Here's a good story from Time magazine about the trend of people returning to sewing their own clothing, or refashioning used clothing. It's great to know that alot of people are interested in setting their own trends by making their own clothing, rather than following what the Mall and magazines tell them is a hot trend. The article mentions the Wardrobe Refashion group that I joined during the Summer (their site is where I found the Time story link)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1562966,00.html
A new sewing machine is actually on my Christmas list (a cheap one) I'm tired of sewing on my itty-bitty machine that I bought at Target for $19.99. It was good for small projects, but I need a nice solid machine so that I can use that sewing area that I finally have in my new room.
Remember the Dimple
"Don't be hasty Hildy, remember the dimple - and it's still in the same place"I wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't get any work done. But I did get to watch His Girl Friday (yet again) while I was convalescing. I love that movie, one of my all time favorites, but who couldn't love Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The dialog goes so fast and funny. Rosalind is so awesome! plus she wears these great striped suits too, and a fantastic matching striped hat at the beginning of the movie.
The quote about the dimple comes when Hildy complains to Walter because he fought their divorce several months earlier. She was mad because Walter had a skywriter write the message 'Hildy don't be hasty, remember the dimple' in the sky over the courthouse when she was trying to get the divorce finalized. He then tells her that he still has the dimple and it's in the same place.
It's a great, funny movie, see it if you haven't already!
Victorian autograph book
Hi! Thanksgiving went well here, turkey and all the fixings turned out very yummy, and I'm not tired of the leftovers yet! Now to focus on Christmas, yikes. I've bought a few presents so far and I want to set aside a day next week to head out to do some shopping. I only buy for my parents, Boris the turkey-hound, my 2 grandmoms and an aunt and her dog, so it's not too big of a list, luckily.I worked in retail for many years, and I'm sympathetic to anyone working this Black Friday weekend. We opened at 6AM at my last job, which was in a fabric and craft supply store. Yeah, I know, what crazy people need crafts at 6AM? Lots of people that's who. We had 3-4 registers running non-stop with long lines until almost noon. In a way it was kind of fun though, because it was so crazy.
This week, while nibbing through my desk looking for something, I came across this little autograph book that came from way back in our family. It is from the late 1800s and it has little writings and some cutout images decorating the pages. The book belonged to Sadie Pidgeon, I'm not quite sure who she was in the family, but there are other familiar names in the book. She had the book signed by friends, schoolmates and family. Some of the little verses are funny. Above is the cover of the book which has a pretty pressed design, and below are two of the pages, including the first page that Sadie wrote herself - 'To write in my book is my delight - but tearing out leaves is not polite'
The second page is from Aunt Martha, dated 1881 - 'To Sadie, When you grow old and can not see, put on your specks and think of me'
Some verses are very serious, others sweet, some religious. One smartass named Aaron Kircher wrote in 1885 - 'Roses red, violets blue, I pity the man that marries you' - click on the images for larger views. I may do a few more pages the next time I take photos for the website. It's really a great little book.
OK, it's Saturday night, what are you doing? Me? well, I'm going to go watch the Top 10 Spongebob Squarepants episode countdown - debauchery woo-hoo! Then hopefull they'll be something else good on tv after that.
My vcr broke over 2 years ago, and I really need to get a new one. I may break down and get a dvd/vcr combo player (I spotted a cheap one for $50) It could be a Christmas request. It used to be that I couldn't last without my vcr. I had a tape in the machine ready to tape something at any time. I have old tapes full of episodes of the X-Files, and anything U2 related that was ever shown on tv. I have on a tape somewhere, U2's first US television appearance in March, 1981 on the Tomorrow show (remember Tom Snyder, this was before Letterman had his show) I currently have a crush on the new Doctor Who, so I've been thinking that I want to tape the episodes, since I think they'll stop airing the show in January.
Time for pie - so good-bye, Carol
Ask Bronny & Queen of the Oddballs
My website receives a mention on the Ask Bronny website, Yeah! 'AskBronny, formed in 2006, is a fashion website created to demystify fashion for women in a safe, fun, interactive, online environment through advice, education and information whilst aiming to create well dressed, confident women reflecting their true selves'.
My shout out for the week goes to Queen of the Oddballs - I recently read writer and performer Hillary Carlip's fun book after finding her on myspace . As a teen she performed on streets and in clubs as a juggler and fire eater. She won the grand prize on the Gong Show doing her song and juggling routine . Click the link and view the clip of her performance. So funny, I was such a fan of the Gong Show when I was a kid.
In the 80s she appeared in several movies including Xanadu and Bachelor Party, she had an all-girl band Angel and the Reruns. She was talking about 'Girl Power' before the phrase was spoiled by the Spice Girls, when she published a book of stories written by teen girls in 1995. She had alot of fun name-dropping adventures which she talks about in her autobiography 'Queen of the Oddballs' - It's a fun read, that you will enjoy.
My shout out for the week goes to Queen of the Oddballs - I recently read writer and performer Hillary Carlip's fun book after finding her on myspace . As a teen she performed on streets and in clubs as a juggler and fire eater. She won the grand prize on the Gong Show doing her song and juggling routine . Click the link and view the clip of her performance. So funny, I was such a fan of the Gong Show when I was a kid.
