Monday Morning Inspiration

The Story Of The Traveling Skirt

Many of us love to travel around the internet and I am no different. I love when I unexpectedly land on a wonderful little gem of information and when there is some wonderful eye candy to go along with it, all the better. I recently stumbled upon a great site, www.collectorsweekly.com. There I found a great article on vintage dirndl skirts written by a fascinating woman, Lizzie Bramlett, aka, Fuzzylizzie of http://thevintagetraveler.wordpress.com/ . 

"I’m a former teacher and long-time collector and lover of vintage clothing. I discovered history while in college, and proceeded to make it my major. My practical-minded father wanted to know how I planned to make a living “doing history,” so to appease him I also got a teaching certificate, thinking I could fall back on it if needed.

But while doing my teaching practice, I found that I loved teaching, so the next 28 years was spent in the company of a never-ending stream of preteens, all of whom got a healthy dose of my brand of history education.

As retirement loomed, I thought I’d make a little extra money by selling vintage clothing, which I’d been buying and collecting since the 1970s. And for a few years I did sell some mighty fine vintage. But I soon discovered that I loved collecting and researching the odd bits of fashion history more than I wanted to sell it, so I gave up the business so I could concentrate on http://thevintagetraveler.wordpress.com/, an         online journal."

Taken from Lizzie's article http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/traveling-the-world-via-vintage-skirts/ , "I started collecting vintage border-print skirts that have a travel theme after I pulled a piece of fabric depicting stacks of luggage from a flea-market $2 bin. I bought it, took it home, and made it into a skirt. Since then, I’ve been hooked on finding new destinations that appeal to me and my sense of travel—captured in a vintage printed skirt.
Such skirts actually date to the 1940s dirndl skirt, a straight skirt that was loosely gathered in the waist. The dirndl was perfect for the fabric-saving war years, but after the war, skirts got fuller and fuller. Fabric makers first made border-printed cottons for pillowcases and aprons, but before long, women were sewing them into skirts."

I have always loved vintage dirndl skirts, so when I came across these, I just had to share them with you and Lizzie was very gracious to allow me to do so.

The Thief of Baghdad

Around The World In Eighty Days

Camelot

The Moon Spinners

Horseless Carriage

Tea House of the August Moon

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium

Two For The Road

The Out-Of-Towners

Springtime In Paris

Murder On The Orient Express

Funny Face

Lust For Life

1492

West World

We can still purchase border prints today, but there is something so special about the kitchiness of these designs. Maybe it's because they come from a time when we always dressed regardless of the situation, whether it was a trip to the grocery store or a day at the beach. If you think that you would like to add a vintage skirt to your collection, I did find a few on Ebay, you can see them here, here, here, and here. It's truly a lucky find to come across one of these skirts in a thrift store these days.

Below I've added a couple of my own vintage skirts. Both of the pieces depict scenes from Mexico.

This one was a gift, a very nice gift. It belonged to a friend's mother and she thought that I would enjoy it. I do!!

This one I bought while on a trip to New Mexico. This skirt belonged to a dancer. One of the local museums was selling some of her things. I thought it a bit odd that they would sell them, but I wasn't about to ask any questions, take the skirt and run! 

If you think you might like to make a vintage inspired dirndl skirt of your own, I did find two great pieces of fabrics at Elliott Berman. You can see them here.

Have a wonderful week. I hope you've enjoyed this little trip around the world with the traveling skirts!