„Vintage“ when talking about clothing, is old clothing made older than 20-30 years ago. So, right now, anything older than 1999 is considered vintage when talking about clothing. Makes you feel old, right?! „Retro“ usually means new clothes in vintage style.

Up until last year we only sold retro (new) clothing in the store. This is going to sound crazy, but it came to me in a dream. We were out of town for Andrew’s grandmother’s funeral and I was having a hard time sleeping and when I woke up ~ for the first time since opening Cats Like Us ~ I seriously considered carrying vintage. Maybe she told me to!

Another thing to think about is that ~ in a way ~ wearing vintage clothing is recycling. Watching all the clothes that end up in a landfill is discouraging, not to mention how some workers are treated where new clothing is made. We wanted to help, even if it’s just in a small part to help with the environment. (Source: catslikeus.com)

I love quotes. To me, quotes are not just snippets of someone’s writing or speech. They are almost scriptural in nature. For instance, when things are going a certain way I think of the saying, „life is ten percent what happens and ninety percent how I react.“ That is a quote that I read or heard years ago that has now become a principle of mine.

Quotes in my opinion allow for self analysis. When one hears a new truth it opens them up to a new reality. That is why we all love memes. Self-analysis allows for one, as we use to say back in the day to „check yourself“.

Because of social media people are now aware of the importance of „self-care“ which is a term that has been borrowed from the world of mental health. I believe as we move forward in this new world old quotes will help guides us. (Source: recently-retro.com)

You may remember me mentioning a while ago in my Sewing & Crocheting Plans post that I wanted to crochet a pair of sandals. Or you may have even seen them in progress in my latest Vintage Crochet Projects Podcast. Either way, I’m happy to report that they’re now all finished and thoroughly wearable. Yay!

The pattern I used was a Weldon’s pattern from the late 1930s or early 1940s. I purchased it as a PDF from Vintage Ali Patterns on Etsy and thankfully it was just a scan of the original leaflet and not a re-typed version as you sometimes get. The reason I say ‘thankfully’ is because the pattern doesn’t say which size thread to use, but rather has images of the thread that you lie your thread on top of for comparison.

Therefore the pattern must be printed out exactly the same size as the original leaflet, otherwise you’d end up using completely the wrong size thread. I chose to do the striped version of the pattern and used a DMC Petra size 5 crochet thread in navy and white, which was pretty much spot on for size. (Source: http://vintagegal.co.uk/)

And here they are! I’m almost happy with them, but if I was going to make them again I would leave off the first white stripe over the toes to leave it more open. I also wouldn’t make the main part quite as wide. It flaps a little bit at the front and doesn’t look at delicate as the ones in the original pattern. What I’m going to do to combat this on these ones is sew down the very end of the main section to the sole. Currently it’s left open as per the instructions, but it doesn’t really do anything helpful. Therefore, by closing it up it will stretch the fabric a little bit and be less flappy over the toes.