lot of times I am fixing ripped seams, replacing buttons, tacking down appliqués and details, and also mending holes and lace. It's a long process that requires a lot of patience. I find it so calming though!

We got such a good response from our 40s sewing patterns post we decided make this a mini-series. What do you guys think? Today we have got a new batch of adorable patterns from the 1950s, one of our favorites eras! We love the mix of dresses and separates. Take a look at the cuteness below, along with a few of our favorite 50s pieces in thethe shop right now.

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vintage 1950s black taffeta rose print dress | ROSE CARMINE DRESS
vintage 1950s blue cotton sundress with floral embroidery | APRIL BOUNTY DRESS


VINTAGE 1950S CREAM BLOUSE WITH PINTUCKS |A Still Moment Blouse
VINTAGE 1950S PINK NYLON PLEATED SHEER BLOUSE | Spun Sugar Blouse


VINTAGE 1950S GRID PRINT SKIRT WITH EMBROIDERY |Graph Paper Skirt
VINTAGE 1950S CHECKERED EYELET FULL SWING SKIRT | Eyelet Checkers Skirt


vintage 1950s cream silk rose print shirt dress | THE FLORIST GERMAINE DRESS
vintage 1950s peach lace party dress with sash | DAME ROUSSE DRESS


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VINTAGE 1940S NAVY BLUE NOVELTY BUTTONS BOWS PRINT DRESS | Buttons and Bows Dress
VINTAGE 1940S PURPLE CHEVRON STRIPED SUNDRESS | Lavender Provence Dress


VINTAGE 1940S GREEN SILK NOVELTY PRINT DRESS | Streets of Baghdad Dress
VINTAGE 1940S BLUE EMBROIDERED DAY DRESS | Day of Hope Dress


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I strive to learn something new about vintage clothing every day and that usually includes leafing through old catalogs and vintage magazines as well as browsing through the thousands of vintage sewing patterns online. These vintage 1930s sewing patterns are all from Etsy and really illustrate the gorgeous frocks that many women made at a time when mass produced clothing wasn't the norm.



My sewing skills are very limited to mending seams, sewing on buttons, and fixing little repairs. My mother on the other hand is an amazing seamstress and could whip up one of these dresses (without a pattern!) in a day. It's really quite amazing that my Mom is so skilled with clothing construction and I am just learning how to sew straight seams.