Thrifty Acres: Back to 1976

Hello! It's been awhile since I showed off a vintage magazine, so without further ado, let's go back to January 1976, courtesy of a Woman's Day magazine I found at a thrift store. 

I was in high school that year, and my mom had already been subscribing to Woman's Day for several years, so finding this issue was a trip down Memory Lane for me.

1976 was a big year for the US, as that was when the Bicentennial was celebrated. Consequently, this was in my magazine:

This scene of two young children viewing a colonial-era museum display illustrated the front cover of that year's Woman's Day calendar. I remember these calendars, which were included in the January issues. They were printed on several pages within the magazines, with instructions for assembling them included. My mom never put the calendars together, which I thought was a shame back then, but obviously whoever had this magazine in 1976 hadn't assembled it either. 

Continuing on with the Bicentennial theme:

Another monthly inclusion that was designed to be torn away from the pages of Woman's Day: the Collector's Cookbook. In keeping with the Bicentennial theme, it's the "New All-America Cookbook"for my issue. I glanced through the booklet and you know what, the recipes mostly looked pretty good. Too bad my mom never tried them; I don't recall her using these recipe booklets.

But again, neither did the person who originally owned the magazine! 

Another never-used inclusion, this time from an advertiser:

I found it bizarre that the above trial-size packet of three Star brand coffee filters was never opened. I showed it to my husband and said we should try these for ourselves. He wasn't inclined to do so, so I left the packet as is. Still, I had to wonder what their condition would be like nearly 40 years later. Would the filters have fallen apart by now? Maybe smell funny or look discolored? 

One thing's for sure - the Star brand must have fallen apart, since I've never even heard of it. 

As I'd said, in 1976 the US celebrated its 150th birthday, but 1976 seems to be around the time another "birth" occurred:

Bounce dryer sheets are now as common as can be, but they were "remarkable" and "new" in January 1976. Now, this is one product I do remember my mom adopting when it came out. With a family of 10, 3-4 loads of laundry nearly every day of the week was the norm, so it's understandable that she gladly used a product that made the task a little easier. 

Of course, Woman's Day was more than calendars, recipe booklets and ads. Home decor articles were prevalent as well, though in retrospect that may not have always been such a good thing:

And what do we have here? Why, it's this: "Blend in your windows by painting both molding and venetian blind in the pattern of your wallpaper. The white blind needed only yellow paint and narrow black tape for the vertical stripes." 

This is the first time I can recall seeing a Venetian blind and molding being painted to match wallpaper - and I hope it's the last! In my opinion, it seems like it would be a real pain to paint those squares - and applying that "narrow black tape" on a blind - no thanks! 

Fortunately, beds seemed to fare better, such as this craft:

This quilt is a updated version of the Log Cabin pattern. This would still look nice today, I think.

Another ad, this time for Cannon's Picnic pattern with its design of pastels in plaids and flowers. One could complete the above look with "deliciously thick" towels, "pillow cases of no-iron cotton and polyester", "quilted bedspread of cotton and polyester" and "muslin sheets". 

Wait a minute, muslin sheets? They were still using muslin for sheets in 1976? I mean, in Laura Ingalls Wilder's These Happy Golden Years, bride-to-be Laura sews muslin sheets for her trousseau - but that book took place nearly 100 years before my Woman's Day magazine was published. I never realized that muslin sheets were still around in 1976. I am much more familiar with good old percale. 

Then again, I seem to recall my mom having sheets that looked a lot like Cannon Picnic, so maybe I slept on muslin back then and didn't even know it. 

Oh well, it certainly didn't hurt me - and it certainly didn't hurt me to read the January 1976 issue of Woman's Day magazine - in fact, I greatly enjoyed this blast from the past!