How do you do it?

[Heather]

How long did it take you folks to get your vintage clothing collection going? I've been keeping my eye on e-bay but it's tough finding something in my size. What fits me in one area will be to big or small in another! Plus, I'm always hesitant to buy something I can't try on first. I have yet to make it to my local goodwill to paw through their stuff. I sometimes wish they just designed stuff like they used to and save me the hassle! lol Was it just a lot of patience to find your treasures?

 

[olive bleu]

yep.Lotsa patience.I would definitely start out by going to either goodwill or a store that specializes in vintage clothing( whatever you have access to in your area) To try stuff on.Vintage sizes are different than modern.Also if you have a good dealer in town, it's not a bad idea to get to know them a bit.I have had people who got to know what i like and saved stuff for me.I never buy clothes on e-bay, myself although there are plenty of people around here who have great luck.I myself hardly ever find stuff that fits and it just sits in my closet.i save online buying for jewellry, sewing patterns and purses.Good luck!

 

[thunderw21]

Patience and knowledge (that's where this place comes in handy).

Also check out local antique shops, often times the junkiest places have the best stuff. It just takes a bit of looking.

 

[Joie DeVive]

There are people on here at all levels. Personally, I don't wear a lot of actual vintage for a number of reasons. I find it hard to find vintage that actually fits me. I wear my clothes hard, and I would hate myself if I perpetually ruined actual vintage pieces. And then there's the expense.....

Many of us aren't all vintage all the time. Some of us wear modern street-wear most of the time, and dress vintage for special occasions. Some of us stick to reproductions and vintage style pieces. Some of us have taken up sewing to make things that fit. A lot of the gals combine some of these practices.

As to finding actual vintage, thrifts are a good starting point, though some cull out the best vintage and sell it to boutiques so it doesn't show up in the thrift shop at all. Vintage clothing stores often have the best stuff, but they also have the price tag to match. Antique junk shops sometimes have wonderful surprises, especially in accessories. Rummage sales can be hit or miss. I have found some fantastic things at rock bottom prices, but sometimes, there's not a thing. Same goes for estate sales. There can be great stuff, and sometimes the prices are shockingly low, but whether you are the same size as the original owner is a craps shoot. [huh]

As the others have said, it takes time and luck. Lots of luck.

 

[Rachael]

I have been fortunate to have the reputation in my family as "that girl who sews" since I was in my teens. So whenever there is a garment or stack o fabric to be handed off, I get it. It's the stacks o fabric that kill me, since I have to sort through pounds of polyester to get to the scrap of amazing silk.

Because of the delicate and irreplaceable nature of vintage clothing, I make replicas of the garments I care for, only wearing them for demonstration purposes. They do fit, since I am also fortunate to be decended from ladies who were not the size of teacups.

 

[Heather]

Thanks for all the responses! I really appreciate it. I've always wanted to sew my own clothes but I don't have anyone to teach me and unfortunetly the closest fabric store is an hours drive. Unless Wal-Mart has classes! lol Are there any sites that sell reasonably priced reproductions of vintage clothing? I love some of the stuff on pinupgirlclothing but oh my god are they expensive.

 

[Joie DeVive]

For reproduction and vintage inspired clothes....
Try this thread:
http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=16962
and this one:
http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10205&page=27


If you are interested in learning to sew, there are lots of avenues to learn. Do you or people you know go to church or other religious services? There are often lots of little old ladies are at these, and many would be thrilled to teach someone to sew. Also consider neighbors, friends of parents, if anyone you know belongs to a club with many senior ladies (bridge clubs, Eastern Star, etc) and classes at your local community center or senior center.

 

[tonyb]

Patience and knowledge (that's where this place comes in handy).

Also check out local antique shops, often times the junkiest places have the best stuff. It just takes a bit of looking.

That's about the size of it. I've found that the bigger cities, especially the "hipper" locales, have the fewest bargains. Too much demand for the limited supply, I suppose. In Seattle's hipper districts are some vintage shops with lots and lots of great stuff. But they ain't cheap. For those with more money than time to spend searching, they're good places to shop.

