Piggybank boutique: ’70s clothes you can make yourself (1973)
From Woman’s Day – July 1973
Quickie, kicky, catalytic young wearables to make out of this and that for next to nothing
1. Under $4 — T-shirt tom-foolery.
Take one common ordinary cotton knit T-shirt, snip open front, out new cap sleeves (don’t be timid, just start cutting!), add gingham checks here and there, bind with bias tape. Wow! Designer: Marilyn Dutkus.
2. Under $2 — Hurray for the red-white-and-blue crochet visor cap.
Use a big hook, thick cotton rug yarn, simple single and double crochet stitches. Snug it on. Wear with a smile. Designer: Gail Boyland.
3. Under $4 — More T-shirt trickery.
Begin with the Basic-T. Take off from there. First, sleeves, away. Add cotton print ruffles instead. Then, slice open the front, add bias-tape piping and ties. Designer: Marilyn Dutkus.
4. Under $12 — Star-spangled carryall.
Start by spraying color on a pair of those brown wooden knitting-bag handles… how about red? Now stud some denim with stars (the hearts are for the love of it all). Line with red-and-white gingham, attach to handles.
5. Under $2 — Bandana baby.
Newsiest halter top around. Take a fireman’s cotton kerchief (dime store), add two rows of machine-stitched vertical buttonholes, ten near top edge, ten near bottom, thread with grosgrain ribbon, tie on. How long can it take to make twenty buttonholes? Designer: Marilyn Dutkus.
6. Under $13 — Un-classic clogs.
Start with patent clogs. Either emboss with plastic tape cut in geometric designs (center); or embellish (the pair) with colorful yarn affixed to double-faced masking tape and stuck down for good and all.
7. Each under $5 — Safety-first safety-pin jewelry.
Load tiny safety pins with beads, fasten together ad infinitum. The pins come brightly colored, ready to go.
8. Each under $1 — Buttons and beads.
Buttons and beads cleverly juxtaposed become a barrette, earrings, and pins. First stop, button box or dime store. Next stop, notion counter for beads and findings. Now assemble goodies, glue down, wear with flair.
9. Each under $2 — More button and bead baubles.
Pin is made from big and little beads. one button assembled on felt-covered cardboard back. Even findings for cuff links (along with those for earrings and pins) are now available for amateur jewelry makers. Pick up an inexpensive dime-store barrette for barrette backing.
10. Each under $3 — City slicker [bell-bottom] blue jeans, all duded up.
Left strings of sequins. couched down by hand (you don’t have to sew each one down separately). Right gold braid, hand-stitched in place. Designer: Wes Cauthers.
ALSO SEE: Foxy fashions and affordable accessories for her from 1972
11. Ruffles and rickrack for evening on print coordinates.
Left, under $7: Midriff top has off-the-shoulder cool (elastic casing): diagonal print (not bias-cut) skirt starts with a drawstring, ends with a flounce. Right, under $12: Rickrack and flower trims accent simple-to-make drawstring peasant blouse and pull-on dirndl skirt. Both in challislike related prints.
12. Under $9 — Button, button, who’s got the button necklace?
We do. Those three large “beads” are really bone buttons in graduated sizes strung along with smooth round wooden beads on doubled heavy duty thread. (The bone buttons add to the expense: cut costs with dime-store ones, if you wish.)
13. Under $10 — Gingham twosome for twilight hours.
Cute tube top is puckered with machine-gathered elastic thread: ribbons tie over shoulders. Ribbon also serves as casing for elastic of pull-on skirt. All straight cuts, straight sewing.
14. Under $3 — Lacy, racy vest.
What an idea. Using rugged, old-fashioned wrapping cord to crochet a scrumptious, longish vest, full of open-spaces, full of fun. Designer: Jacqueline Henderson.
15. Under $1 — Curtain ring pendant.
Hanging round in the best circles. It started oil as a lowly wooden drapery ring, eyelet and all. Got prettied up with paint and imagination. Wear it dangling from cord or chain.
16. Under $1 — Another curtain ring pendant.
This one left natural but brightened by filling with colored wooden beads. 15 and 16 designed by Alison Levy.
17. Under $3 — Romantic Juliet cap, crocheted in three colors.
Crown is done in a mesh of easy single crochet and chain stitches. Band in rows of single crochet. Knitting worsted. Designer: Susan Kohn.
18. Under $2 — The scoop. On the crochet halter.
This one’s pretty daring. We admit it. It’s ingeniously designed to slip-on over your head, ties in back. Great with jeans or a long evening skirt. It’s done in an elaborate arrangement of single and double crochet stitches.
19. Under $2 — Lite jacket halter.
With the tiniest ruffles and narrow shoulder straps. Closes in front. Use single and double crochet stitches.
20. Under $2 — Tie (this one) on.
Crochet halter in a decorative striped pattern. Use easy shell stitches. All three halter tops, 18, 19 and 20, were designed for us by Nan Jennes Brown. All in rayon yarn.
ALSO TRY THIS: Make stunning tie-dye shirts & other fashions just like hippies did in the 70s
Vintage clothes for juniors to sew: Styles from 1972
From American Girl – February 1972
Fashions Americana: History repeats itself — in fashions, too!
There was the prairie dress with the ruffles and bows — its pretty popover pinafore… Later, it was the flapper in swirly-skirted dresses — kicking high, kicking low. Then the classic look of the ’50s — no-nonsense shirts topping A’d shirts. Now they’re back… and prettier than ever!
So corny, so great — gingham checks just had to stage a comeback. Jackie picks checks for Simplicity 9769 and gets two dresses for one. The red-checked “blouse: is really full-length and pretty enough to wear alone.
A new wrinkle in pants
…from the 40s, when girls jitterbugged by the hour. Jackie flips over the zoot-suity pants with pleats ‘neath the waistband and wide cuffs on the legs.
ALSO SEE: 170 hip vintage 1970s dresses, skirts, pantsuits & other fab retro fashion for women
