Tag: 1970s

finger weaving cover

Finger Craft

Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 7 comments

The Basic Book of Finger Weaving
Dendel
1974

Another craptastic craft book for your consideration. The copy I happened to see was pretty beat up. That said, all I had to do was note the quasi “harvest gold” palette of colors to determine that this book was straight out of the 1970s. Looking at the crafts, you can see this is related to the macrame books of the same era. Everyone knew about macrame, but I never heard the term finger weaving used.

Of course we have some perennial 1970s looks: ponchos, vests, and a decorative collar. I believe I have seen a similar example of an afghan on every couch when I was a kid.

This is a weeder, the dirt on the book and a somewhat broken binding qualifies it for the recycle pile. Retro crafts can be something fun, but how about a book from this century?

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woman style cover

Timeless Fashion

Be Pretty 7 comments

Woman Style
Your Personal Guide to Timeless Fashion
Feldon
1979

Have some Womanstyle, circa 1979. It’s timeless assuming time stops in 1985. The book itself is a basic fashion planning guide. It has all the info on fabrics, style, wardrobe planning, etc. The photography is something else. Soft focus seems to be the photographer’s favorite look for some pictures. Also, since it is about fashion, some of the pictures are not good at showing off the actual clothes.

I was in college at the time of this book and the basic wardrobe was jeans and a t-shirt. Cowl neck sweaters were a thing, but I think that is as far as my friends and I ventured for fashion in the late 1970s. I would have been all over the final picture of the boots and skirt. As you peruse the choices, I better warn you of the picture of the highly decorated reddish/pink room. (ALB is not responsible for any trauma related to looking at this picture.)

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bicentennial almanac front cover

200 years of fun

But it's Historical!, Swedish Death Cleaning 9 comments

The Bicentennial Almanac
200 Years of America
Linton, ed.
1975

Another book from Mary’s Swedish Death Cleaning Project.

This title really had me scratching my head. I was a cynical and naive kid back in the 1970s. I was a history fan, so I can only surmise that someone gave this to me as a gift. I doubt it was ever opened. If you were around back then, the whole country had bicentennial fever. Every product out there seemed to make a “Bicentennial” version of whatever was around.

Many events, especially the more shameful, are downplayed or are omitted. Almanacs are not to be considered comprehensive, but this book has very little meat. It would be useless to a student of American history. I think this book was probably cobbled together from other materials and sanitized for our protection.

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heart in the sunlight cover

Heart in the Sunlight – Friday Fiction

Friday Fiction 4 comments

Heart in the Sunlight
Peake
1976

Our familiar trope from the old days of clueless girl gets seduced by older wiser and more obnoxious guy. Noelle, the clueless protagonist, tags along with her bestie for a job in Norway at a hotel run by bestie’s brother Per. Of course when Per is introduced to Noelle, he proceeds to be a total jerk and insult women. He also then has the audacity to get his back up when she politely disagrees with his ridiculous judgment about how women are not trustworthy, money grubbing, etc. Evidently she should show him respect. First, he is her boss for the next few months and second, he is awesome and she needs to remember that in the future.

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