I make a point of hitting the antique and secondhand shops in the smaller, less trendy cities out here. Even if I come away empty-handed (as I usually do), it's still an entertaining pastime.

Joie and olive make good points, I think. Fit is tougher for some people than others. (People are generally larger now than they were half a century and more ago.) And I'd hate to ruin through rough wear a garment that survived the decades so well until it came into my possession.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

It takes a long time to build a wardrobe. 11 years of gathering and i finally have a wardrobe-full of 1930s/40s suits sufficient for a good rotation policy (25 or so). I'm still building my vintage casualwear wardrobe. Most of my stuff, still, doesn't come from eBay.

But believe me, 35S is just as hard to find as 46L. Hence the time it took; even with generally wearing suits at 36S or R - one size too big. If only i was a 38, i'd be made. Almost everything i see is 38R.

bk

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Housekeeping

Nice thread for the OB, so I moved it here.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I started out a long time ago, when '40's "vintage" was still just "old clothes" you could find at any rummage sale or secondhand store, at least around here. Many of my earliest finds came directly out of neighborhood attics and closets, and a lot of it was just given to me to get it out of the house. There was rarely a place to try things on at the kind of places I was shopping, so I took to carrying a piece of string in my bag, with knots marking my various measurements -- if I saw a garment I liked I'd stretch the string across and could tell at a glance if it had a chance of fitting or not.

But the supply of "grandma's old junk" dried up by the end of the '80s, and then by the end of the '90s, eBay killed off the last of the cheap local resale shops where you could get all the '40s day dresses you wanted for less than $10. I decided the best thing to do at that point was to sew my own -- so I shifted my focus from collecting actual vintage clothes to collecting vintage patterns and sewing my own wardrobe for ordinary wear, while saving the actual vintage for special occasions.

This gives me a lot more control and seems a lot more practical for everyday wear -- I can make the styles I like, in the fabrics I like, in sizes I know will fit, for a lot less money. As I wear them out, I can repair or remake them without a lot of trouble or expense, while maintaining a flexible wardrobe. And I still have my vintage suits and such for special occasions.

Right now my basic wardrobe rotation consists of about a dozen day dresses for work, and four suits which I use when the occasion demands them. I also use the jackets from these suits as toppers for day dresses when the weather warrants, which gives me even more flexibility. I've also got several blouses I'll mix and match with the suit skirts where the occasion is dressier than a day-dress but not quite the level of a suit. And in the winter I have three cardigans I rotate over the dresses, which gives even more variety. The trick isn't having a huge closet full of individual pieces -- it's figuring out the best way to get the most variety from the smallest number of pieces!

 

[Lefty]

If you're in a hurry and have the cash, Banana Republic has nice stuff, often with heavy vintage overtones. It's not quite what you want, but it can hold you over until you get that perfect outfit. J Crew can be ok too. My wife has plenty of both. She worked at JCrew during college and, because of her discount, spent more than she made. She did end up with some fantastic outfits though.

 

[Minerva]

I have to settle for vintage-inspired as far as actual clothes go. I know I had relatives about my size in the correct time period, but as I understand it, they all sewed their own rather than buy anything ready-made. I'd love to have some of my grandmother's clothes. She was only a fractional amount shorter than I am, so I bet they would have fit, as would things from my father's aunts.

Accessories are another story. I keep having elderly relatives leaving jewelry and such to me since that gets worn regularly. Somehow I because the favourite daughter-in-law when I was delighted to receive my husband's grandmother's brooch collection; mostly costume, but still lovely. Handbags are usually completely shot beyond all repair attempts by the time I get them, but aprons hold up well with minor mending.

