1930s Fashion & Mending Hatboxes

February 27, 2022

Tagging Skirts, Mending Purses & Picking Pics & Illustrations

Today, my dining room table is covered, again.

That’s because, here, on the home front, I’ve been upstairs tagging skirts for hanging in the shop, picking out vintage dishes for an upcoming photo shoot and photographing fashion illustrations and pictures for the 1930s section of the exhibit that I’m currently building.

All the while, my husband’s been downstairs in his shop mending purses and hatboxes for me. Now I just need to get everything back into its proper place, which never seems to go quite as fast as I think it will.

My dining room table was clear yesterday.

I swear.

The Projects

Here as the photos scroll by, you’ll see the 1950s skirts I’m tagging, the 1940s purse that just got its plastic-knobbed clasp repaired, hatboxes that got their rims reattached (pictorial below), 1920s-30s dishes for an upcoming photo shoot and a magazine illustration from a 1930s McCall’s magazine (detailed below). I’m always busy here on The Fringe. And, it seams, my dining room table is always the place to stack everything up when it’s done. Ugh.

Photos Copyright Leslie Kay Productions

TO MEND A HATBOX — Step 1: Cut slits in fabric mending tape (a little over half-way). Step 2: Squeeze glue around inside top. Step 3: Spread glue on top and rim. Step 4: Lay in fabric tape, slowly, inch by inch. Step 5: Smooth out tape with glue stick or finger. Step 6: Wipe off extra glue. Let dry.

Sun-backers and Culottes

Culottes back in the 1970s were above the knee. But the term must’ve started, here, in the 1930s. And I love the term, the sun-backers. That’s so much more catchy than backless. Right?

Photos Copyright Leslie Kay Productions