'Striking Poses' - book giveaway

A special book giveaway for vintage clothing lovers and fans of old Hollywood. This hardback, 140 page book is called 'Striking Poses' and it has tons of color promotional photos from Hollywood 1940s, 50s to early 60s. Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Olivia DeHaviland, Maureen O'Hara, Joan Crawford, Marlene Deitrich, Joan Collins, Jean Tierney, Elizabeth Taylor, Betty Hutton, also Lassie, Bogart, Brando, Edward G Robinson, Glenn Ford, Spencer Tracy and more. Staged poses in gowns, silly costumes, swimsuits and lingerie. Also some staged candid shots of the stars at home. Lots of great images.
You can enter the drawing by either sending me an email at dvintage@comcast.net or by posting a comment at the bottom of this blog post. Winner will be drawn on August 21st.








Post comment directly below to be entered in the drawing for this book

Four Kinda Boring Outfits - Project Runway

I'm sorry, but I didn't really like the 4 outfits made for last night's challenge on Project Runway. In teams of 3, the designers had to make a 3 piece outfit, with the winner's outfit going into production by Macy's INC line of clothing. I'm not familiar with INC, so maybe I don't know enough to judge what they are looking for design-wise. Going by what the designers made, I'm guessing that they are a basic separates label. But what I really need is a second look at the outfits, because, as always, you don't get a very good look at them the first time around. Maybe they'll look better to me when I get a closer look at them (which will be easy, because Bravo re-airs the show about 10 times during the week)
Angela won, and out of the 4 outfits, hers was the best. Angela was very smart in picking Michael and Laura as her team mates. They are both very good designers and they managed to keep her design mainstream, and they kept her from covering her design with more of those puff-tart rosettes that she used last week, or as Laura described it - "Full tilt boogie Angela extravaganza of puff". Angela really did want to put them on the jacket and the pants, and Michael was funny telling her no-no-no when she kept saying couldn't they just put a few on the jacket. She said that the rosettes are her signature for her designs. Her rosettes are actually good old fashioned yo-yos that were popular to make quilts in the1920-30s. They did end up put a few very small matching yo-yos on the jacket, which actually looked good as small accents. The jacket and pants were nice, but maybe with different pieces. There was just something about the overall look that didn't appeal to me. I think Angela owes alot of her win to Michael & Laura and their design ideas. It reminds me of Wendy Pepper and the dress she did for Banana Republic. The only nice, wearable garment that she made that season was the one for Banana Republic, and for that she had to use the guidelines of their style and color to follow. She did alright being told what to design, but on her own, her ideas were way off base during the competitions.
You can buy Angela's outfit at Macy's online - http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=213742


Robert, who use to design Barbie clothing made a very basic and boring top, skirt and jacket and so did Bonnie's team except with pants. Judge Nina Garcia threw a fit over Bonnie's pants, she didn't like the cut and the fabric which she thought was cheap. She threw such a fit that I figured right then that Bonnie would be the one to go, and she was (does Nina rule Project Runway?)

The big build up to someone being thrown off of Project Runway was overdone. Keith was the one to get the boot. It seems that he snuck in some design/pattern books into his apartment. Designers have strict rules that they are not allowed to have any sources or references during the production of the show. Kayne saw the books and told the producers. The designers are also not allowed to go anywhere during the production of the show either, and Keith snuck out for several hours at some point, and had access to the internet during that time. So he was given the boot. Broken rules certainly deserve someone getting the boot, but it wasn't as big of a scandal as I had hoped it would be. Keith didn't turn out to be such a villain afterall, because he really only hurt himself. I'm sure we'll all be treated to endless interviews with Keith proclaiming that he would have won if he hadn't gotten the boot and that everyone was jealous of his talent and were threatened by him, so they turned him in.
Keith's team of Alison & Jeffrey were left to finish his design on their own. They did pull it off, but they should have changed that wacky pull down tank-top that Keith came up with. The pants were sharp (for tall gals with skinny legs)

I really like Alison, and I think at this point (this will probably change) I'd like to see either her or Uli win the show.

A Victorian drying rack becomes a room divider and display for vintage fabrics

This is what you see first when you walk into my new room. It is a room divider and camoflauge for my craft area. It is actually an old Victorian drying rack. I saved it from being sold at our yardsale before we moved last year. It was stored in the rafters of my parent's garage, and I don't remember seeing it before my dad pulled it out to sell it. I thought it was really interesting and I didn't know then what I was going to do with it, but knew that I would think of something eventually. Now here it is, happily acting as a room divider and display for some of my favorite fabrics and linens.
I should have taken a photo of it with nothing on it so that you could see it better. It is 3 folding sections with 4 dowels in each section to hang your clothing on. It's not the sturdiest thing. Behind it is my ironing board, two trunks and a bureau that store fabrics and craft supplies, and my work table.
Click images for closer views of each of the 3 sections, and more details on some of the fabrics.