Jersey Girl blog, Vintage Clothing, english bulldogs, and Strathmere New Jersey

My vintage sweaters

2012-01-20T18:14:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned before that I need to see all of my purses and shoes, otherwise I end up using/wearing the same few shoes or purses all the time, while others are neglected in the back of the closet. To make sure that none are neglected, all of my purses hang on the wall and all of my shoes are out on the floor in a spare bedroom.
I guess that I'm the same with my sweaters, I grab the same usual comfortable sweater (usually black) and wear it all the time. The solution to add variety to my wardrobe was to get them all out for me to see like the bags and shoes. So I have them tiered from over-the-door hooks on the outside of the bathroom and bedroom doors.
Here is a peek at most of my own vintage sweaters, a few stranglers are hanging on a rack where I have some outfits pulled ahead of time to wear. These are all buttonfront sweaters, I only have a few pullover sweaters. I don't know, I just don't buy/wear them very much.
I still have my go-to favorites, but seeing all my sweaters out at once gets me to wear some that might get neglected otherwise.

I was so happy with how well my new stockings matched the stripe in my skirt . . .

2012-01-08T17:10:00.000-05:00

. . . that I had to take some photos and blog about them! (dork) I bought the stockings randomly on Sock Dreams because I loved the design in the knit. Turns out that they are a perfect match for the green stripes in this 1960s skirt. The stockings fit great and they stay up well on their own.

The rest of the outfit included a heather brown short sleeved sweater from a 1940s sweater set, and a 1960s lacey knit cardigan. The shoes are 1990-2000s-ish I think.

2012-01-06T20:43:00.000-05:00

Sock Dreams was having a sale, and I had some Christmas money so . . .

I went shopping! I got two pairs of opaque tights and the others are over the knee or thigh highs. Love them. Now to build an outfit around each pair, the peachy floral pair will probably be the hardest, I don't know if I have anything those colors.

Mystery item - Beach Pajamas, costume, uniform? College pennant novelty print

2012-01-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

I picked up this piece a little over a year ago at a local estate sale. It was tossed in a box of vintage costumes. The novelty print caught my eye - College pennants. Cool. When I got it home, I realized that it was a one piece beach pajama - double cool because I love 1930s pajamas. I assumed it was a handmade piece, but then I found the 'Sa Se Maid Brand' label inside the shoulder. Hmmmm. A uniform made like a beach pajama with College names fabric? I wonder what it was used for?

Unfortunately it is only in fair condition. It has some stains and the dark colors have all run in the cotton fabric.

The Annual Christmas Dog Torture - Merry Christmas!

2011-12-22T11:43:00.001-05:00

This year we had a 9 week old puppy to wrangle into the Christmas card photos. Turns out, he was the good dog and Harlow was the wiggley, stubborn one. Here are some outtakes.

And the official Christmas card . . .

Christmas Tree, oh Christmas tree . . .

2011-12-21T14:09:00.000-05:00

Here is our little Christmas tree. I ordered it online 5-6 years ago, made by Ditz, it has a teddy bear standing behind it (hard to see in my dark photos) My Dad decorates the tree every year with antique ornaments and beaded garland.

Here's the teddy bear

Welcome baby Gus!

2011-12-01T14:23:00.000-05:00

Catching a snooze on the way home.

Meeting Big Sister Harlow for the first time.

Stealing one of Harlow's toy. Surpisingly she doesn't seem to mind, she's usually very possessive of her toys.

Sleeping on my bed the first night home.

Cute feets.

Trying to get comfy.

In the yard.

Cool pup hiding under my bed.

Baby boy bulldog coming to us on November 26th!

2011-11-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

Yeah, finally! We'll be getting our new bulldog puppy on the 26th. It's been almost 6 months since Boris died, I can't believe it and I miss him so much. It's so unfair that dogs don't live long, long lives with us.
I'm very happy at the idea of having a boy back in the house and I can't wait to see how Harlow reacts to him! She's very Alpha dog and bossy. She'll be glad to have someone to boss again and hopefully she didn't get too spoiled being an only child for a few months.

Here are pictures that the breeder has sent us, she's the same gal that we bought Boris and Harlow from.

Above, baby boy at 1 week old.

Below, he's about 3 weeks old. That's his brother behind him.

Above at 3 weeks old.

Below at 6 weeks old. What a show dog! He won't be shown though, he'll have a leisurely life sleeping on the couch and walking on the beach. Look at that tum-tum!

Many more pictures to come once he arrives!

I'm proud to be A Vintage Purse Addict

2011-10-29T14:16:00.000-04:00

You can never have too many vintage purses!
I'll admit that vintage purses are my weakness. I have them all hanging on the wall in my dressingroom so that I can see the whole pretty collection and so that I'll use them. If I keep them in a closet or box or something where I can't see the variety, I'll end up just carrying the same purse all the time. I'm that way with shoes too, I need to see them all.
I've built up this collection over the past 20 years of collecting and wearing vintage. Once in a while I'll go through and purge/sell ones that I don't use, a few I hang onto because they are just very cool, even though I don't use them.
It's a lot of purses, but I don't have a lot of money invested in them, because I'm pretty cheap when it comes to buying for myself. $25 is the maximum that I would pay for a vintage purse, and it would have to be super-fabu-tastic for me to pay that much. I think that there are only 1 or 2 here that I've paid close to that for, and that's because the cost would have included shipping. Most of the purse came from stock purchases.
Even if I'm just in jeans, sneakers and a tee, I'm always carrying a vintage purse. It's really the easiest vintage item to add to your everyday wardrobe.

2 pieces of vintage jewelry from Dandelion Vintage spotted on Pan Am

2011-10-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

I spotted 2 pieces of vintage jewelry from Dandelion Vintage in last night's episode of Pan Am - "One Coin in a Fountain" episode 5.
First, a guest actress wears a dress clip in her hair. She's wearing leopard, so she must be a troublemaking vixen. Looks like she'll be back for more trouble in next week's episode.

Next, one of the lead actresses wears another pin that I sold to the costumers, on her sweater. This scene appears at the end of the episode. Cool.

A vintage outfit from Dandelion Vintage on the new show Pan Am

2011-10-06T13:36:00.001-04:00

In August I sold 40+ pieces of clothing, lingerie and jewelry to the costumers for the new ABC show Pan Am. I thought it would be later in the season before I spotted any of my clothing, but in episode 2, you can catch a very quick glimpse of a red cotton halter top and skirt from my website http://www.dandelionvintage.com/

Above are two screne grabs of the scene - the co-pilot takes a gal back to his Paris hotel room - and also a photo of the outfit from my website.

Very exciting! I'm looking forward to spotting more of my pieces. Pan Am airs on ABC Sunday nights.

Rose's Knitting Studio - what a lady, still knitting at 99

2011-09-07T13:02:00.001-04:00

While doing some Googling to find out info on this label, I found this news story from 2/6/11 about the 99th birthday of Rose Girrone, who was the owner of Rose Knitting Studio for over 40 years. She custom made the 3 piece knit set above.

She's lived an amazing life and she is still knitting at 99!

From the story - http://foresthills.patch.com/articles/happy-99th-birthday-rose-girone-2

Happy 99th Birthday, Rose Girone

Former Forest Hills business owner celebrates monumental birthday.
By Robin Ziegelbaum

Some seniors stay home when icy sleet covers the ground, but not Rose. Yet despite the cold and wintry conditions, she made her way to The Knitting Place in Port Washington, where friends and fellow knitters gathered to celebrate her 99th birthday on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Rose Girone has blown out her candles in her birthplace Janov in Poland, in Vienna, a brief childhood memory; in Hamburg, the land she was exiled from; in Shanghai, a place of sanctuary; and then in New York, her journey’s end. She readily admits to being a lucky woman.
On the evening of Kristellnacht (the night of broken glass), in Germany, Rose, pregnant and afraid, watched the Nazis destroy her town, burn her synagogue, and make a bonfire of Jewish books in rubbish heaps. That night’s horror continued when they arrested Jews, including her husband, Julius Mannheim. He was transported to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1938. Rose gave birth to their daughter, Rhea, two months later with her husband still imprisoned. Julius’s death seemed certain, however, the Nazi occupation was in its infancy, and a brief opportunity presented itself. British relatives sent Rose a visa for China’s Shanghai, and she was able to present this document to authorities and have her husband released. This reunited family of three left for Asia.

Life was surreal on the German ship on which they traveled. Jews were segregated during meals. While others back in Europe were being taken in cattle cars to concentration camps, on board the “Aryans” swam in the morning and the Jews during the afternoon. Rose, who has never lost her sense of humor, sarcastically commented, “I don’t understand it – because we could have poisoned the water anyway?”
Shanghai during WWII was a place of salvation for Jews where they had religious freedom, and rights to study and work. Still, at one point, Rose and her family were forced by the Japanese to live in a Jewish ghetto.

Rose is fearless. During more then one bombing she would lie over her daughter to protect her and make up stories to alleviate her daughter’s anxiety. Later, when Rhea was older, and more bombings occurred, Rose rushed to her school to scoop her little girl up in her arms, safe.

Rose went into business. She hired Chinese laborers to produce her knitting patterns. She drew pictures with measurements, and acted out her instructions. On one occasion six white sweaters were commissioned for Bubbling Well Road, the chic part of town. When they were completed, however, the bottoms of the sweaters were dirty. Rose washed them with soap and water, but they could not be delivered because they were still wet. Rose put them into her oven to dry them. The bottoms became singed. In desperation, Rose massaged flour over the burns, wrapped them up, and sent them to the store. She got paid but never received another order from that customer.

Finally, their crucial visa for the United States arrived. Officially each person could leave China with only 10 dollars. Rose used her knitting skills and ingenuity to take 80 dollars, over the family quota, by designing a secret money button –bills folded tightly and covered in yarn – on her hand-knits. They traveled by ship to San Francisco with their sweaters and bags, and then took the train to New York.

A year after their immigration, Rose divorced her husband and created a new life with her daughter Rhea. Making her own luck, she moved to Florida. Fortuitously, Rose met the family of the owner of The Sagamore, the resort in the Adirondacks, who offered her a job. A temporary store in the lobby was created for her that summer. She hobnobbed with wealthy clients, and learned American ways.

Mother and daughter moved to Queens. Rose opened her own shop on Austin Street. She worked in that location for 40 years. At a knitting store in Great Neck, Rose met Dina Mor, who is now her close friend and the owner of Port’s The Knitting Place.

During their first meeting Dina showed Rose the sweater she was knitting for her husband, Erez. After examining the piece, Rose warned Dina, “It will hurt less – go to Dunkin’ Donuts – and I will rip it out.” After the third ripping, Dina was an official member of Rose’s fan club.
When Dina opened her store in Port, Rose came with her. She enjoys piecing together patterns on the floor, teaching and entertaining fellow knitters.
Port resident Lorraine Barman said, “My mother used to go to her knitting store, Rose’s Knitting Studio on Austin Street, in Forest Hills, and she used to knit sweaters for me. Rose would write out the patterns– measure me…that was the 80s. Now, 30 years later, I walk into The Knitting Place and here’s Rose. She is very special!” Another woman came into the store with decades-old handwritten knitting patterns asking for yarn to complete the pattern…then she looked up and screamed, “Rose!” It was Rose’s pattern.

Throughout this interview, Rose continued to thread and rethread her needle as she pieced together a sweater. It is with great pleasure that I wish her the happiest of birthdays. Rose is a remarkable woman, resilient and talented. You can find her at The Knitting Place every Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Stop by for Rose’s expertise and help yourself to her wisdom.
Rose’s eyes twinkle and her cheeks get a little higher when she talks about her family. She met her perfect mate, Jack Girone, and enjoyed 23 years of marriage. Now widowed, Rose says that Rhea and her son-in-law Frankie as well as granddaughter Gina and her husband Joe are her present sources of joy. Rose has walked away from accidents, escaped the Nazis, survived bombings and has these tips for her longevity:

1.“Have the best children in the world – you have to be lucky with that one.”
2.“Always find something to do – have a plan. Don’t wake up and say, uh, ‘what am I going to do today?’.”
3.“Don’t upset yourself with stupid things. It’s not worth it!”
4.“Eat lots of chocolate!”

