Summer Vintage

I'm playing major catch up on the blog today. I must admit, ever since I started posting on Instagram, my poor blog has been terribly neglected. It's just so easy to quickly share a photo of a finished project. But I've had this blog for so many years, and have documented such a journey of sewing, I want to get back to posting on it.

Oh, but I've been so intimidated with catching up! Well, I have to start sometime... So, here goes! I thought I'd start with an easy one to type up today: my favorite pieces from this summer's vintage wardrobe.

I totally lived in forties shorts this summer. I made two pairs from McCall 6449: a white cotton twill pair that was true to the pattern and a seersucker pair. I changed those to zip up the side. The blouses in these two photos weren't made by me. The grey blouse is Freddie's of Pinewood and the white is from Target.

I had lots of the white/caramel seersucker and made a full playsuit. The skirt was self drafted, and the top was Vogue 5469. I wore the whole look to Viva this year. Speaking of Viva, which is a weekend long Rockabilly convention held here in Vegas, we had such a blast! I can't wait for next year. The music is great, but the shopping and people watching is the best. The vintage you see walking around is incredible!

Shopping like Jay Gatsby

Happy Monday all! A quick one today, but a fun one. 

I was with my husband this weekend, shopping at the Forum at Caesars, when we walked past Brooks Brothers. I've never been in before, but apparently it's America's oldest menswear brand. I always dig stuff like that. 

What caught our attention was the big Gatsby display in the windows.

As you can read below, the costumes in the movie were greatly influenced by the Brooks Brothers' archives. In the spirit of the film, the store created a collection based on the movie. Very fun. 

My husband ended up buying the green sweater on the left mannequin. He was super excited about it, saying how vintage 20's it looked. I think he's secretly a costumer, too, though he just hasn't realized it yet ;)

It really is a good looking sweater.
Brooksbrothers.com

I love vintage trophies!

Now, can the ladies please just get a Mr. Selfridge display so I can buy an amazingly huge Edwardian hat off the rack? Guys have all the luck :)

No fabric in sight...

So, something just pretty for today. Because it's monday and everyone needs something pretty on a monday :)

This was pretty cool. The other night, at the Cosmopolitan, there was a fashion show of gowns made entirely of paper and plastic. No fabric in sight. The gowns were designed by artist Jennifer Henry. The exhibit/collection was called Flock Flock Flock.

The creations were really fabulous to see. Huge, fluffy dresses, wafting and sparkly, glittery ones slinking down the runway. My personal favorite was a cinderella confection of clear cellophane that caught the light and practically luminesced. Too pretty! There was also a really dramatic pouf of black paper that made quite an impression.

Take a peak at the video below and catch the end of the show, when all the models came back out together. Pretty, pretty!

New additions to the family...

...the family of sewing machines! That is steadily growing.

I've been on a bit of a sewing machine binge lately. To be specific, a Singer binge. And it all started one morning at 6 am when I saw "singer" go by as I scrolled through the TV guide. I've never been a tv shopper, but within ten minutes I found myself calling HSN and ordering a machine.

Oh god. A new avenue of shopping.

To add a little context, I have been in the market for a new machine for a while now, and this one was crazy on sale.

So far I'm happy. I haven't sewn anything with it yet, besides repairing some pants, but I did use a new machine as an excuse to go to a sewing machine class. I highly recommend it. I've never gone to a class like this before. I was surprised how much I forgot about using machines. Even little things like "keep the presser foot up when threading."

A different kind of costume...

Rhinestones galore! And a plume up there, too :)

Okay, so, not my grandest costuming moment, but it was still fun!

I originally had big plans for the circus girl costume (costume party at the barn). They involved glittery spray paint and tons of rhinestones and 1930's makeup and hairdo with sparkly head band and perhaps some feathers... 

Well, I was at the civil war reenactment up until an hour before so by the time I ditched the hoop and got to the barn, I was like, eh. I was also up until four the night before at a ghost hunt, EMF's, EVP's and all... But that's a story for another day.

I did the bare minimum and didn't bother with hair because it just went up into a helmet anyway. Pony and I had a good time, though! I think he liked his costume.

Happy Halloween all!

Costumes and Ponies

Meet the pony. Well, he's not a pony, but even with his lengthy string of noble sounding names, he still gets called "pony". Often in a voice totally unfitting to a huge animal, but hey, I talk to my doberman in a mini voice too. They're all my babies!

Anyway, I'm introducing you because he is the reason for my costume brainstorming today.

For Halloween, my barn has a costume contest. Obviously, this involves the horse as well. 

I spent this morning browsing horse and rider costumes, which truthfully are all very clumsy looking: horse as dragon, you knight. Horse as __(large, boxy thing)__, you __(uncomfortable costume)__, etc etc. 

I briefly toyed with the idea of making him medieval-looking tack but then I would have to make a dress. I also thought, "aha! A redingote! Marie Antoinette rode astride!" But I think that one would be lost on most of the crowd, not to mention both those ideas left me making more costumes, which I really don't have time for. 

