Vintage Pattern Haul and New Pattern Project

Last weekend I had a lucky find - a guy on Craig's List was selling his mother's old sewing patterns ranging in dates from the 1950's to the 1980's.  I bought over 200 patterns for about 50.00 and out of that there are about 150 I am keeping. 

Fifty of them were from the 80's.... and they don't appeal to me.  I'll probably end up donating them.  Nobody needs to see that fashion from the 80's remade. 

Here is a picture of a few of the patterns I am keeping.

I have opened up a few of them and feel like I am getting to know the owner a little.  She really took care of her patterns.  They are folded perfectly if they were used.  Everything was put back with care.  There are even some sewing notes about who the dress was for and if they wanted anything different done.  Some aren't cut or used at all.  It makes me wonder what happened.  Did she change her mind?  Never find the right fabric?  Buy the wrong size?  Would she be happy that someone is using her patterns now?  I hope so.

I think she must have sewn for a family because there is a range of sizes.  There is everything from an 8 to a 16.  I saw some really great ones that are just a couple of sizes too small for me and I was really disappointed until I got an idea.  I recently purchased some pattern making and grading software called Wild Ginger Cameo 5.  I played around with it and used it to make a sample pattern and grade it.  I had some promising results.

While I (obviously) can't take the pattern pieces and grade them to sell, I can try and put the pattern pieces into the software and grade it for my personal use.  If this works, I would be able to buy a beautiful vintage pattern and use it no matter what size it is.

This is my first candidate.  Simplicity 2959.  I don't have an idea of what year it is from.  I am assuming that it is from the early 1960's.

I am not a size 11 with a 31 and 1/2 inch bust.  But I am within a couple of sizes. 

Next steps: take pictures of the pattern pieces, import them into the software and grade them to my size.