Help! I have been tagged by Alison - I have to reveal 6 weird things about myself and then try to find 6 more people to torture by tagging them, to reveal their weird things. Alison was curious about me revealing my 6 weird things because we were born about a week apart, same year even. We like alot of the same things vintage and decor-wise so she wondered if we had similar weird things about ourselves too. I can assure you, she is not as weird as I am! The trouble that I am having with this revelation project, is narrowing it down to only 6 weird things. Plus I have to edit myself so that it's not too weird, I don't want to scare people away!
#1. I hate anything close fitting across my stomach. It drives me crazy. Anything with an elastic waist gets pulled down below the belly button, even panties. Or else I cut the elastic. On my pants, the top button is always undone and if the shirt that I'm wearing is long enough, I usually have the zipper down. It's not that my clothing it too tight, it's the right size. I just don't like it tight on my belly.
#2. I like to eat everything in a bowl. With a spoon. A big spoon. I have a regular sized cereal bowl that I like to eat out of. For example, at Christmas, I have turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and stuffing, side by side in the bowl, not all mixed together. With gravy on top. And I eat it with a big spoon. The other night my dad made cream dried beef on toast with mashed potatoes, and he put it in my bowl for me. He knows I'm weird too.
#3. I am a hermit. I like being a hermit. A little social interaction is ok, but I don't go out to restaurants, or to parties or social gatherings. I just like being at home, doing my own thing, with my stuff all around me. When I got my part time job, everyone said it would be good for me to get out of the house a little bit and to see different people, I even thought so myself. It's ok, because we don't see alot of people in the office really. But I'd still rather be doing the work at my house.
#4. More on in the hermit lifestyle, I aspire to be an old spinster, living in a big old house alone, with a whole bunch of dogs. My house will be clean though, not like those houses that you see on the ASPCA shows on Animal Planet where the agents find people living with a bunch of animals and there's trash and crap allover. My house will be clean because I am very anti-germ (I love Lysol) and anti-smelly. But I love doggies and I want a bunch of them, all shapes and sizes. I'll load them in the car when I go to the store or to the bank or to the beach. I'll carry a few in my huge purse and maybe even push a few in a baby stroller. People will know me as the crazy old lady with all the very clean doggies.
#5. When I was 10, in 1977, I decided that if I ever had a baby boy, I would name him Luke. Can you guess why? Yep, that's why. I'm not having any children, but I'd still like to use the name Luke, maybe for one of those crazy old lady doggies.
#6. I'm addicted to Cheez-Its. I love them. I eat them all day. I take them to work with me. I keep a little zip lock bag of them next to my bed in case I wake up in the middle of night and need some Cheez-Its. I plan what day I'll do my food shopping based on how much Cheez-Its I have left. I can shake a box and guess how much longer that particular box will last me based on how many Cheez-Its are left in it.
OK, so there you go. Are those things weird enough? Are they too weird? I can assure you that none of my weirdness affects my ability to select and sell great vintage clothing!
Now, do I know 6 people who I can torture with the 6 Weird Things tag? Well, I think I'll try Amy at Petticoat Lane , Julie The Zaftig Goddess , ArtJunk
Mine!
Last week I bought a nice load of vintage clothing, about 250+ pieces. There are about 50 dresses, including some XL sizes, 20 coats and jackets, 40 hats, lingerie, Victorian whites and small items too. The load should be enough to keep me and you happy for awhile! Of course, I had to snag a few pieces from the lot for myself. I grabbed 3 cute lightweight jackets. This pretty 1940s lavender one to the left and the 1960s brocade and light brown wool ones below. I also snatched a straw purse for the Summer.Cleaning is going on presently and you'll start seeing some of the new item in the next update, starting with the XL items which include some 1950-60s dresses.
I didn't get any painting done this week, because it suddenly got very cold, and the heater isn't done being installed yet. So maybe I'll get to paint in another week or so. I have that vintage stuff to keep me busy, so the painting can wait (even though the house does look a mess and I'm anxious to get everything back in it's proper place)
I'm at the part time job right now, and it's slow here. I wish I were at home chapping my hands in Biz & bleach!
Last night a new episode of Hereos aired. I was looking forward to seeing it. I don't watch many tv shows regularly, but somehow I got hooked into watching this. I think because it was on right before Doctor Who and because the guy who use to play Jess on Gilmore Girls is now on Hereos. He caught my eye one night while flipping channels. He looks even better now than he did on GG (how old am I?) Anyway, after watching a few episodes, I think I know what the show is about and I'm hooked. Now Christopher Eccleston is joining the cast, so I have another reason to watch.
Only 3 more hours of work.
Bye for now, Carol
Painting and a 'new' desk for me
So, my side project over the next few weeks is going to be painting. We have a new heating system going in and a kind-of-a big mess is being made tearing out the old pipes and old radiators. I had been planning on painting the two downstairs bedrooms and the hallway between them this Spring. But once the heater guys are done I'll go in and start painting and putting things back in place now, rather than wait for Spring (might as well take advantage of that new heater) The 2 bedrooms need to be enitirely painted and a little trim and space behind where the radiators once were needs to be painted in all of the other rooms. My project rooms are a dark magenta and a dark blue. This pink room will eventually be a pale yellowtone neutral. It should make the room alot more bright. We broke the bed trying to move it away from the wall, so hopefully that can be fixed, or better yet, replaced.