But then it came to me -- a circus girl! A cute, vintage style circus rider to be exact.

See more totally cute vintage circus
gals at The Decophile

I love it. I was just watching Water for Elephants and now I have visions of me with a cute sparkly headband, marcelled bob and ballet slippers. I will have to work on fancying up the horse, too, but at least he wont have to wear anything too bad, maybe an ostrich plume or two...

I know it's far away, but now I'm excited :)

Anyone else dress up their pets?

Reese Witherspoon in Water for Elephants.

One day in May...

I'll be with you in apple blossom time,

I'll be with you to change your name to mine.

One day in May

I'll come and say:

"Happy the bride the sun shines on today!"

What a wonderful wedding there will be,

What a wonderful day for you and me!

Church bells will chime

You will be mine

In apple blossom time.

(Apple Blossom Time, by The Andrews Sisters)

Because May always makes me think of weddings (maybe it's because my anniversary is in May...), I thought I would invite you all to not just one wedding, but four.

As in four generations of weddings. And dresses. Pretty dresses. Even the inside of one of the dresses.

Do enjoy!

How fab! Look at that veil!

So first, 1922 Chicago. This is Maria and Peter, my great grandparents, or my mom's mom's parents. I think of all the weddings in my family, Maria gets the prize for the most amazing veil. I mean, wow. If you look closely at the dress, it looks like it has diagonal rows of beading at the bust and vermicelli beading on the skirt. There are little ruffles for sleeves and it looks like she is wearing white gloves, like opera gloves.

Below is a picture that must have been taken shortly after the wedding. She has a great marcel with a cute little forlock curl. Again the dress has beading and she wears a feather boa and T strap shoes. If I'm not mistaken, I think someone in my family still has the pearls she is wearing.

Pinking and Pleating

Recently I thought it would be a cute idea to make a tablecloth, but make it look like a petticoat. I love love love petticoats with ruffles on the bottom so I thought I would take some inspiration from the 18th century and whip one up using fun fabric.

Ruffles are not the way to go by the way -- for me, at least. I don't know... gathering and gathering... and gathering and gathering... it makes me want to pull out my hair! There is just something about ruffles that I can't seem to embrace, though I love the way they look. So I did a little research and decided on pleats rather than gathers, and I am loving this idea even more!

I took inspiration from this painting below: Music Party by Louis Roland Trinquesse, 1774. The lady in white wears a petticoat with a wide, box-pleated ruffle. It has loosely spaced pleats that are sewn down with one row of stitches, unlike the pleated trim on her gown that is sewn down on both sides.

Music Party by Louis Roland Trinquesse, 1774

The gown below, from the Kyoto Costume Institute, has a similar hem. You can see it better in the second picture. The hem is also pinked.

Robe a la Francaise, c.1765
Kyoto Costume Institute 
AC5317 86-8-5AE

So here is what I've got so far: I pinked the fabric using a rotary pinking tool I bought from a taxidermy supply of all places, then I secured my pleats with pins, pinned the whole thing to a round circle of fabric, which will become the tablecloth, and started stitching everything together. 

By the way, I know you usually only see scalloped pinking within a scalloped border, but I did see this engraving that shows pointy pinking on a scallop did exist... See "A."

via Fuschia's 18th Century Dress

It's coming along great. Soon enough I will have a super cute tablecloth for spring time and I will have also practiced my pleating for my next gown that comes along. Yay!

Tablescape Thursday: A Garden of Jadeite

Welcome to tablescape thursday number two! Special thank you to Between Naps on the Porch for hosting this fun, weekly event.

This week I have a garden green theme, complete with froggy pitcher and birdie salt and peppers. The luminous jadeite glows in the afternoon sun and yellow napkins add some cheery color to a mostly white background.

Fire King Jade-ite in "Jane Ray" shown with yellow and white
 print napkins from Target

Antique mother of pearl cutlery is mixed with Wallace "Grand Baroque"

An alternative to traditional chargers, printed paper cake-liners from
Sur la Table add a bit of fun to the table.

Tweet tweet! I collect bird salt and peppers.
This colorful pair are from Pottery Barn.

Bee themed glassware by La Rochere. An
"Antique Silver" coaster from Pottery Barn
catches any condensation from cold
 ice tea. Don't want to ruin the printed swiss
dot tablecloth!

I love how the light illuminates jadeite!

I love love love this frog pitcher from Sur la Table!

So as promised, I will share some history bits.

Jadeite

This green colored glass dates back to the 1930's. Started by McKee Glass company, jade kitchenware and dinnerware was originally inexpensive and serviceable. Next came Jeanette Glass Company ewith thier colored glass line. Jeanette coined the term "jadeite." Almost a decade later, Anchor Hocking's Fire-king division introduced their "jade-ite." Now, among collectors, all green glassware of this style is just referred to as jadeite. It remained popular into the 70's, with its hey day during the 40's and 50's. Even at the height of it's popularity it was very cheap. Mostly jadeite was distributed as give aways, sometimes in boxes of oatmeal, other times as a gift if you went to the movie theater.

