Thrifty 365: March & Reaching Towards Retro

I've rolled 2 posts together here, one about my Thrifty 365 challenge and one as a summery of what I am doing to retro fry my life and family.

Sunday Sewing

I have spent most of the weekend caching up on house work but what sewing I did do was repairs and alterations. It all seems to pile up until it’s too much to ignore, so since I’ve been in the clean up and throw out mood I just sat down and started into it.

Since I haven’t got anything nice and new to show off I have scanned some sewing ads from my growing collections of Australian 1950’s magazines. Hope you enjoy them as much I do.

Australian Home Journal

Added some new Home Journal's to my collection, just the three.

A Look at Vinyl Floors

Ok so I've been looking at what to do our kitchen floor in and vinyl seems to be the thing, weather I can get Darling Husband to go with it will be an other thing. So far I've found 2 companies that still do vinyl floor tiles like those found in the 1950's in Australia, Polyflor and Marmoleum/Forbo. While I've come across some funny brands, e.g. CSR - then make sugar as well, most are no longer in the vinyl game.

Sunday Sewing

I know it's not sunday any more but oh well. I am very pleased with this sewing job and so was my mother, a bit of a shock for me (she can be very hard to please). It hold a lot of firsts for me. It the first real male type thing I've sewen, it's the first real shirt, you know the ones with buttons. So here are the pattern's layed out, I forgot the interfacing and had to add it later.

Meal of the Week

Ok so between the cool, windy rain and the solid hot sun I don’t know what to cook. So I went for a pie and a salad, with biscuits, a bit of a strange mix but worked well. All these dishes are from my New Australian Cookery book, Chicken Pie, Summer Day Salad and Chocolate-chip Drops.

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Revisable Toddler Outfit

I made this cute little blue and green outfit for Master Little 2, it has taken me a few weeks due to a mix of things but now I know what I’m doing I think I could make one in a day or less if left alone (not likely to happen in my house hold).

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Australian Home Journal

Finished some more scan and thought I might add some more of my Australian Home Journals, I posted some before but these are new to my collection. Enjoy.

Australian Woman

Well when it rains it pours, and since I live in the tropics that should come as no surprise. However I am not just referring to the weather, even tho it has not let up all day, it seems that being sick was the first thing to go wrong. Our hot water system is playing up and the weather means I’m going to have to use the dryer.

Oh well, since it seems I can’t get anything I planed done at the moment I have decided to have a tidy up instead. I plan to look at everything in a new light, do we need it?, can we sell it?, can we find it a new home (even if that just means some were in our home, so it’s tidy).

One of the other things I am doing is keeping a collector’s logbook of all my retro things, stuff, bits, etc. So here are all the covers of my Australian Woman magazines.

Vintage Cook Book

Another great cook book find and this one comes with two kitchen layouts. Australian Cookery of Today Illustrated by The Sun News – Pictorial Melbourne, it has no cover art but maybe missing a dust cover. 497 pages of recipes and that’s not counting all the great photo, it is one of the most in-depth cook books, vintage and modern, I have found to date.

I just love the first chapter, The Modern Kitchen – Planning a Time and Step Saving Kitchen, Planning for Ideal Country Kitchen, Choosing Cooking Equipment, Washing Up (yes a whole three pages on how to wash up), Marketing Wisdom, and Foundation Stock for a Store Cupboard. Doesn’t that just say it all, each chapter has photo’s, bits of history or OLD kitchen know how, easy to follow step-by-step recipes and more.

Getting the Family Involved

Having trouble getting the family, or just that Darling Husband, on board to your retro revolution. I did and I have had a few people ask about it so this is for you all.


It's slow going but you've got to show them you’re in this for the long run. I've tried lots of things, different things work for different people. Just find what work's best for you.

Thrifty 365: February

Well my first real month of the Thrifty 365 challenge has pasted and I’m pleased to note I didn’t do too badly. While some of it does not sound so retro, you must remember we were still coming out of WWII and not all the rationing had stopped, some of it was still in place right into the 1950's. Even things that were not controled were often still hard to get. Many people lived thrifty even when they no longer had too.

A Retro Look

On the weekend I went to a birthday party and couldn't help but try a little look retro. I went and got my hair and makeup done at Civility and loved the look I walked out with. However due children and life’s little happenings I ended up having to put a few more pins in. By the time we made it to the party it didn’t look the same as when I started.