Obsessing over the Sailor look - again

OK, how cute and cool looking is Bette Davis in this photo? Love the sunglasses, love the sailor top and you know that I love the sailor pants! I want that outfit. Now. But with navy pants because I have a phobia of white pants. Red pants would even be good. I don't think I've worn red pants since the 1980s! I had leggings and jeans in every color in the 80s, red, yellow, fuschia, oh yeah Fuschia! That was my big color in the 80s. I had this oversized sweatershirt with hot fuschia flamingos and palm trees that I used to wear with fuschia tights and fuschia lace up boots. Well, of course you had to have lace up boots in all colors back in the 80s too.
OK, I've recovered from my 80s flashback and I'm ready to get back to Bette. I wish I could get my hair to go swooped over like that too.
I found this picture earlier this week while looking online for movie star photos to print out. I had this idea to print out a bunch of 8x10s and put them on the wall behind my mannequin for when I photograph items for the website. I found some great, high quality scans at this site - http://www.doctormacro.com/index.html - not only do they have a fab selection of Old Hollywood images that print out very nicely, they also have old movie clips that you could waste hours watching, just like I did.

So I did print out a bunch of images and put them on my wall, which you can see to the left here, and that looks really good. But now I don't think the wall of glamour is going to work out as a background for my photos, because I think it is too busy and distracting behind what I am photographing. What do you think -

I was a little tired of my white embroidered fabric background, mainly because the white made lighting difficult on some items. Maybe I'll hang a sheer fabric over the photos to give them a softer look. Or maybe I'll stick with my embroidered panel, and just paint the wall under it a soft color. I just don't like a totally plain background.

1895 Antique Wedding Ensemble

This is an amazing auction that you just have to check out. It is an 1895 Antique Wedding Ensemble offered by mathomhouse . The auction includes everything in the photo - Wedding Dress, Headpiece with wax flowers & veil and Hat box, Corset, Slip, Bloomers, Stockings & garters, Shoes, Nightgown, Guest book and the Wedding Certificate. The auction has photos and details of each item. The bride's name was Myrtle (what a cool old fashioned name!) and it's amazing that all of Myrtle's wedding items have remained together for so long, and in such beautiful condition. It's one of those rare things that you would find in a museum.
It makes me wonder how things turned out for Myrtle. Obviously it was a beautiful wedding, was it a happy marriage? Did she marry a good man? How many children did they have? Where are her descendents now?

Vintage Clothing Auctions

The Charles A. Whitaker Spring Vintage Clothing & Textile Auction is taking place May 1st & 2nd in New Hope PA. If you can't make it, put on your drool bib and check out their Online Photo Gallery

I also received notice of a vintage clothing and textile auction in TN. Even if you aren't able to attend, you can check out their online catalog to get a look at the goodies -
The University of Tennessee invites personal and institutional collectors, dealers, and the general public to the sale of a wonderful collection of antique, vintage, and ethnic clothing, accessories, flat textiles, dolls, and print material. Over 400 items, dating from the mid 1800s-1970s, will be offered in 270 lots. The sale will be held in the Carousel Theatre on the UT Campus on April 14, 2007 at 10:00 a.m., with preview and registration beginning at 8:00 a.m. However, if you cannot attend, absentee bids can be made, or arrangements can be made for a proxy bidder.
See full catalog listing with photographs and directions to auction site at: Historic Costume & Textile Auction - (the link to the online catalog is at the bottom of that page)

***Geek Alert- The new Harry Potter book Deathly Hallows is going to be 784 pages. What? Is that all? Only 784 pages? How can this story be wrapped up in 784 pages. I thought the book would be close to 1000 pags or more. There is so much to find out and that is so little pages to cover everything - we have to find the rest of those horcrux, we have to find out who RAB is and what happened to that horcrux, is Harry a horcrux? We have to see Neville get his revenge on Bellatrix LaStrange and will he be able to 'cure' his parent's insanity? What is the signifigance of that mibulous mimbl-blah-blah plant? What was that veil that Sirius fell through and what were the voices they heard? Does the venum from Aragog have any purpose? What did Lilly & James do for a living and how did they become so rich? Were they 'Unspeakables' and what are Unspeakables? What's Peter Petrigrew going to do with that silver hand of his? Will he kill the top werewolf, freeing Remus from the curse? Is Remus really going to end up with the annoying Tonks? Who's gonna die? What was Snape's real worst memory, and what was it that made Dumbledore so sure of Snape's loyalty? How will Harry be convinced that Snape really is a good guy? Is the last word of the book still 'scar'? So many questions. Oh yeah, and she also has to squeeze in the battle-to-the-death with Voldemort.
And then . . . what do we do after we've read page 784?

I love Matzoball!

Totally non-vintage post. Stolen from a post on Oh No They Didn't - Adam Sandler fills in for David Letterman, and brings along his special guest/co-host Matzoball. So funny, and such typical bulldog attitude and behavior. Boris rests his chin the same way. Check it out, have a laugh!

Some Vintage dresses for me, me, me!

This week, I bought a new camera, and shipped the broken one back to Nikon to see if it can still be fixed before the warranty runs out (on 3/26, cutting it close) So I was without a camera most of the week. The new camera came when I was in bed with a migraine, so I didn't get to play with it until the next day. I think I like it so far, I have to mess around with the setting a little more, and wait for the sun to shine a little more.

