Nostalgia

As I’m preparing "The Fashion Plate" for its official debut, my thoughts drift back thirty years ago. In March 1970 I published the first issue of "Mini-Fashion Boutique"! It was printed on legal-size paper and a collection of issues is shown below:

I had actually begun designing and sewing for dolls around 1966 and published a few patterns using the name "Shirley’s Doll Fashions." "Shirley’s Mini-Fashion Boutique" in 1969 was finally shortened to just MFB.

A one-year subscription for the bimonthly newsletter back then was just $1.50 and patterns ranged from 25¢ to $1.25. My hope for about 200 subscribers by the end of the first year was surpassed the very first issue! At one year, we had reached 560 and the last issue had exceeded 700! In 1970 it cost just 8¢ to mail, and we started bulk mailing the second year. Besides patterns, over 200 custom-made doll fashions were offered in "Mini-Mods Fashion Catalog." There was a broad interest in many dolls back then besides Barbie and family, reflected in the variety of patterns in my archives.

When that day arrived thirty years ago, I had already gone through several methods of printing, beginning on my kitchen table (literally) with a gel medium in a cookie sheet, then graduating to a spirit duplicator and finally a mimeograph machine. All patterns were hand-drawn and typed on an ancient Underwood typewriter. How things have changed! I can’t imagine doing this without a computer, digital camera, color printer and photocopy machine! Sewing tools have changed as well—with computerized sewing and embroidery machines, sergers, and many new notions.

Many new dolls are available today, greatly expanding our choices. But interest in vintage is reflected in the newest Barbie. We never dreamed thirty years ago that Barbie would still be going strong!

Ah—nostalgia—to me, it is remembering and preserving the best of the past and bringing it into the present for a better today.