New ABC series 'Pan Am' - vintage clothing and accessories from Dandelion Vintage!

2011-09-04T13:47:00.001-04:00

'Pan Am' is a new series, set in 1963 and it will start airing on ABC Sunday September 25th -

The costumers for the show recently bought some vintage dresses, coats, lingerie and jewelry from my website Dandelion Vintage - http://www.dandelionvintage.com/ - hopefully we'll be able to spot some of the items that they bought below on the show later in the season!

From the official website for the show -
http://abc.go.com/shows/pan-am

about Pan Am

Passion, adventure and espionage... They do it all—and they do it at 30,000 feet. The style of the 1960s, the energy and excitement of the Jet Age and a drama full of sexy entanglements deliciously mesh in a thrilling and highly original new series, Pan Am, premiering SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, on the ABC Television Network.
Welcome to the Jet Age. It's 1963. WWII and Korea are history. A new kind of war, a Cold War, is underway. The world is poised on the brink of a cultural revolution, and everywhere change is in the air.
In this modern world, air travel represents the height of luxury, and Pan Am is the biggest name in the business. The planes are sleek and glamorous, the pilots are rock stars, and the stewardesses are the most desirable women in the world. Not only are these flyboys and girls young and good looking, but to represent Pan Am they also have to be educated, cultured and refined. They're trained to handle everything from in-air emergencies to unwanted advances—all without rumpling their pristine uniforms or mussing their hair. These pre-feminist women form a powerful sisterhood, as they enjoy the rare opportunity to travel outside the country—something most women in this age can only aspire to—and one of the few career options that offers them empowerment and respect . . .

I can't wait to see it!

Found in a vintage purse

2011-08-11T17:07:00.000-04:00

I was photographing some vintage purses this week and found these items tucked in a brown clutch.

Some 1960s graduation photos.

A photo of a lady and a 'Scout Mother Membership' card for Agnes Keller in Woodlynne NJ, dated 1965

This is cool. A millinery club from Paris Hats Shop in Cherry Hill NJ. Get a free hat after you or family and friends buy 10 hats. Below is the back of the card to keep track of the purchases. Only one hat bought, in 1966.

Hummingbird frenzy

2011-07-29T11:23:00.000-04:00

Here's some clips of one of the busier hummingbird feeders that I have set out. I'm maintaining 12 feeders and going through 6-8 liters of sugar water a week. They rule me.

Harlow Swimming

2011-07-26T14:39:00.001-04:00

Keeping cool in her little pool.

Some recent vintage purchases for me!

2011-07-21T17:58:00.001-04:00

I've been shopping on ebay again! Below are a few cute dresses that I picked up for myself. Actually, the striped dress is a little snug in the bodice, so it might end up for sale on the website.

One of my favorite 1940s dresses - I guess it's time to stop wearing it

2011-07-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

I've had this cute 1940s cotton day dress for about 8 or so years. It had some slight fade and a few tiny wear holes when I got it. But it's been a great dress to wear around the house in the Summer. Sadlly, I think that it's now time to fold it up and give it a nice resting place in one of my drawers. I've squeezed all of the life that I can out of it.

The small holes have all gradually gotten bigger and are about 1-2 inches in size now, on the front of the skirt and on the center of the fanny - plus it has some new holes from wash-n-wear. Laying on the floor next to Harlow while she chewed her chewy, she snagged her toe on the bust of the dress and made a 2 inch rip. The waist is ripped out, some holes started on the top of one sleeve, and last night when I took it off, the under arm entirely tore out. The fabric is just all tired out and tearing easily now.

Thank you cute old dress, you've had a good long life and I've enjoyed wearing you.

Boris photos

2011-06-03T17:33:00.002-04:00

My sweet old Boris died in his sleep last night. If you know me or if you've been following my blog, you know Boris and how much he meant to me. We had over 10 great years with him and he will be missed so very much. I'm thankful that he died peacefully in his sleep, curled up on his cush. The past week he had slowed down a lot, but didn't appear to be suffering.

Here are some photos of Boris, in random order because I was too lazy to organize them in any way.

Boris in front of the house in Strathmere in May of this year.

Such a rough life.

A tush makes a very good cush.

Boris playing with Harlow when she was a pup. Harlow was rough from the start and after awhile she was too rough for Boris to play with!

Boris on the beach in Strathmere.

Boris is protesting having his photo taken and Harlow is looking at snowflakes.
Look at that face!

Trying to ecscape from the 'Annual Christmas Dog Torture' - which is when we try to get a photo of the dogs for our Christmas card.

Driving to Strathmere. The Big Dog has to stand on the center console so that he can get a good view of everything while we drive.

Boris at 6 weeks old. This is the first time that we saw him. We picked him out as ours at the breeders, but we had to wait 2 more weeks before we could bring him home. On the way home, he chewed the buttons on my jacket and peed on my lap. Good memories.

Swimming in Strathmere, about 2005

In Strathmere with Harlow, 2008

Sleeping in Harlow's "Wolf Den". He never had a crate as a pup, but we got one to try to train Harlow. She only used it to hide in when she was scared, but he slept in in every night.

Boris meeting Harlow for the first time. We had him on the leash because we didn't know how he would react to her, we thought he might be too rough. We were wrong, it was Harlow that was rough!

Boris in my Dad's 1934 Ford Panel Van. Boris thought that it was his truck.

I love this photo, 'People let me tell you about my best friend . . . ' - They were good buddies. He was always sweet to her, even though she was rough on him! I used to say to them 'Big bruver and baby sisser' because I'm a dork like that.

Here's another puppy photo of Boris

Photos of my Grandmom

2011-05-25T09:28:00.001-04:00

My grandmom Hazel Rachel Redrow Baker passed away on 5/23/11 at the age of 96. She was born in Woodbury Heights NJ and then lived in Deptford NJ for most of the rest of her life. She married Samuel Baker in 1934 and they had 3 children. They lived in their Deptford home for 68 years, until my grandpop's death in 2003. She attended the New Sharon Methodist Church for over 80 years.
I was very lucky to have lived 35 years of my life with my Grandparents living right behind me on the next street. They were very sweet, good old fashion people. They worked hard and were very devoted to their family and their church.

Below are some old photos that I scanned to be used in a Memorial Board at her funeral.

Grandmom, left, with a friend in the 1930s

Below, Grandmom & Grandpop's 25th anniversary. My Dad, looking cool in a striped jacket, his sister Doris and baby sister Joan. My Dad's sisters were born 20 years apart.

Below is Grandmom in the chair with cousin Asa Redrow.

Below is the house in Woodbury Height where Grandmom was born. The house still stands at the bottom of Chestnut Hill.

Happy little Grandmom

Baby Grandmom with her parents and her sisters Edna and Gertrude.

Grandmom and Gladys in the flowers.

Harlow & Boris taking a walking in Strathmere 5/12/11

2011-05-13T13:43:00.000-04:00

Harlow and Boris love going for walks in Strathmere. They get so excited at home and during the ride there, that they are usually tired and out of breath by the time that we get to Strathmere. We just take a short walk around a few streets on The Point.

And here is Boris in front of the house -

An awesome 1930s dress for me!

2011-05-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

Last week I bid on and won this fab dress. The seller described it as 1940s/50s, but it's actually 1930s. It's a pale yellow linen with dark blue lattice woven fabric on the shoulders and the pockets. Big dark blue barrel buttons. It was a super bargain at $12.50! There are still some good buys to be had on ebay, it just takes a lot of searching and finger-crossing.

I guess that it went cheap because it was decsribed as having large watermark stains and only 32 inch hips. I took a chance on the hips because the bust was listed as 36 and the waist was 30, and I hoped that the hips were actually bigger than 32 inches (plus I could sell it if it was too small for me) But I got my 38 inch hips into the dress, yay! The water stains came right out in a light Biz soak (see sellers, put out a little effort to clean your clothing first, think how much this could have sold for if it had been cleaned for the listing)
The dress is awesome. It's a little sheer though, so I have to find the perfect slip to go under it. The belt doesn't go with it, it was the closet match that I had on hand for the photo.

Vintage textile lust

2011-05-07T12:22:00.000-04:00

I love vintage fabrics and linens, and I have a bunch of pieces displayed for my own enjoyment around my office. Here is a peek at some of them.
First, I have a huge Victorian laundry drying rack that's 4 sections and about 6 feet tall. I have it covered with this quilt top in one section and some barkcloth on the 3 other sections. It functions as a great room divider between my computer and the stock area of Dandelion Vintage.
Below is a closer view of the quilt top. I love feedsack fabric, but then who doesn't?

Below is kind of a full shot of the drying rack with the quilt and the barkcloth, along with some of my dress forms.

I love this barkcloth, I bought it on ebay about 10 years ago for about $40. I have 3 big pieces of yardage, each is probably 5 yards long. Plus 2 shorter panels. My plan is to make curtains for Strathmere with it. There will be sheers in the livingroom in the Summer and these will be nice bright curtains for Winter.

Next is a great piece of border fabric, probably 1920s or older. I bought it at the Columbus flea market about 9-10 years ago. Briefly used as curtains in my diningroom, now they hang on a shorter drying rack which displays smaller pieces of my fabrics.

Here is one of my embroidered ladies. This is a dresser scarf. Love it. You can never have too many embroidered ladies. I love the black heart on the back of her shoulder.

These are a hankie, a silk scarf and a peachy velvet dresser scarf. Pretties.

I also collect vintage boudoir pillows, mostly ones with embroidered ladies on them, also ones made from yo-yos and petals of fabric scraps and pretty laces.

Here is my fabulous and very heavy chaise lounge, it's in front of the shorter drying rack and my other fabrics. On the chaise is a huge green silk 1920-30s drape. Only one drape, and it's starting to split in spots so it can never be hung, but it's perfect over the top of the chaise. My pillows are on the chaise too, along with a Bates spread.

More pretty ladies -

2011-04-18T10:43:00.000-04:00

My Dad's 1932 Ford 3 window coupe is one of several cars that will be featured in the upcoming film "A Sweet Sickness: The Flathead movie" by Brian Darwas. This teaser clip opens with a panning view of his car's Ardun engine and Ford emblem. Cool!

War is hell for fashion - Elsa Schiaparelli tells Vogue magazine how she and other designers dealt with WWII in Paris

2011-04-04T13:40:00.000-04:00

I just thought this was kind of funny. The ridiculousness of the high fashion world, even back in the 1940s. Germans were marching across Europe, France was being invaded, people were dying, and she had no one to make her fashions and no one to sell them to. Poor Elsa.

I guess it was meant to be an uplifting story, to tell that they tried to continue to work during terrible times. But it just comes off as kind of shallow, since it's only clothing that they were making. And it was clothing that wasn't being made for the people who had to stay and really deal with the war. It was clothing for rich people who probably were able to leave the country.

The story tells in her own words, how Elsa Schiaparelli and other Paris designers tried to cope during WWII and how she eventually left for America with her Phoenix pin.

From September 1st Vogue, 1940. Click images for larger readable views

I can't wait to walk down Bertha Wittkamp Alley

2011-03-31T17:11:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited about this. My Dad came up with the idea last Summer to get the little alley that runs behind our house in Strathmere named in honor of Bertha Wittkamp.

Bertha was the 1st baby born in Strathmere. She was born in 1901, and she lived there year round, for her entire life until she passed away in 1991. Now, Strathmere is a little town. Less than 100 people live there year round today and in the early 1900s there were a lot less. Plus there was nothing there, no hospital, no paved roads etc. Very few people were actually born in the town and most moved away at some time in their life.
Bertha was born in a room at the West Jersey Cottage, a hotel that her parents built in 1895. Her brother was born 2 years later. They went to the town's one room schoolhouse. Bertha has a niece who lives in Strathmere today, making the Wittkamps the oldest family to live continuously in Strathmere for the past 115 years.

