Yard sale: vintage clothing and kitchenware "honey hole". Let the slobbering begin!

The dudes on "American Pickers" call it the "honey hole": a place where  time has seemingly stood still and someone searching for vintage treasures finds a veritable gold mine of items in fantastic shape, of good quality, and in the styles that please their aesthetics. Well, I deem today "Honey Hole Day".  In the quiet suburb of Villa Park, Ben and I, with our adorable Ivy beagle in tow, happened upon a yard sale that blew me away like few ever have.  My first clue that I'd tumbled into something spectacular was when I found a small table holding vintage eyewear.  The women's cat eyeglasses were too small for me, but a pair of men's glasses fit Ben to a "T" - and at fifty cents for the pair, Ben leapt at the chance to look a little more like Harry Crane from "Mad Men".

I knew I'd struck vintage gold when I wandered over to a rack of clothing - and found it to be crammed full of dresses, separates, and children's clothing from the 40s and 50s, mostly in good to excellent condition.  Sadly, the dresses were anywhere from a modern size 0 to a 4, so as they basically would only cover one thigh, I moved along.


A nearby table held piles of vintage boys' clothing and men's shirts, and an open, old suitcase showed off a collection of hankies and scarves - all vintage.  I snapped up two longer, floral scarves, one with Pucciesque flowers, and added them to my pile at the seller's table.

It was at that moment that Ben said, "Um, Honey??? --" in the way that tells me I'm going to be in delicious trouble.  "Honey -- you might want to check out the dishes and kitchen stuff..."

And that's when I learned that the woman who used to live in the house the items were from was a caterer in days gone by.  Tables and shelves and racks held a virtual Woolworth's worth of items: vintage dishes and serving ware and cutlery and anything you can imagine.  If you thought I was breathless and near to wheezing while looking at the clothing (I was; especially when I found the dress in a "fox goes a jumpin'" pattern), it was nothing like my escapades in the homegoods section.  Armload after armload was carefully carried over to my pile, which was beginning to resemble the Matterhorn.

I found the deep desire to speak with the women holding the sale about the vintage clothing.  I learned they found these treasures while searching the house's attic -and encountered hidden closets filled with them (this made me recall actual dreams I'd had about my childhood home, about venturing up into the attic and opening a door I'd never seen before, only to encounter a room full-to-bursting with ladies' tall-sized vintage clothing; but those were dreams and this was real).

After hearing that they were going to take some mouse-bitten items to a clothing recycler, I jumped into action and told them about my friend Alana at Nest Vintage Modern in Brookfield; I truly hope they contact her, because I'm sure she'll be able to recycle/reuse the fabric in a stylish, clever way.  I also referred them to some vintage sellers in the city who will probably give them a fair price for the sartorial gems they were selling at rock-bottom prices.  I really wanted to make sure these pieces were handled with care and that the ladies were given a fair deal.  These weren't yard sale items: they were essentially exhibits in a  museum.


So?  Wondering what I purchased?  Please allow me to give you the Laundry List of Wonder (and I tracked down some photos online to help illustrate):

 - The aforementioned "Harry Crane" men's eyeglasses
 - Two long, vintage floral scarves
  - A dozen barnyard animal "cooky cutters", mint-in-box
 - A white and gold plastic ice bucket
 - A matching white and gold plastic insulated hot&cold pitcher, mint-in-box and never used
 - Two vintage syrup pitchers, with pink and aqua lids
 - A box containing over fifty melamine and melmac dishes, cups, and serving items, in white and aqua.
 - Three vintage Betty Crocker and Better Homes' cookbooks, all in excellent condition
 - A hand-made quilt in pastel floral squares (some containing lavender flowers: very hard-to-find; it's in the dryer right now)
  - One clothing item that actually fit me: a vintage boys' shirt in a "lil' cowpoke roping a lil' steer" pattern.  Label: "Hi Fella" sportswear.  Age 16.  Sanfordized).


My total bill?  $32.50.

Watch that slobbering, will ya?  It's a bit uncouth.