 

[MPicciotto]

If you make it to auctions look closely at items referred to by the auctioneer as a "box of fabrics" So far from that sort of box we have obtained all manor of vintage linens, a HUGE amount of period bed jackets, slips etc all from the same box. At another auction a friend picked up original Officers "Pinks" in size 44 waist!!! Out from under a bunch of corduroy pants, a mu mu and sundry other hidousities from the 80's. I just got a linen table cloth and a lace tablecloth out of an old steamer trunk packed full of misc "linens". My point is though for some reason cool old stuff is buried under stacks of fabric and are often discounted by auctioneers not believing anything valuable is under that. No idea why. But this has happened to us three or four times.

Matt

 

[Feraud]

Building a vintage wardrobe take patience, luck, plenty of footwork, good friends, and more patience. I have spent many weekends travelling to out of the way thrift shops. Generally I walk away empty handed but sometimes a jewel pops up. Friends have recommended I visit a certain shop, sent me an ebay auction link, or told me when an outfit looks good or not.

Take your time and don't feel the need to rush out and overpay for everything you see on Ebay.

 

[MPicciotto]

Oh I forgot to mention when at a thrift shop, yard sale, flea market or auction and can buy something vintage way under retail price. Snap it up. Regardless of if its mens or womens ware and size. Good for trading or selling to finance the addiction.

Matt

 

[Heather]

Lots of mental notes have been taken! Thanks everyone. You're all wonderful! :eusa_clap

 

[Miss 1929]

Estate sales!

When people die, they often still have great stuff in the closets. Maybe not their entire life's worth of clothes, but almost always, a few favorite outfits from their youth, hats, shoes etc. And often a lot of costume jewelry.
Estate sales are usually run by professionals for the family, and there will be many antique dealers descending on them, so get there early, and be friendly and polite to the organizers. Do not ask for a discount, as the prices are usually in the wholesale range anyway, unless you have a huge pile of finds and then they will probably give you one price for the whole pile.
Check your local papers and Craigslist for the announcements, you will definitely find stuff there. Heck, you may become a dealer yourself if you find great stuff not in your size.

As Lizzie Maine pointed out, the Goodwills etc hardly ever have anything - but here's a tip - go to a neighborhood where they would not be interested in vintage.In my area, a couple pf weeks ago I went to one in the Hispanic neighborhood - and I found about 8 swell vintage things at cheap prices! People who want all new and shiny in their lives don't buy it.

Many thrift stores also separate out anything old, weird, funky, flashy, and save it aside for the Halloween season. Ask you local stores if they do this, and when they will be putting it on the racks if so. Cultivate a relationship with the store manager, tell them you're looking for vintage, and you might get them to call you or hold stuff for you.

 

[AudreyH]

I just search down town and small areas for vintage shops. Almost everything is too big for me though, I usually have to have them brought in quite a few inches. lol But I don't mind. I find the clothes so cheap it's no problem getting it brought in. Good luck finding stuff for your vintage collection to grow.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

I don't have much vintage clothing at all - most of my vintage stuff is in the "miscellaneous stuff" or "sewing notions" department. But I have found the following tips helpful:

Search out the "little old lady" thrift stores - not Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc., but smaller independent shops, often associated with charitable institutions. They may be more expensive, but they may also be *less* expensive and more likely to have the things we're looking for (as opposed to last season's Gap clothes and basic knit T-shirts). Eventually, you'll get to know which stores are worth going to often.

'Course, I did find a late '40s ladies' suit jacket (sadly moth-eaten, but *great* for study!) for less than $5, IIRC, at Goodwill. [huh] I don't think they knew what they had! You better believe I pounced on it like it was pirate treasure. lol

Know your measurements, especially for Ebay auctions. Likewise, keep a tiny tape measure with you at all times, especially for places where you can't try things on.

Estate sales! Some of them are way overpriced, but gems can be found. Bring your own shopping bag(s) - trust me, you don't want to carry everything in your arms, and you don't want to waste time hunting for a suitable container!

And, like others have mentioned, there's sewing and vintage patterns. Authentic vintage styles, tailored especially for you!