My pattern, "Jane Ray," was given it's name decades after production by collectors. It is one of Anchor Hocking's domestic lines. Anchor Hocking is most well known for it's "Restaurant Ware" line, which was very hearty and was originally used in institutions such as schools and hospitals. Now it is highly collectable. 

Jadeite is a fun thing to collect. It is relatively inexpensive and very available. Most antique shops or flea markets, even thrift shops, have a some for sale. Basically, you don't have to search too far to come up with a set.

Mother of Pearl Cutlery

The most popular time for mother of pearl (MOP) handled cutlery was late 1800's, early nineteen. MOP handled pieces were popular for dessert service, so they are usually blunt knives and forks. I have yet to come across antique MOP spoon, though I have been looking. I like to use mine for breakfast, since they are very delicate. MOP pieces are often silver plated with sterling ferrules (the little silver band between the handle and fork/knife implement). When they are indeed silver plated, antique MOP can be used as a fish service. Today, stainless steel is made differently than it was in years past, but in Victorian times, steel reacted with the fish and created an off taste, which is why antique fish services pieces are traditionally silver or silver plate.

La Rochere Glasses

La Rochere goes back to 1475 France. If you read French, click here for the company's history. The bee pattern is inspired by the Napoleonic Bee. Apparently, the glasses are based on a set that Napoleon had made with his symbol. Napoleon.org says that the bee is a "Symbol of immortality and resurrection, the bee was chosen so as to link the new dynasty to the very origins of France. Golden bees (in fact, cicadas) were discovered in 1653 in Tournai in the tomb of Childeric I, founder in 457 of the Merovingian dynasty and father of Clovis. They were considered as the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France."

And to learn about the Wallace "Grand Baroque" silverware, please visit my post from last week.

Happy Thursday all!

A Tea Party and an Antique French Embroidered Handkerchief

First the tea party.

I had the pleasure of being invited to a bridal shower the other day and it happened to be a tea party. A very well done tea party at that. It was everything you expected from a tea party, including darling desserts and fab china!

Trembleuse in Old Country Roses by Royal Albert

Above is a "trembluese" in the "Old Country Roses" pattern by Royal Albert. I was like eeeeeeeee!!! when I saw them. 

You just don't see a trembluese every day.

The trembluese is the precursor to the "party pack" - think the plate that you hang your wine glass off the side of. They originated in the 18th century actually. Trembluese comes form the french for tremble. In early examples, the cup fits into an elevated rim to hold it steady, likely for the elderly. In the 19th century they morphed into what we see here, where the cup is offset on a larger-than-a-saucer plate, which allows the user to hold a cup and plate in one hand, instead of getting bogged down by a cup, saucer and plate. Very handy!

Old Country Roses has been in production since the 1960's. Royal Albert goes back to 1896.

The pastry forks are from two different sets. The set on the right is "Repousse" by Kirk Steiff. Repousse is one of my favorite patterns. It is especially interesting because it has been in production here in America since 1828! That makes it the oldest pattern still in production.

Marina and I taking tea :)
If you want to know some interesting history bits,
visit her blog, the Enlightened Age.

So this brings me to the antique handkerchief.

While at the party, the bride was given an antique hankie to carry at her wedding. It reminded me that I never did put my hankie from my wedding in acid free paper. Trip to the wedding box! I ended up wrapping everything I could find in my tissue paper: hankie, veil, candles, flowers... Why risk it?

But before I wrapped up the handkerchief, I took some pictures to share.

The hankie was given to me by my grandmother and I carried it in my purse for my wedding. It was given to her by a friend at the time of her wedding. It is French and probably early 20th, late 19th century. The embroidery looks to be machine done, as it is very uniform, but I am not 100% positive. Either way, it's gorgeous! So elaborate!

Important!!! PS...

Acid free paper is a must! I really must stress how important it is to store your worthy fabric pieces in an acid free environment. As a costumer and collector of antique/vintage textiles, I have learned that proper storage is imperative. 

Heirloom Sewing for Children has great acid free paper in big sheets (30x40''). Click here to be redirected.

Get some acid-free, archival quality paper and tissue and wrap all your goodies in it, then store them where there is air flow and it is cool and dark and dry. Natural fibers especially need to breath (linen, silk, cotton...). Also, it is unwise to store anything in plastic for long stretches of time. If you live in a humid environment, the fabric can get mildew and sometimes the plastic breaks down and then you have a mess.

This applies to both old fabrics as well as new things you may make as a costumer. It would be so sad to spend hours and hours of hard work stitching or embroidering a piece, only to find it years later with those awful yellow discolorations that are a nightmare to get out. Wrapping in paper also helps with wrinkles, believe it or not.

When wrapping up your things, it helps to arrange the tissue so when you fold, the fabric doesn't touch itself and it is always separated by a layer of tissue.

If you really want to up the anti, wrap seasonal clothes, lengerie, delicate fabrics, etc in acid free paper to store. Some people do this when they pack as well, but I don't have the patience.