Bertha was a nurse who worked at the hospital in Sea Isle City. She was also a Red Cross nurse for many years. She lived her entire life in Strathmere sharing memories of her life growing up on the island, telling of when it was covered in beach plums and cows grazed freely. She also remembered when soldiers were stationed in Strathmere to patrol the beaches during both World Wars.
Bertha lived her entire life on Winthrop Road, first in the family hotel, then in the hotel annex next door, and then finally in the boathouse on the alley (which is the alley that we want to be named in her honor) behind the hotel after the boathouse was converted to living quarters. Over the years, many people in town referred to her as ‘Aunt Bertha’ and she rode in an antique car in the Strathmere 4th of July Parade, honored as being the first baby born in Strathmere.

In 1982 we bought Bertha's house and cottage from her (the original hotel was moved down the road and converted into a store) Bertha would only sell the house if she was allowed to remain living in the cottage. She lived the rest of her life in the cottage, on the street where she grew up and lived for 91 years. I still have her name on the front door of the cottage.

We made a petition requesting that the nameless alley be named in honor of Bertha, got the neighbors whose properties front the alley to sign the petition, and presented it to the township. The request was presented to the Upper Township Committee this week and it looks like it should be passed!

This story appears in the 3/31/11 edition of The Press of Atlantic City

Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:16 am

Upper Township to name road after lifelong Strathmere resident Bertha Wittkamp

By MICHAEL MILLER - Staff Writer http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/

UPPER TOWNSHIP - The Township Committee plans to honor the late Bertha Wittkamp, one of the few people known to have been born and to have lived lifelong in Strathmere.
The committee is naming an alley off Winthrop Avenue for Wittkamp, who died in 1991 at age 89.
Local residents have been calling this road near the bay "Bertha's Alley" for decades, township resident and local historian Sam Baker said.
Wittkamp was the first known baby to be born in Strathmere in 1901. She was followed soon after by her younger brother, Harlan. Her family moved from Philadelphia to Strathmere in the 1880s because her father suffered from respiratory problems and the salt air was considered a good cure, Baker said.
Her father worked for the West Jersey Railroad, which at the time had a rail line that went to Strathmere. The family built a hotel called the West Jersey Cottage.

"He ran the hotel and worked as the railroad bridge-tender and station master for the West Jersey Railroad in Strathmere," Baker said.

In a 1988 interview, Wittkamp talked about growing up on an island without paved roads or cars, where goats grazed and she attended a one-room schoolhouse.
"We used to raise some pigs here when we were kids," she said. "And we had chickens. Oh, my heavens, did we have chickens. We had ducks and geese, too. And down toward the beach we'd go out and dig soft-shell clams."

Mayor Richard Palombo said while it is not unusual for people to grow up and settle down in Cape May County for their entire lives, this is unusual for Strathmere. About 100 people call this island their year-round home.
"To have been born and stayed in the same area is pretty amazing," Palombo said.

Wittkamp worked for 20 years at the Woodbine Developmental Center in Woodbine, a state home for developmentally disabled men, and as a nurse at a hospital in Sea Isle City.
She was a member of the Strathmere United Methodist Church, her obituary said.
Baker said living in Strathmere was not always as easy in Wittkamp's youth as it is today. The main road into town often flooded. Few businesses were open except in the summertime. To have lived there at the turn of the century through coastal storms and winter isolation is remarkable, he said.
"When winter comes, there's nothing there," Baker said. "Years ago, every store would close up. You had to travel inland to buy anything."
Baker said Wittkamp lived alone but was hardly a hermit. She loved going to parties.
"All her friends would stop in. Every day of the week, she'd have a half-dozen people stop in," she said. "People used to refer to her as Aunt Bertha."
"The Wittkamps are one of the original families who settled in Strathmere," the mayor said. "Basically people who grow up at the shore have sand in their shoes and never want to leave."
And that was the case with Wittkamp, she told a reporter in 1988.
"I love Strathmere," she said. "It's altogether different. But this is a friendly town and people always help each other. People like this town. They really do."

Press librarian Martha Zechman contributed to this report.
Contact Michael Miller:
609-463-6712
MMiller@pressofac.com

Scans from 1936 Vogue Pattern Book.

2011-03-29T20:39:00.000-04:00

First, I need to find these patterns, then I need to find some time, or someone, to sew these dresses for me.

I love the lacing detail on the skirt on the right below -

Of course, I need some summer clothes for the Shore.

You know that I love the nautical look, below.

I love the neck details on both of these dresses - closer view below.

and a few more pretties -

Fun Vintage Folk Art Piece - Toilet Cigarette Dispenser and ashtray

2011-03-26T15:14:00.000-04:00

Here is a fun vintage item that I am selling for my Dad. It just went up on the website this week along with some Homer Lauglin and Roseville pottery, and a Tramp Art Box - http://www.dandelionvintage.com/kass.html

Fun handmade cigarette dispenser and ashtray. I'm guessing that it is from the 1920s-1940s. It can set on a table and it also has a hole drilled in the top for hanging it. Very cool. One of a kind Folk Art item.

Nicely aged wood that was originally a dark red. Has bathroom grid lines behind toilet. The top opens, and you put your cigarettes inside.

When you pull the string a piece of metal inside the upper box pushes a cigarette out the side.

The pretty pottie is a Fire King Oven Bowl with fancy design on it. Looks like it was painted white.

Little Collections - Vintage Fabric Purses and Sewing Bags

2011-03-15T18:03:00.000-04:00

I love these vintage bags.
Some were intended to be used as sewing bags, some as purses. You could buy the wooden handles and use whatever fabric you wanted to make the bag. I think that most of them are from the 1940s, at least the fabrics are anyway. I guess I love them because I just love vintage fabrics - cottons and barkcloths, the rich colors and the textures.
They are nice and roomy bags too, but everything kind of jumbles around inside of them since they are soft bodied bags and they have no inner sections.

You know that I love greens, and this is a pretty teal-green floral bag - and look at the yellow lining below - I almost like that more than the green. It's not reversable though. I tried. The seams show.

The bag below - I had the set of handles and I used some 1950s fabric to make the purse myself. It looked like the fabric was originally going to be made into an apron, there's a pocket already sewn onto it. I used muslin for a lining.

I love this one. Thank you whoever made this sweet purse! The big wooden disks have decopauged flowers - pansies on one side and daffodils on the other. I love the grey and yellow stripes of the cotton.

This one was definately a sewing bag and I haven't carried yet because the little hand spot in the handle is kind of small. I love the deep tones of the wood and the tapestry fabric.

This one is a 1940s cotton, pink tropical flowers on grey. It's a little different from the others, but the concept of the bag is the same. I love the dowels and the fact that they have green balls on the ends. Green.

These two are my faves and the ones that I carry the most. I love the rich tones of the 1940s cotton twills. The black one was one that I made too using the vintage handles and vintage fabric. I had the extra set of handles and the vintage fabric was originally a bureau scarf with muslin backing. It was exactly the right width of the handle. I only had to stitch up the sides and sew it onto the wooden handles.

Loves the colors in the florals

Thinking ahead about my future vintage kitchen again - Kitchen curtains

2011-03-09T12:06:00.001-05:00

The future kitchen is dancing around in my head again. I've been thinking about curtains for the 2 windows. I'd love to use vintage fabric, but it would be hard to find the yardage, plus I hate cutting large pieces of vintage fabric. Also, the kitchen is on the 2nd floor and the light is very bright in there. The curtains will fade and most likely will have to be replaced every few years, and I don't want to destroy vintage fabric for that.
So I've been looking at vintage inspired fabrics. I found these two fabrics on the left from a collection called 'American Retro c.1945', and I think that I am pretty set on ordering them. I'd use the grid/floral print to make cafe curtains for the two windows. And the ric-rac print would make a skirt under a section of the counter.

I've also been searching online for repro linoleum rugs, you'd think that someone would make them. I found the oilcloth below in a nice retro print that would match my future kitchen. I don't think that it would be durable enough for under kitchen chairs, but I think that I could make some throw rugs with it.

'The Time Traveling Fashionista' - a book review and giveaway

2011-03-07T20:04:00.001-05:00

I was given the chance to read and review a new book - 'The Time Traveling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky - which is due to be published April 5th.

It's the story of Louise, a 12 year old girl from Connecticut. She loves vintage clothing, even though her Mother, her best friend and the kids at school don't get her interest in old used clothing. She studies vintage fashions and designers and she dreams of filling her closet with fabulous vintage pieces and living a glamorous life some day.

One day she receives a mysterious invitation to a 'Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale'. She thinks that it will be the perfect chance to find a dress to wear to the upcoming school dance.
She goes to the address on the invite, which takes her to a dark old dusty shop, and the only people there are the two odd and mysterious old ladies who own the shop - Marla and Glenda.
She chooses a beautiful bright pink gown to try on - Marla and Glenda are a little nervous about her putting on the dress (which smells oddly like the ocean) asking if she is sure she wants to do this.

Louise puts on the dress, and then she passes out. When she wakes up, she finds herself in the year 1912, and she is in the body of 17 year old actress Alice Baxter, who is traveling across the Atlantic in a luxury ship. She tries to fit in with the wealthy and famous passengers who all think that she is the famous Alice Baxter. She dresses up in Alice's beautiful clothing (and tight laced corsets) and finds out that the pink gown which brought her back in time was a 'Lucille' - made specially for Alice, and that it's designer Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and her husband are on board the ship. Then of course Louise/Alice finds out that she's on the Titanic and panics, trying to warn passengers and the captain of the danger ahead.

How will she get home? Will she go down with the ship? Will anyone believe that the Titanic will sink? Why are Marla and Glenda also on the ship and who exactly are they? Should she go to the dance with Todd?

This was a fun book, a nice casual read. It is aimed at young adult readers, but I think that it could be enjoyed by any vintage clothing lover like me. Fabrics, descriptions of clothing details, designer names and historical names are mentioned, which are relateable and enjoyable. Even descriptions of the Titanic are recognizable. At first I thought - 'I've already been on the Titanic' - but this book is fun and more lighthearted than the movie. Another thing that I enjoyed were the pretty illustrations in the book done by Sandra Suy (I like pretty pictures in books) I liked Louise and her love of vintage. Oh, I hated Dr.Hastings, I wanted her to kick him!

This is Bianca Turetsky's first book and it looks like it will be the first in a series of the Time Traveling Fashionista. Cool. I look forward to reading more vintage adventures.

Places to find The Time Traveling Fashionista -
Website
on Facebook
On Twitter

Book Giveaway!
The book was sent to me to read and to review if I chose to (I was not paid to review it) I did enjoy it, and now I am going to pass the book on to someone else to enjoy.
Leave a comment to enter to win the book. A winner will be chosen from entrants here and on the Vintage Bulletin - on March 17th!

***UPDATE! Thanks to everyone who entered. The winner is Jenny B.

Planning a Vintage Kitchen

2011-03-05T12:22:00.001-05:00

If all goes according to plan, and nothing happens between now and then to change things, I should be moving in October. Yeah!
I'll be making a 10 mile/15 minute move to Strathmere. A dream come true. I thought it would be another 5 or so years until I could move there. But years of begging have finally paid off and my Dad is letting me move into the upstairs unit of the Summer rental.
I love a big project and this will sure be one. But I want to get started NOW and I can't. The house is currently closed for the Winter and there will be Summer tenants in it from June-September. So I will only be able to think about moving in until them. I'll have the whole Summer to pack up my stuff in the cottage (which is where I usually stay on the weekends in the Summer) and my stuff here at home, including all my Dandelion Vintage stock.