I used the new camera (Kodak C875) to snap some shots of a few of the dresses that I bought recently, on ebay of all places! Yes, a good buy from good sellers can still be found on ebay. Here are 4 super cute 50s Summer dresses that I snagged - grey chambray with striped pockets, pink stripes with tulips, a fabulous Swirl wrap dress (love them Swirls!) and a cool speckled floral print dress.
The dress below is 1940s and is unworn with tags. It's pretty cool, it's a 'Mickey Around the House Dress' - pullover, cut straight down the side with ties on the front of the waist. It has a coupon attached inside of the neck for one of it's labels. You could collect the label-coupons and trade them in for quilt squares. Isn't that cool? The original price was $2.39.

OK, so after I hem these dresses (and shave my legs) I'll be ready for Summer!

Ceil Chapman Pink Floral Dream (not mine)

So, I'm without a camera this week. Well, the camera kind of works if you fuss and fidget with it, which I don't have the patience to do. I've only had this camera 1 year, I cannot believe it's gone bad already. I have an order in for a new camera, then I'll send this one in to see if it can still be fixed before the warranty runs out in 2 weeks.
I did some room painting a few days this week, I would take pictures of the finished rooms, but . . . We also did some running around buying things for Spring repairs at the rental house. I say Spring, but we had a few inches of snow here this week. What wacky weather. I think that's why my sinus headaches have been so bad. It's mild, then cold, then mild, then it snows.

So, on to a vintage topic. Capricorn Vintage has this beautiful PINK FLORAL DREAM Vintage 50's CEIL CHAPMAN party dress - for sale on ebay, that you just have to go look at. You know how great Ceil dresses are, and this one has such a pretty floral print. After you see this dress, check out Capricorn's other auctions, because this is one of those dedicated vintage sellers that you can always count on having knock-out items listed.

Now I'm off to look around a little more on ebay (been looking for cheap vintage Summer dresses for myself) then I'll go watch some of the Super Nanny marathon.

Killing or Wasting time

This morning I'm kind of pokey getting to work. I have my regular vintage work to do, and some things around the house need to be done since I was sick for a few days. I just ran the vacuum, with the help of Boris who is in love with the vacuum (I call her his 'girlfriend') he gets all wiggly when you get her out of the closet. I have some laundry and mopping to do too. I don't want to start any projects, because I'm waiting for my Dad to get back from the shore (any minute now) so that we can run to Lowes and the carpet store to get some stuff. Plus it's snowing right now (I thought Spring was just around the corner?) So instead of working, I'll do a little blogging to fill the time.

This post has a few pictures that I snapped here and there. To the left is a rocking chair that I got for Christmas when I was about 4-5 years old (so it's an antique!) I can just about squeeze my hips into it now. Some of my favorite hatboxes are stacked behind it with a few fairies and a photo of my sweet old gal Ms. Fatty.
To the right is a close up of my curtains, a fabric that I love. Kind of a twill, barkcloth era, bought on ebay a few years ago. There were only 2 panels though. I would have loved to have gotten more of it. Limited supply is the pain of loving vintage fabrics.

This is one of my favorite pins. My Mom bought it, probably 20 years ago, at some yard sale somewhere. She bought loads of costume jewelry when she used to go yardsale-ing. I never had the patience for yardsales. All that driving, you may have to go to 10 or so before you find one with good stuff. Nowadays you don't find as much old stuff as you used to. Probably because everyone is selling their stuff on ebay. Anyway, I wore this pin for many years on a vintage military jacket that I had. I was in my early 20s and I thought the contrast of the lady's hand with flowers worn on an Army coat was clever.



So, the show Heroes, I'm totally hooked, darn-it. I don't watch many shows regularly, and I was reluctant to get involved in watching another show (I'm still recovering from the dismal decline of the X-Files) But this show is really good, and it had me yelling and jumping around like the X-Files used to, when it was a great show (yeah, I'm a geek, so what)
I'm still hanging in there with the Gilmore Girls, even though that has been in decline for the past year. Luke & Lorelei are suppose to get back together, so I'm at least hanging in to see that. The pouty, self-centered brattyness of Lorelei and Rory is even worse now though, and I think it's obvious that the creators of the show are gone. Last night Lane had her babies, and where was Rory? pouting with her bratty boyfriend of course.
Another new show that I started watching is The Closer with Kyra Sedgewick. For two reasons, first reason is that Kyra was on my soap opera Another World, many years ago when she was about 16-17 years old. She played Julia, she had a crush on the married-many-times Jamie Frame. I think she was killed by the local serial killer. The 2nd reason for watching is the vintage 1940s suit jackets that she wears on the show (many bought on ebay) I like the show, it's not as graphic as those other murder shows, which I refuse to watch. She's good in it, and I like her Southern accent.

OK, so now I'm going to try to get myself to go do some work!

Still searching for the perfect pair of sailor pants . . .

So, I've been looking for the perfect pair of sailor style pants for awhile now. I'd love to wear the real ones, but I think that I would go crazy with wool against my legs, plus I want to wear them in the Summer. I've had somewhat-sailor-style pants in khaki and navy cottons. I spotted this pair, which really looks good with the buttons on the front, in a catalog that I got this week from La Redoute - and they do come in indigo also. I'm not sure about the fold-up and button cuffs though, and also they have a side zipper, which I think would bug me (Read #1 in the 6 Weird Things About Me Post) So I am thinking them over for now.

I've been thinking about Summer and what I want to wear this year. I want some nautical looking things and some bright and fun Summer dresses. I've been on the lookout for Vested Gentress dresses too with their cute novelty prints, like this Winking Horses Dress