In the 80s she appeared in several movies including Xanadu and Bachelor Party, she had an all-girl band Angel and the Reruns. She was talking about 'Girl Power' before the phrase was spoiled by the Spice Girls, when she published a book of stories written by teen girls in 1995. She had alot of fun name-dropping adventures which she talks about in her autobiography 'Queen of the Oddballs' - It's a fun read, that you will enjoy.
Artsy project
Inspired by the Art Every Day Project that I came across after visiting Art Junk's blog . I wish I could devote a little time each day to do something creative, but right now things are kind of hectic. But I did work on this box a few nights last week. I took and old gift box that came out of an estate, I think a wallet had been in it. I grabbed the lingerie images that I used on the top of the box and on the inside of the lid from normavalentine's beautiful flickr images The other images were items I found online or scanned myself. To the left is the top of the box with some vintge flowers, gold star fabric and gold velvet ribbon around the sides.
The inside of the lid (below, right) has more gold star fabric, a copy of a vintage lingerie image and more millinery flowers. The inside of the bottom of the box has some vintage purple crepe fabric, green ribbon and a small bunch of flowers.
The underneath of the box (photo on right) has a copy of an old magazine, a copy of a flower seed catalog and a flapper photo add. All done with good old fashion Modge podge!
New at Dandelion Vintage this week -
11 Dressy Blouses - nylon & rayon, 1950-60s
6 skirts - 2 1940s rayon skirts, 2 full circle skirts & a novelty print skirt
9 Victorian & Edwardian items - skirts, bodice, capes, Black dress & more
11 slips - full and half slips, all nylon, 1950-60s
11 more slips! - several more pretty styles
1940s black floral rayon dress (small)
Another page of photos from Victorian to 1930s
a 1950s wedding gown - long train, small size
OK, time for some pumpkin pie after I wash my face and put on the pjs. Then to settle down and watch the Gilmore Girls. Let's see how mad this episode makes me. I cannot believe Lorelei married Christopher. This is definately going to be the last season of this show, they totally ruined it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Bye for now, Carol
Love this Victorian fabric
This is a really great fabric that I totally love! It's from a Victorian petticoat, late 1800s to early 1900s. Very Art Nouveau. It's a very dark green cotton with water lillies in purple, mauve and pink, with blue water swirls beneath them. I wish that I had yards and yards of this fabric. I don't know what I would do with the fabric, probably build a shrine to honor it because I'd be afraif to cut it! I would wear this as a regular skirt myself, if it were my size. But I have a personal rule about not altering vintage to fit me other than minor hemming.
This petticoat along with several other Victorian & Edwardian items are set to be added to the website on Monday along with some skirts and some dressy blouses. Today I'm going to try to get a big group of slips set for this week's update too.
Two plugs for me, and a plug for some fabulous vintage lingerie
First, a few dresses from my website received blog mentions this week - one on
Vintage Society's Blog on myspace and two more dresses of mine were mentioned on one of the blogs that I check out regularly - clothesaholic - so please go check out those vintage blogs and add them to your bookmarks!
Next, I received a request for a link exchange from a site that specializes in fabulous lingerie from the 1920s to 1940s. You know me well enough by now, so you know that I love vintage lingerie and loungewear from those eras, so of course I spent awhile checking out the spectacular pieces at Silver Screen Loungerie Here are just two of the beautiful items that really caught my eye, yummy!
Vintage Society's Blog on myspace and two more dresses of mine were mentioned on one of the blogs that I check out regularly - clothesaholic - so please go check out those vintage blogs and add them to your bookmarks!
Next, I received a request for a link exchange from a site that specializes in fabulous lingerie from the 1920s to 1940s. You know me well enough by now, so you know that I love vintage lingerie and loungewear from those eras, so of course I spent awhile checking out the spectacular pieces at Silver Screen Loungerie Here are just two of the beautiful items that really caught my eye, yummy!
A little shopping and a rag rug project
On Thursday I took a day off from vintage and went out to do some shopping. The goal was to get some Christmas presents, which I did, but I also bought some things that I needed too. First, I needed a new comforter. Mine was pretty old and the patchwork cover that I had made for it several years ago was now shreaded. I've been using it inside of a pretty plisse duvet cover. I didn't buy a new comforter, but I did get the 
perfect bedspread!It is a quilted soft sage green with flowers in pink. Very vintage looking. It wasn't until I got it home that I realized how well it was going to go with the rest of the bedding.
My current bed is old and an odd 3/4 size. So I have a pink and white vintage Bates spread (love them!) thrown over the bed and it hangs to the floor on each side. Now my new green floral quilt lays over the pink spread about midway down. My plisse-duvet (oui-oui) is folded at the end of the bed. The 3 of them look very pretty together.
I'm a cheater when it comes to bed-making. I'll be sleeping on top of the green and pink spreads with the fluffy duvet and a micro chenille blanket on me. In the morning, I only have to fold the duvet and put it at the bottom of the bed, the rest is already made!