The house that I will be moving to was built in 1902 and it has been somewhat remodeled over the years. My parent's collect antiques and respect the oldness of old houses, so it hasn't been gutted and modernized - no stainless steel and granite crap in this house. But I'd like to take the look back a few years. Starting with the kitchen.
I collect green kitchen items, mostly from the 1930-40s, so I'll have plenty of that stuff for decorating. That's my favorite look for kitchens and that's what I'll be hoping to somewhat accomplish in my new kitchen. I'll have plenty of accessories and decorations, it's the cabinets, walls and flooring need to de-modernize.

Some images of Dream Kitchens that I love - (oh, and green is my favorite color, so it will be a green kitchen, with some yellow accents)

I would love to be able to find old linoleum flooring for my kitchen - especially like the floor in the 1st photo above. When we bought the house it actually still had old linoleum flooring in all the rooms, with the wood floor around the edge painted a horrible brown. The linoleum is probably still under the carpets, but it's probably worn and brittle.

This is what I have to work with, the kitchen as it is right now. The paneling, while not too dark, needs to be painted. The faux bricks aren't too bad, I might white-wash those, but I've worked with that brick stuff before, as you will see later. The cabinets are less than 10 years old and also not bad, but I'd like them to have an old look. I already have a 1940s kitchen table set that will go in here. There is grey carpet on the floor, which has to go. The ceiling never got drop-ceiling, thank goodness - my Dad is the king of dropceilings. It's a punky 1940s ceiling though, not too pretty.

8 years ago I owned my grandparent's 1928 Sear's Kit House - and I spent a year working my way through the house, fixing it up. (Then my dad talked me into selling and moving down here to the woods.) I took the 1970s kitchen as far back to the 1930s as I could (pretty good considering that I had to work around a brown 1970s stove, which still worked fine and was not ready to be trashed and replaced yet)
below are the photos from that house. See, more faux brick. I was going to white wash it, but decided that I liked it. I had the cabinets custom made with glass to show off my green dishes and I painted the existing bottom cabinets white. There was dark brown paneling half way up the walls, which I also painted white. I removed the wallpaper and painted the rest of the wall pale green.

I miss this sweet little kitchen, and boy it was little.

This window was originally an exterior window, but they added on a laundry room and then this window just looked into that room. I filled the shelves with my vintage kitchen stuff. This stuff will all be moving with me to Strathmere and my 'new' kitchen. I've got lots of time to plan (and to save money for the project) and to convince my dad to let me do whatever I decide to do in the kitchen. I know he's going to fight me over taking out the carpet, plus it's only about 8 years old, so that may have to wait.

My Mom Made This - A Miniature Humpback Trunk for a Dollhouse

2011-03-03T20:23:00.000-05:00

Before my Mom had a stroke 20 years ago, she used to sew, craft, build stuff, refinish furniture. Make, paint and clothe porcelain dolls, and make little things like dollhouse furniture. This little trunk is one of the dollhouse pieces that she made.

She made this trunk from scratch, it's about 3x4 inches. No kit, no pattern, no instructions. She just copied one of the antique trunks that we had. She used balsawood to make the trunk, wetting and bending the top and top trims. She covered the trunk with textured paper, painted black with gold rub-n-buff on the raised designs.

The hinges on the back are real hinges and all the other gold details are some type of fancy little paper trims.

She lined the trunk with dollhouse paper that is copied from old Sears catalogs. The trunk has an insert tray too, just like a real sized one. She made the magazines and the box of crayons too.

She found jewelry charms to represent what you would find inside of real trunk.

Little Collections - Liddle Kiddle knock-offs

2011-03-01T17:34:00.000-05:00

I had Liddle Kiddles way back when, I'm talking about the original Kiddles from the late 1960s to early 70s. I think they started making them again at some point. I've always loved tiny dollies. Even now, when I pass the toy section in the foodstore I check out any tiny dolls that they have.
My little collection here are all knock-off Kiddles, because the only real ones that I see are usually more than I can justify paying for. These knock-offs are also late 60s to early 70s.

The two gals with the orange hair are my favorites and I love their little Mod dresses.

Some have their original dresses, and any nudies that I bought I made little dresses for them from little scraps of lace. Did you just call me a dork? Yeah. So I'm a dork and I'm proud.

I display them all on this little park bench that I picked up in some craft store.

Cute. They love hanging out together.

A few ebay listings from Dandelion Vintage

2011-02-27T13:57:00.000-05:00

Feeling brave, I pulled a few things from the website and listed them on ebay this week. The above items are listed with no reserve and at opening prices that are lower than what they were listed for on the website. Auctions end Tuesday & Wednesday.

http://shop.ebay.com/dandelion-vintage/m.html

And in case you didn't know, I have a shop on etsy too. Mostly vintage patterns with small vintage accessories and some vintage clothing too.

Desiree looks great in her super-bargain $1.00 patchwork dress that she bought from the Super bargain page at Dandelion Vintage!

2011-02-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

Desiree looks great in her super-bargain $1.00 patchwork dress that she bought from the Super bargain page at Dandelion Vintage!

See the post from her blog about her fabulous Patched Up outfit.
And Check out her very cool vintage clothing related style blog here - http://pullyoursoxup.blogspot.com/

Check out the Sale pages at Dandelion Vintage -

***$1.00 sale items - not much left, but still a few little goodies.

*** Under $20 Vintage Dresses - 2 pages of reduced dresses, all $20 and less

*** All Skirts Marked down to $5.00! - this is a slow selling department for me, so I'm clearing these skirts out of here.

*** $5.00 Sale Hats - select hats have been marked down to $5.00

I've been shopping in time again

2011-02-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

You know that I love old mail order clothing catalog, Bellas Hess is probably my favorite. I went through and few 1930s issues today and did some scans of items that I covet. New scanner, set at too low of a DPI, so the photos aren't the best and I was too lazy to rescan them all.

All three please, because I really do need one for going places and two for doing things.

The best tennis dress ever. I don't play, but I might take it up if I could play in this dress.

Below, I like the 1st one and the 4th one with the polo ponies. $1 each!

Another dress to feed my sailor-nautical-look obsession.

Swimsuits. Just give me them all. I don't care if they are wool. I'll wear them in the Winter over opaque tights with a trench coat if I have to.

Sweetness.

Pants. Again, I'll take them all. I love the hi-waisted, wide legged sailor style of these pants, but I could never pull them off. First, I'm short. Secondly, I cannot stand anything across my tummy. Around the house my jeans are always unzipped when I sit even though they aren't tight jean. I just don't like anything close fitting above my navel. I cut the front of my pantyhose too so that they don't touch my tummy. I'm just weird that way.

But all the same, I love the look of these pants. And the overalls and the pain that they would be to go to the bathroom in.

These are actually pajamas, bu I'd be wearing them out. Again, sailor. Wide legs. Love it.

Lingerie from Dandelion Vintage in 'Caberet' production

2011-02-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

Some lingerie from Dandelion Vintage is making it's stage debut in this production of - 'Caberet' - now running through March 27 at the John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main Street, Northport NY.
Information: (631) 261-2900 or http://www.engemantheater.com/

The show was reviewed in the NY Times - Raunchy and Vibrant, With Nazis Looming
You should go check it out if you can!

Costumer Gail Baldoni bought a bra, a silk camisole and tap pants from the web shop. I think that's the tap pants on the girl in the front. Very cool!

2011-01-26T17:08:00.000-05:00

'I'll admit that if I ever wanted to attract a man, I'd steer clear of those clothes and that hat' - Lady Mary to Lady Edith.

You should be watching Downton Abbey on PBS Sunday nights.

Pretty vintage hangers

2011-01-15T11:15:00.001-05:00

Yes, regular old dress hangers. I never thought about it before, but I guess that I collect them. Or at least I hoard all the pretty ones for myself. Buying clothing out of estates over the years, I've ended up with some very nice ones. Floral, padded satin, from one estate I got about 100 crochet covered hangers. A recent purchase brought me several hangers covered in vinyl florals. Pretty.

Also, Happy 10th Birthday to Boris!

Vintage Shoe Buying Frenzy!

2010-12-19T12:01:00.000-05:00

I've had some good luck finding vintage shoes lately. I have a small foot, but it's wide, and ladies all had some narrow feet back in the day.
Here are the 4 pairs that I've bought this month. The two brown pairs I just bought on etsy this morning, so I'm still crossing my fingers that those will fit. I'm happily wearing the bottom black pair right now. All came from etsy and all where $30 or less. There are good buys to be found! I'm still looking for a navy pair of shoes, simliar to these styles.

Some vintage for me (again) Purses, sweaters and a very pretty hatbox

2010-12-12T17:57:00.001-05:00

This week I made a vintage stock purchase for the website of about 50 pieces. I ended up keeping some goodies for myself, because it is Christmas time and I've been a good girl this year. First, I kept 5 vintage purses for myself. Yes 5. But I really need these purses. I mean, navy, grey and brown are must-have colors. And you can always squeeze in a few neutral colors. You can never have too many purses.
There were about a dozen hats in the lot, all in their own boxes. I wasn't interested in keeping any hats for myself, but I had to keep this pretty box with ladies painted on it.

And I kept 5 sweaters for myself (I decided not to keep the sweater on the right side of the photo) plus there is a black cashmere sweater not shown. I wore the aqua cashmere today. I love the shade.

Finally here are some glimpes of what I wore one day last week. I just thought that I was so cool because I wore a Spring green skirt with black tights - like no one has ever done that before. And yes, I'll wear open shoes in the Winter if it isn't too cold, with opaque tights.
Not only do I sell it, I wear it - Vintage - skirt, rayon blouse, jacket, shoes and pin. Stockings are the only new thing. And yes, I need a lint brush.

Little Vintage Christmas Display

2010-12-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

Watching our old home movies, I was reminded that my Mom used to set up Christmas decorations in our antique dry sink. So I decided to decorate it myself this year.
First out to the yard to cut some pine and Holly branches, then some fiberfil for snow. The Mr. & Mrs. Claus and the round chenille Santa in the front were made by my Mom about 25 years ago. All of the other decorations are vintage and from my Mom's Christmas collection.

And here is a random puppy fanny passing by -

Home movie snap shots Part 2

2010-12-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here are some more screen grabs from the old homes movies that I had transfered to DVD.

Grandpop playing an old trumpet out in the yard. He was on his lunchbreak from the farm. Around 1961

This is my Dad's first car, in 1961. That's grandpop driving the car, with chains on the wheels, in the snow.

My Dad at graduation. He was in the first class to graduate from the brand new Deptford High School.

Class of 1961.

My parent's at their wedding shower, 1966

The wedding, 1966.
With my Mom's parents

Left - with my Dad's parents.

Right - My Mom with her mom and her grandmother

Our bassett puppy Rebel. 1967.

Below is me with my Dad and then with my Mom. About 1977. They used to collect antique bottles, which can see in the background.

Below is me (and one of my first of many, many attempts to grow out my bangs) and our Newfoundland puppy Bear. 1979.

The Annual 'Christmas Dog Torture'

2010-12-01T12:48:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again - time to force my squirmy pups to sit together long enough to get a photo of them for our Christmas card. This is quite a hard task, because bulldogs are super silly, squirmy and stubborn. Plus my dad has a short temper when it comes to trying to get them to sit still. One of us tries to pose them, while the other does the photos, then we switch. The car-shaped antique baby stroller is my Mom's Christmas present this year. The doll is one of hers.

Here, two spoiled and demanding super models try to shrug off the photo shoot.

Boris pulls a Diva act and storms off the photo shoot, is search of a bush to pee on.

Below, Boris storms off set again, approaching the photographer with his thoughts of how the photos should be done, and a request for some goodies.

"We're getting grumpy"

and finally, out of about 20 shots, we get one that passes as good enough for the card!

Old 8MM Home movies - part 1

2010-11-27T12:03:00.000-05:00

My Dad wanted to get our old 8mm home movies transfered to DVD, so I had it done for him for Christmas. The DVDs came this past week and we were very happy with them and had a great time watching them. Now we're pulling out old VHS home movies and are going to transfers to DVD!

