Striped tubesocks & Gauchos

Do you ever recall something that you wore many years ago, and feel a bit embarrassed by the memory now? This just happened to me. I remember being about 11-12 years old in 1978-79, in the 5th grade, and gauchos were very popular. They were wide legged pants that came to the knee, I guess kind of like coulottes, but gauchos were a much cooler name. Anyway, I had a few pairs, including some with jazzy matching vests, and one vest even had a faux pocketwatch chain hanging from the pocket. OK, so sometimes I wore striped tubesocks with my gauchos, but hey, the stripes matched the color of the gauchos, so big deal. I wore them with tubesocks several times without a second thought. I was probably also wearing those suede shoes that had the wavy rubber sole bottoms, remember those?
Then I remember walking down the hall one day - stylin' fun'n'funky - in gauchos and tubesocks, and some girls were looking at me and laughing. When I got into class I felt so embarrassed and suddenly self-conscious because they had laughed at me. So I folded the tops of my tubesocks in to hide the stripes around the tops. I never wore gauchos and tubesocks again. And here I am, nearly 30 years later, remembering them laughing at me and the embarrassment that I felt. Up until the laughs, I felt cool in my outfit, even though I know now that it was a fashion faux pas, but I was only in the 5th grade. Why did I care what those girls thought? I didn't know them, they didn't know me, they weren't in my grade. Why should they care what I was wearing, why did I care what they thought of me?
When we are kids, we're not self-conscious and we seem to be oblivious to what others think of us. At some time in your life that changes though, and it's hard to get back to a point where you don't care how other people think you look. I'd like to think that I don't care, and I don't think that I care what they think of the way that I look, I just don't like the idea that they are actually thinking about the way that I look. Does that make sense? I feel uncomfortable sometimes when I feel that someone is taking a second look at me for whatever reason. I don't care what they think, I just want them to stop thinking, because why should they think and possibly form an opinion about the way that I look? I guess I'm still looking for those girls laughing at my tubesocks. But then again, maybe no one is looking at me, I'm very paranoid too, but that's another topic.


So onto a happier story, this Saturday I went to a local little-old-lady-charity-group yardsale. I haven't bought anything at a yardsale in a long time. You usually only see recent stuff at them and it's mostly kids toys and clothing. But there were a few little goodies to be had at this sale. The ladies all said 'Hi Honey!' very friendly and enthusiastically as I walked in, so I just had to buy something! Here is my bounty - I got a vintage tablecloth, an apron, an unused printed linen dishtowl, a couple bag of sewing notions, a small bag of buttons, two funky framed dimensional girls and a new Bates-style blanket. The blanket was my favorite, even though it's newer and not vintage, it was only $2 and it was just what I've been wanting to buy for the beds in Strathmere. Plus I bought a tiny carrot cake from their baked goods table. I'll have to watch the papers for more of these little sales, because I really had fun.

***Hummingbird update - I've seen 3 so far, two boys and a girl. That's how we've started out the past two Summers, and then more came later, last year. They're already fighting, I have 4 feeders out now, and I think I'll put a few more out tomorrow. I bought 4 new ones for my birthday (I know, such decandence and debauchery for my 40th birthday!) I have to get out there with my camera and catch a few snaps for the blog.

4/25/07 - Vintage Purchase

The inventory is done for the lot that I purchased on 4/25. There are 190 pieces, mostly lingerie from the 1960-70s, some purses and a few other pieces. Here are some quick snaps of the lingerie. The lady whose house this vintage came from was a big shopper/hoarder and all of what I got is unworn except for a very few pieces. The nylon lingerie is beautiful, she seems to have liked colors, and the condition is mint.
To the left are some of the pretty colored full slips, there were very few whites, mostly colors with pretty lace.
Next are the half slips with lace and ruffles, in pretty colors. One of these slips is not like the others . . . Yeah that's a zebra print slip and there are panties to match it in the next photo! There's also a snake print pair of panties and a pair with lips. The panties are all unworn too. The last photo are 4 of the nightgowns. A risque black lace with panels cover vital areas, a fun yellow nightie with layers of ruffles, a very feminine pink nightie with embroidered flowers and a floaty dark pink nighty.


After I measure and type up the day dresses that I had already photographed for next Monday's update, I'll get to work on this fresh lot. That's means alot of laundry and hang drying. So you won't start to see anything from this lot on the website until the following Monday.

Make sure that you are on my mailing list to receive email notice when the items start to go up on the website. Send an email to carol@dandelionvintage.com - to join my weekly email list. That way you'll know right away whenever fresh vintage stock is added (which is every Sunday night/Monday morning) I also provide you with some mindless chatter in my emails, similar to what you find in this blog!

Vintage in the sun

This Monday, I took advantage of the beautiful weather that we've been having here, to scrub out the sunporch. It had been closed up for the winter with everything just stacked up out there. I took everything out, scrubbed the deck floor with some bleach and also scrubbed down the tables and wicker chairs. While I was outside on the deck, I got buzzed by a hummingbird! We spotted the first one on Sunday, which strangely was the same date that we saw the first hummingbird last year (4/22) I'm glad that at least one is back.
After everything was dry and set back in the sunporch, it was time to do some vintage work. Since it was so nice out, I decided to do the photos out there too. So for Monday's update, you'll be seeing day dresses and a few other dresses, out in the sunporch. Here are a few of the photos. The background almost looks fake, but that really is our back yard. No one lives behind us, it's 1000s of acres of wood back there. It's a beautiful view to watch when you sit out there for breakfast or after dinner, just to watch the wildlife activity out there.



So these are just a few sneak peek photos of what will be added to the website next Monday. Also, on Wednesday, I finally got to see that load of vintage (see previous posts) I woke up Wednesday morning with a migraine, of course. But after 4 reschedules, I didn't want to cancel the appointment. Getting that stock was more important than my head (see how I suffer to get you great vintage!) So when she called and said she really was on the way this time, I said that I would be ready! I don't think I ever sorted through a batch of vintage so quickly! After they left, I went to bed for the rest of the day.
I got about 6+ banana boxes full of vintage, mostly lingerie including slips in really great colors, 25 purses, 40 hankies, some gloves, and a few other odds-n-ends. I have to go through an inventory everything today, so I don't know how many total pieces there are. There were only 2 day dresses, which was disappointing because I really need some dresses. There will be more to come from this lady/load, and I suspect the bulk of it will be lingerie and purses.
I'll post some preview photos later. This morning I have to get to the foodstore, the bank and Strathmere before I can get to work on the vintage.