The dark blue room was made a little smaller because we had to build a closet in the room to house the new heater. Drop ceilings (which I am not a fan of) are going in the two bedrooms to hide the new heater ductwork. My Dad built the closet and is doing the drop celing himself. We do whatever work we can ourselves. The heater guys have done a good job and they were pretty neat about cutting holes in wall and ceiling etc. It could have been alot worse, but I think they had some respect for our sweet 105 year old house. The long hallway has dark 1970s paneling that I am going to be painting white. Following some kind advice that was emailed to me, I primed the paneling with Kilz and then I'll paint it Linen gloss. Again, it should make it nice and bright down there.
Here was my reward for helping my dad go thru the crawlspace in the attic. We had to clean things out for the heater guys to run ductwork up there. Way in the back of the tunnel-like, dark and dirty, mothball smelling crawlspace was this table. It was all taken apart. My Dad had forgotten that it was back there and I don't ever remember seeing it. It is a small oak kitchen table, nice 1940s Art Deco details. It was painted a light aqua-green color (how did they know way-back-when that they chose the perfect color for me to someday fall in love with!) The table looks kind of small in the photo, but it is a nice 3x4 feet and makes a great desk for my computer. Originally I was going to use it as a sewing table, but I decided to switch the desk that I was using for the computer, and use that as a sewing table and this for the office instead. Look at that chair, I really should have a more comfortable chair shouldn't I, considering I sit there 8+ hours a day! Anyway, more photos to follow as I start painting and decorating.
The dark blue room was made a little smaller because we had to build a closet in the room to house the new heater. Drop ceilings (which I am not a fan of) are going in the two bedrooms to hide the new heater ductwork. My Dad built the closet and is doing the drop celing himself. We do whatever work we can ourselves. The heater guys have done a good job and they were pretty neat about cutting holes in wall and ceiling etc. It could have been alot worse, but I think they had some respect for our sweet 105 year old house. The long hallway has dark 1970s paneling that I am going to be painting white. Following some kind advice that was emailed to me, I primed the paneling with Kilz and then I'll paint it Linen gloss. Again, it should make it nice and bright down there.
Here was my reward for helping my dad go thru the crawlspace in the attic. We had to clean things out for the heater guys to run ductwork up there. Way in the back of the tunnel-like, dark and dirty, mothball smelling crawlspace was this table. It was all taken apart. My Dad had forgotten that it was back there and I don't ever remember seeing it. It is a small oak kitchen table, nice 1940s Art Deco details. It was painted a light aqua-green color (how did they know way-back-when that they chose the perfect color for me to someday fall in love with!) The table looks kind of small in the photo, but it is a nice 3x4 feet and makes a great desk for my computer. Originally I was going to use it as a sewing table, but I decided to switch the desk that I was using for the computer, and use that as a sewing table and this for the office instead. Look at that chair, I really should have a more comfortable chair shouldn't I, considering I sit there 8+ hours a day! Anyway, more photos to follow as I start painting and decorating.
Patterns
This week, I purchased 2 patterns from the Vintage Fashion Library - http://www.vintagefashionlibrary.com/ (Not to be confused with the Vintage Pattern Lending Library - http://www.vpll.org/ ) They sell copies of original patterns and I was happily surprised at how nice the patterns were. Nicely copied, full size instructions, and the pattern pieces are printed on large sheets of nice quality paper. One pattern is for a 1940s shorts set and the other is for a 1930s pajama set. The pajama set I plan on making in a fabric suitable for regular wear, like a lightweight Summer cotton. No, I don't have fabric right now for either pattern. That's typical for me, I have fabrics with no patterns and patterns with no fabric!
A few weeks ago I got a Simplicity Pattern Counter book (the big ones with several hundred pages) on ebay for under $50. Which was a surprise, because they usually go for several hundred $$. The cover on this one is pretty rough, so maybe that chased away bidders, but the inner pages are fine. Here are two images from the pattern book that I'd love to find the patterns
Do you see a theme here with these patterns? I've got Summer and Summer clothing on my mind! This December has been so mild here in Jersey. I heard on the news that this has been the warmest December in New Jersey in 111 years. I'm already tired of wearing pants and can't wait to get back into Summer dresses! But I still have several long cold months to get thru though before I need to shave my legs and get out my sandals.
1940s Black Wool Button Front Dress
So I've had this dress, that I think is pretty cool, on the website for over a year. It is a 1940s black wool crepe dress with buttons all the way down the front. Very classic styling. So I was thinking, what can I do to make someone else realize what a great dress it is?
Well, first off, it needed a new photo, because it was shown on my old torso form, which really doesn't give dresses much life. So I retook photos of it on the mannequin (she got a hair cut for the new year)
Then I decided to take photos of different things that you can do to change the look of the dress a little. (anything to amuse myself)
First I tied a pink silk scarf around the neck to give it a little color. The neckline is notched, so it looks good up against a contrasting color. Next, I put a blouse with a fancy collar under the dress and left the top few buttons open. The fancy ribbed neckline of this blouse gives the neckline of the dress a different look.
I thought a wide cinch belt would really look great on this dress, and tone down the 1940s style a little, if you wanted to go with a different look. But I didn't have a wide cincher, but this faux leopard fur belt gives it a little funk and fun. Leopard shoes would be great too.
Then I tried the dress topped with a fitted jacket, cinched at the waist with a solid black belt. Now see, isn't this a great dress?
See the 1940s Black button front dress here .
The blouse #TOP-189- Ivory nylon with ribbed collar - $20.00.
And #VC-679- Brown & Black herringbone wool jacket - $32.00.
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