That's right buddies. I know how much you all love that 1950's publication; Homemaker Magazine. For the past week I have been the proud owner of Issues 1-5 and I want to give them to you! I fought tooth and nail to win these babies on E-bay and then when I did get them I didn't really know what to do with them! It's all about the hunt.
There are some very good articles like 'How to choose fabric for making curtains' and how to wall paper ceilings. The ads are totally sexist and cliched but so was all the advertising in the 1950's. Lot's of the kitchen appliance ads have tag lines like 'Yes! Even YOU can work this kettle' .
You could use them as props behind your photos, as references or just add to your collection of vintage magazines! I saw a brilliant use of vintage magazines recently over at Red Lemonade.They covered their coffee table with pin-up photos.See? It's gorgeous.
Anyway all you have to do is leave a comment and then I have a tricksy way of picking one out but I can't tell you how or it won't be fun. The prize is the original, vintage Issues 1-5 of Homemaker Magazine. You. are. going. to. love 'em!
Keep in mind that these magas are 51 years old, so they are a bit tatty, and Issue One seems to have lost it's 'free' Colour Schemer. Damn. I'll announce a winner next Wednesday the 11th August. Good Luck!
Lilly x
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I absolutely love, love, love and adore this kind of thing. I love cookbooks - REAL cookbooks, as opposed to all the 'celebrity chef' type of cookbooks you see on the shelves everywhere, but I also love collecting and searching for vintage recipe card boxes (with the cards, hopefully handwritten, and magazine recipe clippings) and old cookbooks from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Sadly, my mother just threw all hers away one day and then announced how great she felt doing 'spring cleaning.! I could have cried when she said this, for I would have loved to have held onto them and immerse myself in them. Just to look at them and hold them, and see what the design was like, the style of writing and illustrations were like, is just too brilliant for words. It's just this home and hearth kind of feeling that I get even just browsing on ebay for stuff like this. I'd treasure and cherish these little beauties, if they were mine. Here's hoping!
ReplyDeletei would very much like these magazines , take pity on me
ReplyDeleteOh those are so cute! I have lots of Bunty annuals from the 70s and thought I was the shizzle. Every day I have my hair in a bun, the canaries clean and presentable and Ian's slippers in my hands. He sits down to a meal I lovingly prepared and I only speak when spoken too. I ask him for permission to carry on tidying the house then. Do I feck..... I greet him at the door looking frazzled wearing his pants. I have bird shit in my hair and a canary on my head. I throw the phone book at him and stumble back to my mojitos mumbling something about pizza. He steps over the leftovers of my disasterous craft attempts and tries to find a space to sit only to be pooped on by the other canary. I clearly need some 1950s style discipline.
ReplyDeleteI dont have the house yet...but you need to start some where.Where would you get a better start than with issues of the homemaker!!
ReplyDeleteThis just speaks to me - I'm an inveterate hoarder, in denial that I've an OCD fixation on collectibles but like Little Miss Serendipity above I do have great bundles of Bunty, Judy, June & School Friend comics and Annuals, as well as the perennial faves, Beano and Dandy. Thankfully my kids all loved them too, so I felt vindicated! I gave a lovely framed 1950s Housewife Guide to a colleague at her hen party, which she has hung in her kitchen - have a look at it here - http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.asp
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty amusing but scary to think how Stepford Wife-ish it was! Anyway the giveaway would be lovely if I get lucky - I'd indulge in a feast of nostalgia even though it's way before my time ;)
All the best, Catherine.
eeek these look amazing! i'd love to use these, they'd fit right in with my teacup collection! so hard to find anything like this in NZ - what a treasure :)
ReplyDeleteplus, one of them tells me how to build a boat. i know i'll never be a REAL home maker til i can make a boat
Oh my goodness. That first picture looks JUST LIKE my husband and I.
ReplyDeleteIt's uncanny.
I would love these magazines although I do live half way around the world so I understand if you choose to rig the giveaway and give it to someone more in your hemisphere.
Oh! Those look amazing! What a great giveaway! I love reading magazines like these, the ads alone are brilliant. I've never won in a giveaway but I want to win yours ever so badly. I understand what you mean by the thrill of the chase.
ReplyDeleteDear Lord that woman is using a hammer AND wearing trousers! Scandelous!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the 50's. Doris Day, Betty Page, threats of nuclear war. Sigh. Good times.
Makes me want to dress like I'm in Mad Men and wallpaper the ceilings!
Good on you Lily! Great find!
:D
I was just about to build boat too! So this would be so helpful - instead of winging it like I planned. As I'm sure it proclaims inside "How like a woman! "
ReplyDeleteTo go even further back - to 1892 to be exact - I have a postcard a friend sent me who works at the National Library here in Wellington. It is entitiled "Women's Ways" and has such gems as "Generally speaking, a woman is seldom silent" and "Woman look into the back of the book first, because they always want to have the last word".
And yet we were the first country to give the vote to women! Despite our emotions overwhelming us at the polling booth !