The company that I chose to do the 8mm was Just8MM.com . I checked out several services and they had the most reasonable price to do it. We had 29 3-inch reels transfered to DVD, plus an extra copy made, and it cost $230.00.
Now, some companies offer extra services where you can edit the films online before they send you the finished DVD and some places will transfer the films to a hard drive for you to edit the films at home yourself. Most of those services cost $100 or more extra. But I didn't want to invest too much money because I wasn't sure of the condition of our films. Now I kinda wish that I had gone with the hard drive version because then I'd be able to upload the videos to Youtube or Facebook, you know, spread the embarrassment of old home movies. So that's something that you might want to consider if you want to have your films transfered.
Anyway, the films turned out great, much better than watching them on an old projector and much better than when we had them transfered to VHS 20 years ago. I played the DVD on my computer and grabbed a few images, not the best quality, but still fun.

This is my Mom, when she was pregnant with me. A rare photo because she hated to have her photo taken (a trait that I have inherited from her) The dog is our bassett puppy Hannibel. My Dad used to go hunting and he took the dog with him. On one hunting trip, some guy shot Hannibel by accident. I was a very young then, so I don't remember him.

Below is Christmas 1968? I think that this was my 2nd Christmas. I am overwhelmed by all my toys. I can see a baby stroller, my own table and chairs and just before this was my rocking chair, which I still have. It's an antique now I guess!

This photo is from the same Christmas.

I had aspirations of being a Cow Girl and an acrobat.

Ah, my first car, and red too! Yes, those are all my presents. I was an only child.

I don't know what's up with my hair here! My Mom always set my hair in curlers Christmas Eve for when we went to see family on Christmas Day. Probably 1970.

I also wanted to be a 'Baton Ba-twirler'. That's quite a short dress for December! This is probably 1971

More photos to come . . .

20% Sale At Dandelion Vintage - now through 11/29

2010-11-26T09:27:00.001-05:00

20% off of all stock at Dandelion Vintage - www.dandelionvintage.com
Sale runs from now through 11/29. See website for more details.

You can also receive 20% off of your purchases in my etsy shop by entering the coupon code 'GOBBLE' at check-out -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/dandelionvintage

My happy Shoe, Stockings, Skirt combo

2010-11-23T17:57:00.000-05:00

Just indulge me. I was so happy with my shoe, stockings and skirt combo today, that I had to take a picture and post it here. Yeah, I can be a dork.
The skirt is part of a vintage sweater knit set. The stockings I've had for over 20 years so I guess they're kinda vintage too now. (Midway through the day I realized why I never wore them - they itch.)
The shoes are newish, I love the curvy heel.

My sewing project - 1930s dress

2010-11-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

I used to sew alot. 15 some years ago, before I became a vintage seller, I worked in a fabric store which helped to fulfill my fabric lust. Before that I had even tried to start my own clothing making business and I made alot of my own clothing.
But when you run your own business you suddenly have less free time. And when you handle clothing all day for that business, sewing more clothing isn't a pastime that enters your mind much.
But my purchase last month of the big lot of vintage patterns has inspired me to get back into sewing. Here is my first project. A super cute 1930s dress that will be made with a piece of vintage fabric - navy rayon with white and green design.
So far I have the pattern pieces and the fabric ironed. Let's see how long it takes me to touch the project again!

It's time to vote in the Dandelion Vintage - Vintage Photo Contest!

2010-10-29T14:25:00.000-04:00

Please vote on your 3 favorite entrants for their a chance to win a $250 shopping credit at Dandelion Vintage!

The public can vote daily for 3 of their favorite vintage outfits. There are some great ones, so it's hard to choose. But you can come back every day and vote for 3 more!

The 1st Place winner will receive a $250 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage – http://www.dandelionvintage.com/
2nd Place winner will receive $100.00 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage
3rd Place winner will receive $50.00 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage.

Public voting will be from October 27th to November 12th.
The top 3 entrants with the most votes will be chosen on 11/13.

Click the link above for more details and to enter.

Bye for now, Carol
http://www.dandelionvintage.com/

2010-10-21T13:19:00.000-04:00

Mini buy at an estate sale this morning. They didn't mention vintage clothing in the ad for the sale, but there were a few pieces on a coat rack that I spotted in the front room. I bought 3 dresses from the 1940s, a girl's colonial style costume, a Bates bedspread (for me) and a sewing bag purse, also for me.

Submit a photo of you dressed in vintage and enter a chance to win a $250 shopping credit at Dandelion Vintage!

2010-10-15T12:44:00.000-04:00

Submit a photo of you dressed in vintage and enter a chance to win a $250 shopping credit at Dandelion Vintage!

The public can vote daily for their favorites.

The 1st Place winner will receive a $250 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage – http://www.dandelionvintage.com/
2nd Place winner will receive $100.00 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage
3rd Place winner will receive $50.00 credit to spend at Dandelion Vintage.

Enter your photo between October 12th – 27th.
Public voting will be from October 27th to November 12th.
The top 3 entrants with the most votes will be chosen on 11/13.

Click the link above for more details and to enter.

I wish that I had time to sew - vintage dress patterns

2010-10-09T11:43:00.000-04:00

These are 4 patterns that I kept for myself from the big lot of patterns that I bought a few weeks back. These are what I've kept so far I should say because I havne't been through them all yet. And 'Kept For now' I should also say because I never have time to do any sewing for myself anymore.

Purses for me!

2010-09-30T14:56:00.000-04:00

Last week a made a great little stock purchase with about 30 late 1950s to early 60s cocktail dresses, mostly unworn with store tags still on them. Included in the buy were several cute purses, some of those still had tags on them too. I kept 8 of them for myself!

First, this brown and tweedy purse is a close match for a pair of my shoes, so I had to keep that purse.

Then this cooly shaped dark red purse is a perfect match for these shoes too, how could I let it go to someone else. Plus the tab closure is about to break on the purse, so I couldn't sell it like that, could I? I had to keep (even though I don't know if I can squeeze all of my crap into it)

You can never have too many black faille purses! Plus I really need a burgundy suede purse.

The other two were just too cute to resell. The green one is actually green and pink.

And these two, I have already put to good use this week. I think the green is my favorite.

Estate sale buys!

2010-09-16T13:02:00.000-04:00

This morning we went to a nearby estate sale, see the listing here - http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/131541.aspx

It was the estate of a family that owned a store in Sea Isle City for many years. The sale was a mix of old store items, personal items and farm equipment. The old store stuff was very cool - old tin beach toys, toy guns, tin wind-up toys, blow-up water tubes in great 1950-60s graphics, bathing caps etc. many items still in their original packages. Unfortunately there were no racks of 1950s swimsuits like I was dreaming of finding!
But there was a rack of some personal clothing which was a great surprise. I bought 14 clothing items, mostly dresses, 1940-50s, including the 3 1950s tulle dresses shown above. There was also a cool 1930s costume of some sort which was a jumper with halter top and wide legs, made of cotton fabric that had the names of colleges on it. That's soaking right now.
Since there ended up being clothing at the sale, now I'm wondering where all the old Summer/beach clothing ended up, since they had that shop near the beach for so many years. They had to have sold some beach clothing items in the store and they definately had to wear some themselves.
I also bought 2 boxes with a total of 190 patterns! Most are 1940-50s, but there are a few 1920-30s and maybe a dozen early 60s. One box was in very good condition, the other box of patterns are kind of beat, just from years of storage. Most look to be 34 bust. These were personal patterns, they weren't sold in the shop.

Here are some favorites that I pulled out of the lot -

The only item that I bought from the old store stock was this pair of old rubber beach shoes. I love old beach shoes and I've always wanted a pair. Not to wear, just to have, even though this pair is my size! They were only $1. This is the only item that I'll be keeping for myself, everything else will make it's way onto the website.

Upscale Vintage from Boston

2010-08-26T15:01:00.000-04:00

I made another vintage stock purchase this week. Many of the dresses appear to have come from upscale shops in Boston. One dress has a label from 'Jays' - see below. And included in the lot were the two cardboard dress insert shown above, which also came from Jays. It seems that they wrapped your purchase and put these inserts in the dresses to keep them from getting wrinkled. Those are going to be mine so don't bother looking for them on the website!

There are about 10 dresses in the lot with the label below - 'C. Crawford Hollidge Boston Wellesley'. They were upscale enough to even have their own hat boxes made, and I got 3 of those in the lot too.
Checking online for info about the shop, I found this blog post with many great images of the shop on Shopping Days In Retro Boston - RH Stearns was their competitor across the street and I also have a hat from there too.

The Mystery of the Missing Cemetery

2010-08-24T19:07:00.000-04:00

My parents own an old house in Strathmere, built in 1902. It was the annex of a hotel called the West Jersey Cottage, which was built in 1895. Louise & William Petersen built the hotel, and it was managed by Louise's brother Gus Wittkamp, and he took over ownership after the Petersen's deaths.
In the house we found a box of old papers with two bills for burials and an old cemetery plot from the late 1890s. The bill and the plot were for Woodland Cemetery. But trying to find it online previously and asking people where 'Woodland Cemetery' was got us no answer. No one had heard of it before.
What little info we were able to find was that it was opened in the late 1800s. The graves of a well known family in the area were eventually moved from Woodland after being vandalized, to another cemetery. Not many people were buried there for some reason and it changed owners everal times over the years.

The plot that we found the deed for was obviously never used and the family was eventually buried in another cemetery. But Louise and William Petersen, who built the West Jersey Cottage, had definately been buried in Woodland Cemetery in 1898 and 1899 according to the burial bills that we had.

So finally trying another search on Google maps, we found the cemetery. It is a big lot, mostly wooded, located between a golf course and campgrounds. The sign out front calls it the Ocean View Cemetery, which is why no one knew the Woodland name.

These are aerial views that I snagged from Bing. Above shows the long dirt road leading from the street back into the woods. You have to park on the street and walk the path to get to the graves at the back of the property.
Below are the few graves that are there, maybe 20. Most are from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The latest 4 were 1933, 1936, 1946 and 1986. The ground is all cleared and mowed, the current owners are taking good care of it. Huge ground, only 20 graves way in the back.

It turns out that the grandfather of this guy that my dad knows used to own the cemetery. The guy used to help the grandfather take care of the property when he was a kid. He said that there was a peach orchard on it that they used to pick, and they also mowed the grounds. Because it's back in the woods and near campgrounds, it was apparently a big party spot and kids would go back there and drink. They would also vandalise, and some headstones were overturned and broken over the years.

He told my Dad about having to lift a tall memorial back into place on several occasions, usually around Halloween, because kids would knock it over. Below is that tall memorial, we had been toppled so many times over the years, and we were very surprised by the name - James P Carothers. This man built the Deauville Inn in Strathmere, originally called the Whelen Hotel, back in 1881. So it's amazing to find that 2 early settlers in Strathmere, who both built hotels, are both buried in this little cemetery! The island was nearly empty when these people settled there, just a few houses. Now they are out in a very sparse cemetery, together.

This was the grave that we were seeking!

Here are a few other shots from the grave.

The digger and the boats belong to the campground and the golf course.

A broken headstone.

The mystery about why the cemetery was hardly used still remains. We are planning on going to the historial museum in the fall to do some research, maybe they'll have some info about Woodland. But I was glad to find the Petersen's grave safe, especially after hearing the story about vandals.

Vintage beach towels displayed and repurposed

2010-08-20T19:54:00.001-04:00

I had these two very cute vintage beach towels - one came from a local yard sale and the other I bought on ebay. The one towel has been thrown over a cedar chest the past year, because I didn't know what else to do with it. When I bought the 2nd one, I had to figure out something cool to do with them. I wanted to display them, but not mess with them in any way since they are perfect and unused.

