Vintage Look- 1950's Navy Pants and Grandma's Blouse

 I told you back when I showed you my high-waist pants HERE, that I owned two pairs of pants. Well, this is the other one, a pair of 1950's wool Navy pants. And I don't mean the color, I mean the branch of the military. I like to wonder about the guy who wore them before me and was exactly my size. I wonder what he would think if he knew I was the one wearing the pants now, so to speak ;) I've dubbed the above photo, "Keeping a weather eye out". If you don't know, that's an old saying pertaining to keeping a watch on the weather. And here's another saying my Pop taught me, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." My Pop was a Marine, not Navy, but he is full of gems of wisdom ;)

 The pants have two little pockets at the top, one that is open, and one that has a zipper top. The first thing I realized is there is no pocket big enough for a knife. That is a big deal with my sons.

 The below photo was supposed to show how cleverly they made the back of the pants, but the navy turns almost black in natural light.

 This is what I was trying to show. They lace up the back so you can have a bit of customizing in size.  Fully drawn up on a lean day, left wide open on Thanksgiving! And yes, I lint rolled the crud out of these before I wore them. They are just the most static-y, lint-y pants I have ever owned. I can simply walk by a cat and -zap!- the cat is completely buck-naked bald and I am covered in the lost hair. I'm pretty sure there aren't any cats on Naval ships, but still, these things are thick, thick WOOL. Do they wear these in the tropics? In the summer? In the heat of naval battles?? Which brings me to another subject...

Look at all the buttons on the front!! There are 14 buttons to close, and two of them then button through a second layer. Just putting these on is exhausting, especially if you might have started off with them mis-buttoned and not realized it till you were halfway through. Looking down at them, and thinking about taking them all undone again, I had a horrifying thought. How do sailors go? I have three boys, and I know how they are when the urge strikes. How on earth do all those men get used to the fact that it is not going to be a quick "pit stop"? Somebody tell me why Navy pants close like this. Seriously, I need to know. It's probably tradition, but surely some higher up person somewhere has had an emergency and thought, "Blasted buttons! Why are there so many? I'm going to make an order to change to zippers!" I'm afraid if I was thinking about military service on the sole aspect of uniform, the Navy would be a last pick. I'm leaning more towards Air Force. Step into a jumpsuit and pull up a zipper. Yep, that's more my speed. 

Okay, I've gotten it out of my system. You can relax now.

 Here is the tag in the pants, the label makes me think 1950's. I also have a modern pair, and their tags look nothing like this.

 Here is a close-up of Grandma Tommy's blouse. I just love the design, the colors, and the tiny pattern woven into the cloth.

It is made so prettily with a small rounded collar and thin little cuffs on the sleeves. I had to take a big seam down each side to be able to wear it. Grandma was a small lady, but much more buxom than me!

 So, a bit of silliness, and two neat pieces of vintage. Do you ever get to thinking about odd things, or is it just me? If any of you can tell me more about the construction of my wonderful wool Navy pants, I would love to know. Thinking about vintage clothing and the people who wore them...it's a bit like falling down the rabbit hole ;)

*update on January 8, 2019: my dear friend, Angie, sent me a link explaining about the history of the number of buttons, the bell bottomed legs and all the other things I had questions about. Thank you, sugar!! If you are interested, here is the link http://www.uniforms-4u.com/a-crackerjack-navy-enlisted-dress-uniform-38.aspx