Magical millinery: an iron for hat making

Source: Frankston Weekly

To be honest, hat making has always been somewhat of a mystery of me. Being completely uninitiated in this art, I think that most millinery tools look like somebody combined a magic wand with a dental pick, and what one does with this bizarre combination is completely opaque to me!

Source: Damsel in Regress

Now, I'm not proud of my ignorance, and I plan to remedy this problem someday when I have more free time. Until then, I take full responsibility when my lack of millinery knowledge causes me to purchase items for which I have absolutely no use.

What am I talking about? Here's an example:


A couple months ago while I was browsing the nooks and crannies of a local thrift store, this bizarre gadget caught my eye:

As probably guessed, the "Original Bügelfix" mounts onto a table with the turn of a lovely heart-shaped screw. Plug the cable into the wall and the round head heats up, just like the bottom of a normal steam iron.

Honestly, I hadn't the slightest clue this was actually for hat making! I bought it on a whim since the price was incredibly low—just a few Euros—and I thought it could be used for ironing difficult articles of clothing like blouses with puff sleeves.

"Bügelfix" translates to "Fast Iron" or "Quick Iron"

(In case you are wondering, the "D.R.P." on the sticker label stands for "Deutsches Reichspatent", that is, a patent dating to before 1945, which gives us an idea of when this device was manufactured.)

An old-fashioned plug without the grounding prongs

Never make hot-headed decisions, right? Guess this was one of those impulsive buys I've always heard about.

Source: Craig Swanson

Not even an exhaustive internet search could turn up any information about this curious device, but I did discover two pictures of a model sold over eBay (the listing is now deleted) for which the power cord can be completely detached.

And here's a screen shot of an eBay listing from a year ago. Apparently someone bought an iron just like the one I have for 60 Euros, much more than I paid for it.

Right now a perfectly usable hat making rarity is just sitting on a shelf in my laundry room collecting dust!

Perhaps the time has come when my Bügelfix and I shall part ways...

Source: lebabovard.com

Free embroidery pattern: 1700 Woman

 

Here's a treat for all of you dear readers to start the new week: a free embroidery pattern taken from the 1950s hat bag I wrote about in my last post.

This one is of a lovely lady from 1700 proudly wearing a sporty feathered hat and a men's style overcoat with cravat.

Click on the thumbnail above to go to my new "Downloads" page where I will be hosting all of my free embroidery patterns. It's more practical to have them all in one place, wouldn't you agree?

A vintage take on centuries-old styles

The other day while picking through a pile of clothing at a local thrift store, I came upon a nondescript blue hat. Even though it likely dated to the mid-century, the hat itself was not memorable, but what was nestled inside of it deserves an entire journal entry.

Fashion brochures at the Görlitzer Warenhaus

Over the summer I had the pleasure of traveling to Görlitz, a city in far eastern Germany whose small size is disproportionate to its magnificence. Among the city's many architectural treasures is a department store building (Kaufhaus or Warenhaus) built in the German equivalent of the Art Nouveau style, known as Jugendstil.

The Görlitzer Warenhaus in the early 1950s
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