Case study of a 1950s apron

Recently I snatched up this sweet half apron at a thrift store to add to my collection of vintage and retro aprons. In my opinion, if you're standing in a kitchen or doing chores around the house, nothing is more practical wearing an apron. Draped over your skirt or pants it protects them from splashes and spills. An apron is a handy towel strapped to your waist, an impromptu basket, and the perfect garment for a retro homemaker!

Yes, I could rave about aprons for ages, but instead how about I "pick apart" my newest garment so you can see how it was constructed?

Red Cross nursing tips from 1955

Right now I'm battling a fever, sore throat, and aching muscles courtesy of the influenza virus. Still, I won't let a few pernicious strands of RNA get the best of me! Thus through sheer willpower I have hauled myself out of bed to bring you some excerpt from a Red Cross pamphlet for home patient care.

I will let the illustrations largely speak for themselves since typing is more strenuous than I thought.

How to make a bed with hospital corners

How to give a back massage

How to fold a hot water bottle in a towel

How to set up a station for water vapor inhalation

How to keep your patient occupied

How to make a bed jacket from a towel

Now back to bed!

Perfume bombs for your closet

Just the slightest hint of perfume can be ever so alluring. Here's is a trick you can use to imbue your clothes with a subtle scent that is attractive without being overwhelming:

Even more advice from the Hausfrau's Right Hand

It's been a while since I featured some excerpts from my little booklet "Die Rechte Hand der Hausfrau" (1950), which offers advice for fixing a slew of problems around the household.

This time, I thought it might be fun to "fact-check" some of the tips by seeing if any other publications mention similar techniques.

This should be interesting! Here we go:

Q: What did the pantyhose say to the onion?

Did you know? More advice for the Hausfrau

Source: eBay

Another batch of practical and/or entertaining advice from "Die Rechte Hand der Hausfrau" (1950), this time with hand-picked illustrations. Enjoy!

Practical advice, and then some

The past two weeks I've brought you excerpts from "Die Rechte Hand der Hausfrau", a book of advice from 1950 for solving common household problems. Today I want to bring you not only some practical entries from this charming manual, but also some of the more, shall we say, strange bits of advice.

More practical advice for the Hausfrau

How useful! Postage prices from 1948

Last week I wrote about a practical guide for German housewives that I picked up for the practical price of one Euro. To add to the confusion of how to date this book (the name of the publishing house suggests it predates 1947, but the preface is dated 1950), I discovered that on the inside of the back cover the postage prices from 1948 are printed. The plot thickened when I ran into an eBay classified ad for a 1950 edition of this book showing a picture of the cover that lists a different price from mine! Here is a screen shot:

1123 pieces of practical advice

No, not all of them at once! But I would like to share with you over the course of a few months some excerpts from a book I picked up for a Euro at a local antique store.