vintage
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts

Seriously...

Seriously I made these pajamas 2 months ago. For a hot minute I thought about pretending that I made them for the pajama party last weekend and faking all of you out. But then my conscious got the best of me. These pajamas are crazy and my life is crazy right now and I'm crazy for not posting them yet.

I think this is maybe the first vintage pattern I bought on Etsy. Back in the days where I just bought the pattern because it was cute and didn't pay a lick of attention to the size. Luckily, the sewing gods were smiling on me because this one turned out to be the right size out of sheer luck because I sure as heck didn't care back then. It's an adorable pattern and it's slightly Asian inspired and I love the idea of vintagey, slightly dressy pjs since my natural urge is to wear really hideous vintage polyester nightgowns to bed.

By the way, the pants call for a side zipper closure! In pajamas! What the what? If you think I'm intentionally sleeping in a zipper you've lost your mind. I decided to flat measure the pants to make sure they had a little give, then fold over the top and put in an elastic waist. Here's how that went pre-elastic...



Yikes. They were huge, both in height and width. I basically chopped about 4 inches off the top and then added elastic which seemed to work out alright...

Here's how they turned out. I added flat black piping which turned out imperfect but pretty cute. The fabric is a Asian lantern print flannel from JoAnns. It jumped out at me from the pj flannel aisle and screamed "make those vintage Asian-ish pjs with me!" So I did.





Close up of the print/piping. PS They're crazy comfy and I've been wearing the pants with a tank top quite often lately (it's a little warm in Texas these days for full-on flannel).


So the craziness in my life is due to the fact that the fiance just accepted a job which will take him to Ohio for at least 3 but possibly 7 months. Oh and he leaves in 1.5 weeks. So although I am participating in Me Made May, please excuse me if I'm a little slow on posts for the first 2ish weeks. We're busy packing his stuff and packing our stomachs with yummy Mexican food since I'm pretty sure Ohio is a little lacking in that area...

Happy Wednesday loves!
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New Years Suprises!

A few months ago I won a giveaway by Angie from Quality Time and I was super excited to receive the package a few days ago! So of course I'm sharing it with you!
First off, the fabric. The piece on the left is a wool plaid, that will go perfectly with my new brown platform loafers. The other is a large piece of poly jersey that will make a fun wrap dress.


Next up, I love this vintage jewelry! The bracelet is to die for!


A few vintage notions...


A big favorite, vintage patterns! The cat loves them too...

Here are some of my favorites...

 

 
A vintage Ladies Home Journal (another favorite of the cat)...
with precious vintage ads!

 
A cool sewing book that will help me with my dream of making a quilt!
Thanks so much Angie! I'm so excited to use all this great stuff!
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Spoiling Myself Rotten...

It's ridiculous how much sewing stuff I'm buying myself for my "Christmas present" this year. Does it make you a bad person to spend more money on Christmas gifts for yourself than everyone else on your list combined? Maybe. But if this is wrong I don't want to be right...

First up, 2 vintage patterns from Etsy:

First Simplicity 7845, which I saw on someone else's blog (can't remember who now) and then immediately snatched up the first one I saw on Etsy. If I can get my butt off the couch this morning I'll be making the cream colored version in maroon for Christmas.

 
Second is Simplicity 6912, which I purchased from a fellow Texan, Christa, who has a million great patterns for really decent prices, so go over and get some! I'm crazy excited about this pattern because I already have 50 different ways I want to make it for summer!
In other pattern news...

I shamefully have never purchased any Colette patterns, although I have used and loved the Sorbetto, so I bought the Colette Sewing Handbook as well as the patterns for the Clover pants (I've been wanting to make these forever!) and Jasmine blouse. Can't wait for it all to come in!



Then, this morning I discovered (via Lazy Stitching) another fabulous independent sewing company, Victory Patterns! I immediately purchased the Ava Dress/Blouse, which is too fabulous for words and it's now patiently sitting in PDF form on my computer, waiting to be printed out!
Finally, to round out the "printed materials" category, I bought the famed Fit for Real People a few weeks ago and have been gobbling it up ever since! I've heard so much about this book and I'm super excited to use the techniques in it, however, I have to say, the pictures and styling make me laugh every time. Especially this one...


Finally, the sister and mom came to the city yesterday for some craft store/pet store shopping and since JoAnns was having a huge sale and I had the coupons, they graciously invited me along. So I ofcourse bought a ton of fabric, as you do...


And I finally caved and bought the Martha Stewart glitter glue pens I've been lusting after for almost a year. They're $35 normally, but I had a 40% off coupon, which brought them down to around $20. Maybe after another year of convincing I'll buy the loose glitter collection...

Here are all 24 of them in their glittery glory...

I've already used them to give myself a glittery Christmas manicure that I'm not sure you can see in this picture. Suffice to say, my nails are super sparkly, just the way I like them!

Hope you're spoiling yourself a little (or a lot) this Christmas too!
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Rehearsal Dinner Dress

This might be my new favorite dress. Although until I looked at these pictures I didn't realize how short it is! And I wore it to work today, the day the nuns volunteer at my office... yikes.