So tah-dah, why not make curtains out of them? I only handstitched a loose rod pocket along the top - no cutting was done to them at all and the stitches are wide and spaced, easy to remove. I hung them in the kitchen in the cottage at the Shore, perfect for a beach kitchen, plus they are still nice and bright, letting light through. I love them.

Now - I need 2 more towels for the other window!

Here's a combined 145 pounds of love and sweetness coming at you!

2010-08-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick video of my sweet doggies taken this morning. My parents went out, and Harlow and Boris were upset because they wanted to go too!

The Brazier Girls, 1962

2010-08-13T09:29:00.000-04:00

I've been tracing the family tree over the past few months, only online, I haven't been to any county offices or anything. The other day I spoke with my Great-Aunt Joan about their side of the family. She gave me this picture, from 1962, taken at sister Mabel's wedding. It shows my great grandmother and all 8 of her daughters, she also had 2 sons. She had her first baby at about 13/14.

Back row left - My grandmother Mary, great-grandmother Mary, Joan, Ethel and Gloria.
In the front is Doris, Dolly, Mabel, and June.

Vintage laundry and hummingbirds

2010-08-09T13:04:00.000-04:00

This morning I was soaking some vintage dresses out on the back deck and I was entertained by my hummingbirds while I was working. There was the usual frenzy at the feeders. So I thought that I'd do a quick little video of them, with a super quick peek at some dripping vintage dresses.

A visit to the Ocean City Historical Museum

2010-08-04T14:55:00.003-04:00

Today I took a visit to the Ocean City Historical Museum. The museum is located at 1735 Simpson Street in the Cultural Arts Center and it is free to enter.
The easiest way to get there is to go on Bay Ave. and turn EAST onto 17th Street. That will take you right to the entrance of the huge building, which is currently under partial construction, but open to the public. The building also houses the Ocean City Library. When you go in the entrance of the building, you will go all the way to the back, through the library and to your right though a door. Eventually there will be a direct entrance to the museum.

If you love Ocean City NJ, town histories or antiques you will certainly enjoy this museum. It has many displays and photos to see. All items are actually from homes and families in Ocean City. There are displays on OC lifeguards, the police and fire departments, military, businesses, the OC High School, fishing, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and more. With a special display on the Sindia and a copy of Princess Grace's wedding gown. There are several partial rooms set up with antique furniture, paintings, glassware and household items.

The Ocean City beach Patrol display

A copy of Princess Grace's wedding gown (The Kelly family had a Summer home in Ocean City NJ)

Part of the display about fishing in Ocean City

Part of the large display on the Sindia

Household antiques and vintage swimsuits

Ocean City High School Memorabilia

Some of the many antique children's toys that are on display.

This Summer's featured display is Antique Tin Beach Toys, which includes 500 examples from collector Robert Smith. There are many tin pails, watercans, shovels, molds etc. And also old photos of Ocean City children posed with tin toys.

Vote for Boris & Harlow!

2010-08-03T18:45:00.000-04:00

Vote for Boris and Harlow at the - Ador-A-Bulldogs 2011 Calendar Contest

Gifts are gladly accepted!

2010-07-28T14:40:00.000-04:00

Longtime Dandelion Vintage friend Jan, just sent me this fabulous dress, because she thought that I would like it. And yes, I do. It's a vivid chartreuse with pink flowers, and an Eastern flavor, which I love. Check out the sleeves! It will be a great dress to wear the the Shore this Summer. Thank you Jan!

I had spotted the shoes below on ebay, and since they were a little too small for me - but super awesome - I posted the link to the auction on my Facebook page. Jan saw the link and bought the shoes. Then she sent me the dress as a 'Thank you' for posting about the fab shoes.

Vote for Twila Jean at the Mad Men Casting Call!

2010-07-28T12:21:00.000-04:00

Banana Republic is sponsoring a contest to win a walk-on on an episode of Mad Men. Please check the link below and cast your vote for a true vintage gal!
Vote for Twila Jean

And the winner is . . . .

2010-07-28T11:07:00.000-04:00

The winner of the Divine Diva Giveaway is Sarsaparilla!

Please check out her blog - http://www.sip-of-sarsaparilla.blogspot.com/

And Thank you to everyone who entered to win.

Post-Storm Hummingbird feeding frenzy

2010-07-25T18:01:00.002-04:00

A heavy, windy storm just blew through here. After the wind stopped, the hummingbirds were in a frenzy at the feeders, even though there was a still a steady rain. Here you can 6 of the feeders that I have on our back deck.

The Divine Diva Vintage Giveaway!

2010-07-14T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hey, it's about time for another giveaway, isn't it? This is a very good giveaway with 4 great items.

Anyone can enter to win, just post a comment below or send an email to dvintage@comcast.net
A winner will be chosen on July 26th, which is a Monday.

This drawing will include the book 'Bette & Joan The Divine Feud' - I just read this and I loved it! There is juicy gossip (Joan was kinda slutty) and catty, bitchy remarks on nearly every page of the book.

Also is a 1930s small pillow cover made of dusty peach and teal silk matte satin petals. It has an opening in the back to slide in a 7-1/2 inch pillow.

Next is a dark pink crochet thingy, probably from the 1930s as well. The inside section is peach acetate and it is stuffed. I don't know if it was a pin cushion or what because it is meant to hang. It also reminds me of those things that you would see boudoir or kewpie dolls attached to, kind of lounging on the top.

Lastly is a very cool 1950s travel set. It's a soft clear plastic bag with a painted fan and rhinestones on the front. It snaps on the back. Inside are 3 containers with plastic faux pearl tops, and a brush and comb. Excellent, the items look like they were never used.

Everything Austen II Book review - Mr. Knightley's Diary

2010-07-10T12:37:00.001-04:00

Mr. Knightley's Diary - by Amanda Grange.
The story of Emma, told from Mr. Knightley's perspective. I liked it, it was a good casual read. I've always been a little annoyed by Emma, with her know it all meddling and snobbery. But you see her with a bit more caring from Mr. Knightley's point of view in this book. He sees her faults, but he can brush them aside, get over his anger at her and still slowly realize that he is in love with her. You can see it as it happens throughout the book, but it takes him a awhile to realize his true feelings. Even though you already know the outcome of the story, it is still enjoyable getting to it.
Mr. Knightley in Emma always seemed more like a background charactor at times. He's not a stand out charactor like Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth and you don't really long to know more about him like Colonel Brandon. This book didn't add any interest to him either. He maintains his estate, goes on business trips, visits his brother and goes to see Emma. He's no deep, brooding mystery. But like I said, I did enjoy the book and it may have even made me like Emma herself a little more.
Amanda Grange has written several 'Diaries' - I read Mr. Darcy's, which I also enjoyed, and next on my list to read will be Captain Wentworth's Diary.

Everything Austen II

I found the perfect fairy dress. I'm ready to put it on and dance off into the woods . . .

2010-07-08T15:26:00.000-04:00

This dress was part of a large vintage stock purchase that I made last week. I am madly in love with it. First, it's a pretty pale green - and you know that I love green. It's sheer creped silk over a silk lining. The shoulders and upper back are ivory silk lace. There is a group of ribbon flowers on the front and the back where the lace matches up perfectly with the cutout lining. The narrow sleeves have wide lace bells on the ends and the skirt has a pretty floaty angled hemline.

Hidden on the underdress are more pretty ribbon flowers.

Yummy.

4th of July weekend and vintage laundry

2010-07-03T13:27:00.000-04:00

I'm in Strathmere for the 4th of July weekend. But on Thursday I made a large purchase of vintage stock, with many things that need to be handwashed. So along with my own clothing and food, I packed a bag of laundry to bring with me for the weekend, which included several 1940-50s day dresses and Victorian/Edwardian whites.

Whites soaking in some Biz and a dash of bleach.

And below are the whites after hanging out to dry in the seashore sunshine. These are children's dresses.

Next I washed the day dresses and hung those out to dry too.

Then I took my morning walk on the beach. I saw this gal heading out to sea (I'm assuming that it was a gal because she was nicely accessorised)

And I added a few selections to my Pretty Stones Collection.

This afternoon I'll be doing some more soaking and hanging while I also do aome sunbathing.

My Dad's car in Rolls and Pleats Magazine

2010-06-28T11:11:00.000-04:00

My Dad's 1932 Ford 3 window coupe was one of the cars showcased in issue #34 of Rolls and Pleats Magazine . The photo was taken last Fall when he was invited to display his car indoors at the Jalopyrama show in Maryland. Only select, very special cars are invited to show indoors and my dad was very honored to be invited.

The vintage swimsuit related display that I did at the Strathmere Library

2010-06-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

This morning I set up a display in the Strathmere Library Mini Museum. I worked a few pieces of vintage into the display by using 3 vintage swimsuits, a head scarf and a beach hat, along with vintage photos of girls in swimsuits on the beach in Strathmere and our treasured Strathmere felt pennant.

The house looks pretty

2010-06-19T15:18:00.000-04:00

The house in Strathmere is looking so nice. Only the hydrangeas are blooming right now, but that's enough for me. The photos just can't capture how pretty they are.

Some recent vintage dress purchases for me!

2010-06-17T18:46:00.000-04:00

Here are 5 dresses that I recently added to my Summer wardrobe, all bought on ebay - there are still good buys to be had on ebay.
If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen a few of these.
*First, the plaid, awesome! Chartruese, red, grey and orange. I've already worn that dress and I loved wearing it! Lots of fun.
*Next is a very bright yellow dress with pleated bust and buttons all the way down the front. It's very fitted through the waist so I'm waiting for a skinny day to wear it, so that it doesn't feel snug. It's a really bright color for me to get used to wearing.
*Next is a gingham dress that is very similar to a dress that I listed for sale on the website. It's exactly the same actually, except this one has tiny pink flowers in the gingham.
*The blue striped one just came in the mail Wednesday and I'll probably wear it on Sunday. Very cool dress.
*The red sundress came in the mail on Monday, I washed it and hung it out to dry that night. Tuesday morning I hemmed it and wore it to my part time job at 9AM! That was another fun dress to wear and another different color for me, I don't wear much red.

These dresses make it look like it's going to be a great Summer!

Everything Austen Challenge II

2010-06-17T13:57:00.003-04:00

It's so nice to know that I'm not the only one obsessed with all things Jane Austen. I've read the books several times, seen most of the movies (except for Emma with Paltrow, because I can't ignore that snotty smirk that she usually has on her face) and last year I even started reading the 'sequels' and other books inspired by Jane Austen.
So obsessive am I, I am going to sign up for Everything Austen II

So you are thinking 'What is that? You Jane Austen geek'
'The details! The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2010 – January 1, 2011)! All you need to do is pick out six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge. You have until Thursday, July 15th 2010 to officially sign up.'

So I can either read books, see movies or create an Austen inspired item to participate. Easy! Especially since it is Summer and I already have some Jane Austen set aside for reading while laying in the sun.

I'm not going to pick all 6 of my items right now, because they might change or I might find something else in the next 6 months.
1. 'Mansfield Park' - I just started re-reading this
2. 'Jane Austen's Sewing Box: Craft Projects and Stories from Jane Austen's Novels' - I just purchased this and I'm hoping to be inspired to do at least one of the craft/sewing projects in it.
3. 'Jane Austen's Letters'
4. 'Becoming Jane' - I've already started reading this one too.
5. 'Mr. Knightley's Diary' - I just picked this up at the Strathmere Library today 6/19
6.

I've got to add some movies to that list too.

What should I call my fruity drink?

2010-06-15T18:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not a drinker. I don't go out anywhere to drink, but given the opportunity, which is very, very rare, I will have a drink. I like it. I've gotten a few bottles of wine as gifts over the years and we do have a bottle of whiskey that's been sitting around for years that I have a shot of in my tea once in a while, usually during the Winter. .You will be amazed to find out that this is the first bottle of booze that I have ever bought. I'm 43 years old.