Next, I needed a few pairs of non-jean-pants to wear to my part time job. Check out these cute pants that I found at TJ Maxx. They are navy, some kind of soft fabric, with decorative buttons down the front-sides, which remind me of sailor pants. They have a nice wide leg too, which doesn't show well in this photo. They are made by Dalia and were only $19.99.
I did get a few presents for the grandmoms and my mom & Dad, so it wasn't a totally selfish shopping trip.
My current crafty project is a braided rag rug. It was inspired by a crochet rag rug that I saw in someone else's blog. But darn, I can't remember which blog* it was, otherwise I would give her a plug here. I thought it would be a great project to use up some of my fabrics and to make a pretty rug for the kitchen in the cottage. Here is my progress so far. I haven't sewn the braid together yet, it's just layed out in place. I am at a stand still right now because I ran out of matching fabrics! I'd like to still add about another 3 inches to each side, so I'm going to have to wait until I find some more fabrics to match. I'm working with my all time favorite color green of course, with some light yellows and pinks. It's kind of funny because many years ago my Mom made braided wool rugs. Here's a close up of the pretty colors and prints from my rug -
Bye for now, Carol
*I found the blog that was my original inspiration for trying to make a rag rug - Vintage Chica - There are instructions for cutting fabric, which I used to get the most strips of fabric without sewing or knotting the pieces together. Her instructions are for crochet and I can't crochet, so I just started braiding 3 fabric strips together instead . Thank you Vintage Chica!
Bring back Ab Fab!
I wish that Comedy channel or some channel would start airing Absolutely Fabulous again! I miss it, I love it.
'Labels, labels, labels, names, names, names'
'Lacroix, baby spew, Lacroix, baby spew'
'Bloody, buggery, bullocks'
'Sweetie Darling'
One of my favorie episodes was when Saffie had something going on at school, and Eddie wanted to be involved. She told Saffie that if she couldn't be involved, then she was going to adopt a Romanian baby, that she'd call and have them send over a selction of babies for her to choose from. Later Saffie saw Patsie give Eddie some drugs and Eddie said the pills were so that she could breastfeed the Romanian baby. Totally politically incorrect, but so funny! At Saffie's presentation, a woman comes in with a bunch of crying babies for Eddie. In the end it turned out to be a dream.
Another funny one was when Patsie & Eddie hire some gigolos. They realize that the porn movie that they were going to watch was accidently taken to school by Saffie, so they go on a race to try to get the video back before she shows it at another one of her school presentations.
Or when Saffie puts Eddie on a budget and she goes out and buys a tiny-little sportscar darling, and they go to the foodstore, and of course end up breaking several laws.
I could go on and on listing my favorites. I found this very fun tribute while wasting time on You Tube. It's a little sticky at the very beginning, but then it plays fine.
'Labels, labels, labels, names, names, names'
'Lacroix, baby spew, Lacroix, baby spew'
'Bloody, buggery, bullocks'
'Sweetie Darling'
One of my favorie episodes was when Saffie had something going on at school, and Eddie wanted to be involved. She told Saffie that if she couldn't be involved, then she was going to adopt a Romanian baby, that she'd call and have them send over a selction of babies for her to choose from. Later Saffie saw Patsie give Eddie some drugs and Eddie said the pills were so that she could breastfeed the Romanian baby. Totally politically incorrect, but so funny! At Saffie's presentation, a woman comes in with a bunch of crying babies for Eddie. In the end it turned out to be a dream.
Another funny one was when Patsie & Eddie hire some gigolos. They realize that the porn movie that they were going to watch was accidently taken to school by Saffie, so they go on a race to try to get the video back before she shows it at another one of her school presentations.
Or when Saffie puts Eddie on a budget and she goes out and buys a tiny-little sportscar darling, and they go to the foodstore, and of course end up breaking several laws.
I could go on and on listing my favorites. I found this very fun tribute while wasting time on You Tube. It's a little sticky at the very beginning, but then it plays fine.
Joined a Vintage Christmas swap - you can join too!
I've participated in a few sewing, color themed and vintage themed swaps this Summer, and they were really fun. The latest one that I've joined up for is Vintage Christmas Swap You are given a swap partner and you find out their likes by visiting their blogs, and then send them a Christmas present that is either a vintage item or something made from vintage items. The swaps are always fun trying to figure out someone's likes and then putting together a package, and then nerve wrecking waiting for them to receive it and to see if they actually like it!
What's good about the swaps that I've done so far is that I am finding good homes for things that I've been hoarding for years! I'm not giving away junk, I'm giving away cool little things that I've squirreled away for myself for years, but just never found a use for. The things that I give were special to me, and I pass them on hoping that they'll be special to someone else.
Launch of the eVintage Resource Library
eRL's URLs is a Vintage Fashion Web Directory that offers links to all things vintage & retro including vintage by decade, designers & labels, care & conservation for vintage clothing, vintage shows, and various tools to help you identify or recreate your own vintage style.
eRL's URLs is brought to you by eVintageSociety.com and supported by eVintage Members
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