Show us your handbags!

[jitterbugdoll]

I would date the olive purse to the 1930s-40s. It's quite smashing and would look good with a rich brown dress, I think. I am sure you can find an outfit to go with it one of these days

Plastic zippers weren't commonly used until the 1960s, though an early version appears to have been devised in 1940 after metal became scarce during WWII (and several zipper factories had been destroyed in Germany.)

The next change zippers underwent was also precipitated by a war—World War II. Zipper factories in Germany had been destroyed, and metal was scarce. A West German company, Opti-Werk GmbH, began research into new plastics, and this research resulted in numerous patents. J. R. Ruhrman and his associates were granted a German patent for developing a plastic ladder chain. Alden W. Hanson, in 1940, devised a method that allowed a plastic coil to be sewn into the zipper's cloth. This was followed by a notched plastic wire, developed independently by A. Gerbach and the firm William Prym-Wencie, that could actually be woven into the cloth.

A stringer consists of the tape (or cloth) and teeth that make up one side of the zipper. One method of making the stringer entails passing a flattened strip of wire between a heading punch and a pocket punch to form scoops. A blanking punch cuts around the scoops to form a Y shape. The legs of the Y are then clamped around the cloth tape. that allowed a plastic coil to be sewn into the zipper's cloth. This was followed by a notched plastic wire, developed independently by A. Gerbach and the firm William Prym-Wencie, that could actually be woven into the cloth.

Blanche--the purse with the rhinestone clasp is lovely!

 

[decodoll]

You're always full of such wonderful information! Thanks, Jitterbugdoll! I just won that pair of brown shoes, so I'll have to be on the lookout for a brown outfit!

 

[jitterbugdoll]

I'm so jealous those brown shoes weren't my size lol Wish me good luck on the other pair!

 

[decodoll]

Good luck! My fingers will be crossed for you!