Last year some friends went on vacation and as gifts, they brought back mini samplers of fruit flavored Bacardi Rums (I think they toured the place where it was made) So last Summer, in the cottage, I had fun making up drinks with my tiny bottles of rum. Most were misses, a few were good. The watermelon rum was very good. So much so, that this Summer I went out (I got my dad to take me to the liquor store because I've never shopped in one before and I don't like going to places that I'm unfamiliar with - right about now you are realizing what a wacko I am, right?) and I bought a whole bottle of the Watermelon Bacardi Rum.

So here is the winning drink that I made up, the one that is going to turn me into a Summertime lush.

Fill a glass with watermelon, strawberries and bananas. Give it a shot of Bacardi Watermelon Rum, and fill the rest with 7-Up. Yummy. Spiked fruit salad really. Drink it and eat it with a spoon. Very refreshing on a hot day.

2010-06-13T18:14:00.002-04:00

This is the hummingbird feeder that is on the window, just above my computer. I love watching them drink, and fight. This clip is of 3 females fighting for their place at the feeder. Hummingbirds are vert territorial and they do not like to share. They each pick their favorite feeder and fight any others that come near it.

Hydrangeas and used books

2010-06-12T18:53:00.000-04:00

You know that I love my hydrangeas, and they are starting to bloom this week. Here are two bunches that I cut for the cottage. So pretty. They make me happy.

Last week the Strathmere Library had their book sale. I didn't get there until the last day of the sale, so everything was kinda picked over, but they were clearing out what was left for $2.00 a bag. I only got 5 books to buy including Eve Arden's autobiography (love her) an Ellery Queen mystery book from the 1940s, a collection of mysteries, 'A Play of Lords' is also a mystery. Plus one of the ladies knows that I love Jane Austen, so she set aside a Jane Austen related book for me 'The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen', plus I checked out 'Mr. Darcy's Daughters' which one of the other ladies pulled for me too.
I just finished Darcy's Daughters, it was a good read, predictable, 'borrowed' story lines from real Jane Austen books - except they didn't mention 'sodomites' and foot fetishes in real Austen books! It was a good casual Summer read though.

It's Harlow's 2nd birthday! This photo was taken when she was just 2 days old!

Some decorative vintage refurbs

2010-06-07T12:51:00.000-04:00

I bought this 1980s lamp at the Cowtown flea market, about 10 years ago. I got a pair of them actually, this is just 2 photos of one of them. Got both for $10. They were super shiny tacky 1980s brass, but I love calla lillies, so I couldn't pass them up. I went to the craft store and bought a little bottle of paint that can be used on metal. Then I painted over that tacky brass with a light sage green. It's one of those touch on and off lights and it still works even with a coat of paint on it. Pretty.

I bought this small old wicker couch along with two chairs at a local antique shop for $80.00. I gave them all a fresh coat of white paint and covered the cushion on the couch with a sheet.
I used a chaise lounge cushion and kind of wrapped and folded it around the back of the couch for padding. Then I threw a Bates blanket over both of the cushions, tucking it in here and there - topped the couch with some pretty pillows. Voila - Pretty.

Next, I've shown this table in the blog before, but I think it's worth showing off again. I got a set of 3 wrought iron nesting tables with glass tops for free from a friend who was cleaning out a house that she just bought. This one got some fresh paint. Then I cut a piece of cardboard the size of the top, and wrapped a vintage Vogart embroidery around the cardboard. Then I put the embroidery under the glass top - and now I have a pretty table top.

Memorial Day weekend

2010-06-01T12:17:00.000-04:00

Such a nice weekend. Usually the weather is crappy on Memorial Day but the weather this year was very nice. I went to the Shore Friday afternoon with Boris and Harlow. They stayed with me until Sunday morning. They love their walks! Then Sunday and Monday were all to myself!

Here are a few photos that I snapped this weekend -

The cottage at night.

The porch on the big house. I bought new cushions this year - what a pain. Kmart was out of stock, so I ordered them online, then two of the styles that I ordered online were out of stock, but they charged me anyway and I'm still waiting for a credit. Then I had to reorder the cushions in a different thickness. Anyway, they finally all arrived, all matching and they look great.

Harlow in the cottage, moondog eyes and then barely able to stay awake.

Some pretty flowers in my windowbox -

And I can't wait for my hydrangeas to bloom, the bushes are huge this year, and full of alot of blooms -

My morning walk on the beach

2010-05-31T11:09:00.000-04:00

My Dad picked up Boris and Harlow Sunday morning, so I have today in Strathmere all to myself. This gives me a chance to take my morning beach walk. I like to go early before people start showing up with all their beach crap and their kids. Here are a few snaps to show why I love a quiet morning beach walk.

The water is still cold, but I got my feet wet

I like to pick up pretty stones, mostly white, pinkish-coral and lavender. Today I picked up a few pretty black stone. I wish that I could make something with them. For now they'll go with the other stones in my drepression glass relish dishes, on the windowsill.

Send some sailors my way!

2010-05-31T10:57:00.000-04:00

I've picked up a few cute little sailors here and there, so it looks like I have a new collection started. The framed photo is a copy of a 1930s postcard of our street in Strathmere, with our house in the middle.

A photo of my great-great grandmother Jennie Hall Folwell Brazier

2010-05-19T11:39:00.001-04:00

How cool is this? Someone who is a distant relative contacted me through ancestry.com because we had relatives in common. Her great grandmother Jennie is my great-great grandmother.
She and my mother are the same age. Her grandmother was known in my family as Aunt Eva, and Eva was my great grandfather's half sister.

She sent me this fabulous photo taken in 1887 of my great-great grandmother Jennie Hall. With her is her first husband James Folwell. The lady who contacted me is a descendant of James Folwell and Jennie. James was committed to a mental institute sometime before 1900, and Jennie then married Joseph Brazier and that's where my family line picks up - my great-grandfather John was their son.

Cool. What's really amazing is that my grandmother Mary and her sisters look so much like Jennie. They all have these deep, circled eyes just like her.

More geneaology intrigue -

2010-05-18T13:35:00.000-04:00

My great-great-grandmother Jennie Hall was married to James Holwell before she married my great-great-grandfather. She and James had 4 daughters. I just assumed that the first husband had died and then she remarried. But looking at censuses online, it turns out that James was committed to the Camden County Insane Asylum around 1900 and was there at least through the 1930s census, he probably died there. The place is known as Lakeland and it always scared me to drive through there when I was a kid. When I worked at the Rag Shop, I drove through there every day to get to work, my fear long gone by then. It's a group of old buildings that I believe are mainly used for juveniles and drug rehab now.

Another interesting thing about James ending up at Lakeland, his brother Eli was also there for all that time. Two brothers sent to an asylum? I wonder what the story is there?!
Intrigue.
Jennie then married Joseph Brazier and had my great-grandfather and his sister. Funny how something can happen and then change or create a whole new family line.

A little Harlow and Boris, a geneaology mystery and what is this name?

2010-05-14T15:08:00.000-04:00

First, I torture you with photos of my adorable doggies, enjoying a nice Spring Day (while I torture them to try to get a photo of them both together and looking at the camera)
Left is Harlow, right Boris. Looking unhappy to get their photo taken, but still adorable.
Below is Harlow, laying in her favorite patch of vines. She thinks that no one can see her when she lays down in the vines.

Next, I'm still doing that family tree trace. My grandfather's mother has been a mystery. Her name was Maymella King. First married to a Walker then to my great grandfather Baker. We know she was born in PA, but we know nothing about parents or siblings. So in a process of elimination and educated guessing (which could be totally wrong because I have no way of checking for sure) I have narrowed her down to May King born in 1878 to John and Harriet King, with a brother named Eli. Maybe.
I think that John had a brother named Valentine and this is the 1850 census that shows their mother's name, but what the hell is it?

It looks like Exephan King, but I've never heard of such a name. I've seen alot of bad spelling on the censuses, so what else do you think that it could be?

I also found this, which is interesting. The 2nd ad, Eli V. King would be Maymella's brother and he was a bricklayer. This came from a bricklayer's newsletter, dated 1911. The ad was placed by his father John, who is looking for Eli. John is very ill and needs to get in touch with Eli. From what I have found, it looks like Eli's wife either died, or ran off, and Eli then went away looking for bricklaying work, leaving his son Harry with his parents. I wonder if Eli came back, what happened to Harry? Are these people even my relatives? I don't know, but I'm totally caught up in the mystery.

Cute dog collars from DogGoneKnitting on etsy

2010-04-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

I ordered two super cute collars for Boris and Harlow and they came today - Dignified geometrics for Boris and cakes for Harlow!
They were very excited to put them on, only because they thought that putting on collars meant that they were going for a ride!

I ordered them from - DogGoneKnitting
They are available in several sizes and they are nice quality.

Amazing! baby hummingbird rehab

2010-04-26T08:46:00.002-04:00

Winona Ryder and the envy-inspiring clothing in 'When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story'

2010-04-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday night (after my team won this week's leg of The Amazing Race!) - 'When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story' aired. It was a made for tv movie about the woman who started Al-Anon. OK, so I only started watching it because there was nothing else on, and the melodrama kind of drug on and on. But, the clothing was fabulous! Many cute 1920s cloche hats and great dresses. Even when they were poor and struggling she had some sweet dresses.
The movie starts in the late Teens and the bulk of it is in the 1920-30s. They start off with a good income and fancier clothing, but end up poor and in kind of plain clothing - no glamorous bias gowns in the 1930s time period of the movie - but I realized that I enjoyed the everyday clothing probably more than glamour gowns because that's what the average person was really wearing during that time. The costume designer for the movie was Trysha Bakker.
And Winona looks great, not just in the clothing, she looks like she is aging very little and doing it naturally. Her face looks real is what I mean. Plus she is still like a Pixie-Woman. When you see her with other women she still seems smaller and younger.

This sweet little green chiffon dress has been with me for 20 years, and some personal reflection

2010-04-16T18:53:00.000-04:00

I bought this dress, and the two hats below (along with another wide straw hat covered in daisies with rhinestone centers - that I was too lazy to walk to the other end of the house to get for this blog post) at my favorite old time thrift shop - 'The Leprechaun Shop'. Ah, those were the days, when you could find something older than 1980s in a thrift shop. It was run to raise funds for the St. John of God Special Education School. The shop was down a narrow one-way street in Woodbury and it was run by church ladies who volunteered their time. The prices were written on a big carboard sign hanging behind the counter and they never changed for as long as I shopped there, which was for over 15 years.

I remember that I bought these items 20 years ago, because it was in 1990, when my Mom had a brain aneurysm and then a stroke. She was in Pennsylvannia Hospital for over 2 months. I quit my job and went to the hospital every day with my Grandmother. Came home, made dinner for my dad after he came home from work, and then went back to the hospital with my Dad after dinner.

Then she was moved to Bryn Mawr Rehab as an inpatient and she was there over 3 months. We couldn't visit until after 5PM, so during the day I was packing to move, because my parents had just started building a new house when my Mom ended up in the hospital. Construction continued because my Dad wanted her to come home to a new, larger house. We changed the plans to make the door to her bedroom and bathroom bigger in case she came home in a wheelchair. I barely remember packing though, it's like it was all a blurr.

It was one day that I went over to the thrift shop for something else to do, a little break (Dandelion Vintage was still 7 years away) I ended up buying this dress, another small chiffon dress from the same period, the 3 hats plus another. These were special items, so they were priced a little higher - $5 each. Well worth it. I bought some other items too, and that night when I went to visit my Mom, I took my haul with me to show her, because she loved thrift shops too. Over the years I've sold the other things that I bought that day, but I've held onto the dress and the hats.
The dress hangs on the door to my office here at Dandelion Vintage headquarters and I see it everyday. Two of the hats hang out here too and the other hat is in my bedroom.

Straw flowers above and chiffon flowers below -

The new house was finished a week after my Mom got out of the hospital, which was a few weeks before Christmas. I drove her to outpatient rehab 5 days a week for a year. I worked part time at night doing fittings and alterations in a bridal shop during that time. After rehab finished, she was able to walk with a cane and do some things around the house, so I went back to work full time. After 5 years at that job I was fired, and I during my unemployment, I ended up setting up shop on the internet and Dandelion Vintage was born!

I often wonder what my life would have been like if my Mom hadn't had her stroke. If I hadn't lived at home all those years, if I had gone out on my own. When I worked fulltime in retail, I was miserable. I liked my job, but I hated the main office and the way that they wanted things done. I wanted my own shop and I knew how to run one because I had hands-on experience. I was miserable at home too, I felt trapped, and felt that I would never be able to move out. But once I started Dandelion Vintage, things changed. I was finally happy with what I was doing with my life and I was able to deal with the stress of having a disabled Mother. My Dad has retired now so it's mainly on him for now, I'm just the backup.

I bought my own house. Then what did I do a year later? I sold it and moved with my parents to down here in the Woods! But it's alright, I feel very lucky. Things happen for a reason, why the hell they do it the long hard way, I don't know. But this is where I'm meant to be. If I had been selfish and left my Dad to care for my Mom alone, who knows what I'd be doing now? Slogging it out in retail, probably barely making enough money to squeek by. I would never have been able to afford to live on just my savings while I tried to get a business started - and it was a long time before I started making a somewhat steady income from vintage. There might not have been a Dandelion Vintage if I had thought only of myself and what I wanted back then.

Wow, this turned into a deep post. I love that little green chiffon dress.

Time to pack away the boots and bring out my Summer Vintage shoes!

2010-04-09T17:25:00.000-04:00

We had several warm days here this week, one day it hit 90! Yay Spring. So I very happily packed away my boots, they got alot of use this Winter, too much use. And I pulled out some of my Strappy Vintage Summer Shoes. Now, just a reminder, these are mine, mine, mine. They won't be for sale on the website.

OK, I lied. The black wedges below I actually wore during cold weather with black opaque stockings, so I didn't actually just unpack those. Yes, I do have a small foot. Size 6, but it is very wide, so I still have trouble finding shoes wide enough for them.

Summer, la la la-la! Don't strappy wedges make you happy?

These super strappy shoes will have to wait a few more months for wearing.

More wedges.

And here are a few Summery vintage purses. I've had the upright white one for a while. But the others are ones that I picked up this Winter.

Bring on the Summer!

Great-Great-Great Aunt Martha

2010-04-04T11:12:00.000-04:00

I'm doing some family research, tracing the family lines. I've heard my Grandmom talk about her 'Aunt Mart'. She was Martha Redrow, and she was actually my great-grandfather's aunt. She was married twice, to a Parker and then to a Bishop. Both husbands died and she never had any children.

I was thrlled to find out from a 1900 census, that she was actually a dressmaker on Glover Street in Woodbury NJ. This was after her fist husband had died, and she is listed as Martha Parker Widow Dressmaker. I asked my grandmom and she remembers hearing that Aunt Mart had been a dressmaker at one time. Apparently the 2nd husband was wealthy and moved her out of Woodbury and she gave up making dresses. I think this photo was taken during her 2nd marriage.
After the 2nd husband died, she moved back to the old family farm in Deptford. She lived briefly with her nephew Edward Redrow (my great-grandfather) who was recently widowed, and my grandmom who was about 11 at the time.
Later Aunt Mart moved down the road to her niece Hattie Redrow Vollmer's farm, and apparently that's where she died in 1929.
What a treasure it would be to be able to find a dress that Aunt Mart had made! The only way would be if someone in the family had kept one. I think she only made dresses out of her home, and I doubt that she had fancy labels.

Lady Duff Gordon was the designer behind Lucile - NOT Lady Duff lingerie

2010-03-25T08:57:00.000-04:00

Reposted from The Vintage Bulletin Blog - some assumptions have been made several times in the past that Lady Duff lingerie was associated with the famous designer and Titanic survivor Lady Duff Gordon, but that is not true. This is a copy of a post that appeared on the Vintage Bulletin blog -

So, who is Lady Duff Gordon? She was born Lucy Sutherland in 1863. After a failed marriage, she began to support herself by making dresses in her home. By 1894 she had opened her own shop in London and designed under the name 'Lucile'
In 1900, she married her business partner Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, who helped her to manage and grow her business into a worldwide success. 'Lucile' designs developed a following of wealthy women including royalty and popular actresses of the time, and the Lucile company eventually opened salons in New York, Paris and Chicago by the early 1900s. Lucy also designed the clothing for Theater productions and silent movies.

Lucy is said to be the first designer to stage a runway fashion show with live models that she trained to walk in her clothing. She wrote fashion columns for newspapers and Harper's Bazaar for many years during the teens. She also did a ready-wear collection that was sold by mail order through Sears around in the late teens. Young designers like Howard Greer and Edward Molyneux worked for her. She designed elegant daywear, eveningwear and lingerie.

Another part of her fame involves the Titanic. Lucy & Cosmo were passengers on the Titanic, she was even referenced in the Titanic movie as being the designer of 'naughty lingerie' . Lucy, her secretary and Cosmo were in a lifeboat that only had 12 people in it, including several crew men. Money changed hands between Cosmo and the crew men. Cosmo was accused of bribing the crew men to let him on the lifeboat but the Duff-Gordons claimed that the money was a generous gift to help the crew men until they found new jobs.

In the late Teens, Lucy lost the rights to her own name in a legal battle. A restructuring of the Lucile company was done, and Lucy lost control of the designs and was unhappy with the quality of the clothing being produced. She left the company that she founded in the early 1920s and it failed shortly after.
In London, she designed for a small private clientele under the name Lady Duff Gordon for a short time. After the death of her husband, she was said to be struggling financially. She died at age 71 in a London nursing home in 1935.
Now. The earliest info that I can find about Lady Duff lingerie is from 1934. It was a US company that produced nice quality lingerie. Lucy Lady Duff Gordon did not design for this company. She did not own this company - she was a sickly, financially strapped woman in a nursing home in London.

Why the hub-bub about Lady Duff Gordon and Lady Duff Lingerie?

A few years ago, a seller listed a Lady Duff item, and attributed to Lady Duff Gordon. A few people on ebay's Vintage Clothing and Accessories Board contacted her to give her the correct info and they were disappointed that she didn't change the auction, she just added a note at the bottom, leaving the Lady Duff Gordon info in the auction.

Recently I found another Lady Duff item on ebay, and again it was attributed to Lady Duff Gordon in the listing. The item has since sold and good for her. But hopefully her customer bought the gown because she loved it, and not because she thought the nightgown was actually designed by the real Lady Duff Gordon.
I know that two people contacted her with the correct information that Lady Duff Gordon was not involved with Lady Duff Lingerie, but for whatever reason she didn't listen.

Also in her listing, she had a photo that she has labeled 'Lady Duff Gordon 1929'. In 1929 Lady Duff Gordon would have been about 65. There is no way that the photo was Lady Duff Gordon in 1929, unless at 65 years old she had the face of a 20 year old! She also said in the listing that the gown was 1930s. But if you see the photo of the label which she included in the listing, it clearly says Rayon and NYLON. Nylon wouldn't have been used in lingerie until the mid 1940s.
So going by the 'information' in her auction, Lady Duff Gordon was a really amazing person. She was a famous designer whose company 'Lucile' was still successful 10 years after it was dissolved. She survived the Titanic. She started and designed for a new US company called 'Lady Duff' while she was sick and struggling financially in an English nursing home. She continued to design after her death, using fabric that wasn't available to the rest of the world for another 10 years!

This may seem petty and insignificant, but incorrect information like this spreads online. Now her auction is out there for anyone else looking for information about Lady Duff lingerie. If someone were to just go and search ebay completed listing looking for info, they will see that listing, and not know that the information is wrong - because she didn't have the integrity to make the changes to the listing. ebay is not a good research tool, there is so much bad info and incorrect dating on ebay and etsy, you need to look beyond them for your research.

I can understand searching Lady Duff Lingerie and in seeing info about Lady Duff Gordon, you might assume that they were related. But thorough research would prove otherwise.
The point of this post - do thorough research and if someone emails you with information, check it out, recheck your facts. Hopefully in the future, someone doing research for Lady Duff lingerie will see this post instead of that auction and know the correct information.

P.S. While doing research on 'Lucile' for this post, I discovered that Lady Duff Gordon's great-great granddaughter has revived the 'Lucile' name and is designing her own line of 'naughty lingerie'.

Here are some great photos of Lady Duff Gordon's Lucile clothing at The Fashion Spot

Antiques around the house

2010-03-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Love her! Die-cut cardboard 2+ft tall

A few Christmas decorations - they are out on display all year.

Old corner cupboards and yellowware

Old stained glass window. The hooks were already there in the window when we moved in here - the hooks were in the exact spots to match the hangers on the window.

I know that this is hard to see in the photo, but it's hard to see even in person. It's a very old embroidery, dated 1809 and done by Susan Cooper. It's thinning and faded, and it's in a nice old frame too. It has a big house, trees and animals on the lawn.

Some shelves in the kitchen.

It's a Dog's Life

2010-03-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

Harlow and Boris live such a life of leisure, filled with goodies, snoozing, toys etc. It's tough. You should see what drama queens they are when you try to wake them up, so much suffering. Such cute babies.

The cast of House does Pride & Prejudice

2010-03-13T08:24:00.000-05:00

Clip stolen from Jane Austen Today blog

Vintage glasses shopping

2010-03-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

So I need to get glasses for the first time in my life. I noticed that my vision was getting blurry while driving last year. And lately it's been getting blurry up close too. I can see my computer screen fine, so I guess my eyesight has adjusted to the computer, and everything else is starting to blur!

I went this morning for an exam and I do need glasses as I suspected I would. I'm actually looking forward to wearing glasses. They didn't have much of a choice in the way of frames that would be vintage-like. I asked the glasses gal if she could put lenses in a vintage pair for me, and she didn't seem to keen on that. But hopefully I'll find a place around here that can do it.

In the meantime I have a pair of brown tortoise-like as-close-to-vintage-as-I-could-get glasses on order from them, and I'm on the lookout for a cool vintage pair to see if I can get my lenses put in them. Here are a few that I spotted on ebay this morning. Oh yeah, I want to go all out with cateyes, maybe a little Madame Sparkles. I also want to get a pretty chain for my neck to hang my glasses from.. Then all that I'll need is a pearl necklace, my hair in a bun and a sweater around my shoulders.

Images from 1917 Good Housekeeping

2010-02-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

I have a bound edition of Good Housekeeping with January to July issues from 1917. I bought it because each issue features a layout of Rose O'Neill Kewpies. And also for the other great images of fashions and housewares of the day. Here are a few of the pretty images from the edition.
Oh look, there's me working in my garden . . . .

If only I was that cute in my garden. Would I looooooooove to find overalls from 1917.
Love the hat, the fur and the fancy little purse in the 2nd image.
Most of the drawings in the magazines are just black outlines. There are a few like the one below, that have pale peach coloring.

The lingerie and boudoir drawings are my favorites.

And this pretty lady was from an ad for Armstrong Linoleum flooring

1917 Good Housekeeping ad for my wardrobe trunk

2010-02-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

You might remember my post from last April about the Old wardrobe trunk that I bought .
Recently I was going through a 1917 bound edition of Good Housekeeping and I found this ad for the exact style of trunk. Very cool.

Ad for cigarettes featuring very cool vintage gloves - and they're green!

2010-02-25T17:51:00.000-05:00

First the green caught my eye, of course, because you know that I love green. Then the coolness of the gloves caught me. I need these gloves. But I don't smoke. I could put something else in those awesome little snap pockets. A cellphone! But I hardly use mine though, it's rarely turned on. Maybe by the time that I find a pair I'll think of something to put in them.