Confession: I didn't actually make this dress, my mom made it for my grandmother in the 70's. The fabric is an incredible silk that my grandfather brought back from one of his many business trips to Japan. The dress was given to me a few years ago, in beautiful shape for a 40+ year old dress! (way to make me feel horrible about my sewing skills mom!) It was originally ankle length and I had been meaning to cut it off to give it a more modern feel but I kept putting it off until I decided I wanted a dress for the rehearsal dinner Friday night.


I've worn it twice since then and am officially in love. Luckily my grandmother in the 70's was the same size as me in the 2000's. The colors of this fabric are so gorgeous and vibrant! And, the seams inside aren't finished and they haven't raveled after all this time. I need more fabric like this. Also it perfectly matches my blue heels that matched nothing else in my closet...


Close up of the fabric...

And because I'm an idiot and incapable of taking pictures at events, I only have waist up, blurry, dark pictures from the night of. So here's one of those for you...

                                 

One more dress from Thanksgiving to show you!

Happy Wednesday!
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The Loot...

Remember how I told y'all I was going to spend my Friday hitting up some crazy estate sales? Well here's the loot...

Estate Sale #1

The fabric at this estate sale was a little on the high priced side, plus it was mostly quilting fabric, but I did manage to snag a few pieces of gorgeous cotton lawn (although I think the light blue might be a silk blend because it has a really incredible sheen) and a giant piece of wool knit stuff...

I think I'll use the light blue for a spring version of the bombshell dress and the wool knitty stuff for a faux Chanel jacket?



I managed to score some patterns too...


 Is it just me or are the drawings on Marie Osmond's Marlo Thomas's (sorry mom! I'm a little too young...)patterns creepy? So smiley...


More patterns...


 Altogether (with the 2nd day 25% discount) I ended up spending about $25 on the three pieces of fabric, 12 patterns and a bag of bias tape.

Estate Sale #2

At the next estate sale, I hit the jackpot. An entire room of gorgeous vintage apparel fabric for $2 a piece or 3 for $5, regardless of yardage! I've never seen it that cheap! There was also a HUGE box of vintage buttons on cards but unfortunately, I was due to meet the boyfriend for lunch so I only had time to swipe a card of self cover buttons and 2 vintage zippers. Altogether this pile of 11 pieces of fabric and notions cost me $12! I could have probably bought 4 times that much fabric but I decided to restrain myself and only pick pieces I really loved.


Here are a few of my favorites:

The piece on the left is hilarious, a bunch of birds with the words "hip chick" floating around. There's not much of it, so it will probably end up being used for a craft project. The cherry blossom print on the right is probably my favorite piece of material I've ever purchased from an estate sale. I've had an obsession with Japanese floral cottons for a while and have several saved on my Etsy favorites, but this is one of the prettiest I've ever seen. And it's 4 whole yards!


These three are cotton printed with a lace design. I think they're so interesting and cute! There's not much yardage of the one on the left but I think I can squeeze a pencil skirt out of it. For the middle I'm imagining a strapless full skirted dress with the lace stripes.


This piece has to be my second favorite piece I've ever purchased second hand. Unfortunately in the picture doesn't quite portray it's shiny, tackiness.


When I first saw it, it immeadiately reminded me of the tuxedo some 60's Vegas lounge singer would wear. A slightly prettier version of the fabric below. I think it will be absolutely perfect for a flashy New Year's dress! Aside from Halloween, when else can you use your slightly tacky, super shiny fabric stash?


In total, I added 43 yards to my stash! AHHHHHHH! I'm trying not to think about it...

Now back to the bridesmaid's dress! (more on that later) Happy weekend!
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What I'm Doing Tomorrow...

Taking the day off tomorrow for a haircut in the morning and this in the afternoon...










That's right, 2 estates sales, each with a room FULL of vintage fabric and patterns. Paycheck, prepare to be blown...


Then, when I'm finally able to drag myself away, I promise I'll work on the bridesmaids dress I have to wear NEXT WEEKEND! Yikes... If I spent as much time sewing as I do buying fabric I would have a million new garments!


But seriously, how awesome is my Friday going to be?
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Thrifting Finds

In yet another example of my habit of spending money that I shouldn't, I hit up my neighborhood Goodwill on Friday to scope out the racks for vintage gems. As luck would have it, I scored this great vintage wool blazer for a mere $5! This is what I love about thrifting. A nice wool blazer purchased in a department store would easily cost upwards of $100 or more but this super cute vintage one was a tiny fraction of that!
I especially like the brand, "Lady Thomson". Wonder who Lady Thomson was?
So here's the problem. While the blazer fits perfectly in the shoulders and arms, it probably needs to be taken in a good 2 inches on the side seams. (Please excuse the weird picture of me below in my pajamas. I have finally purchased a tri-pod for my camera, so soon I will be able to take pictures without the aid of a mirror and maybe, if you're lucky, I'll decide to put on real clothes and actually brush my hair. But probably not...)
As you can probably tell by the picture, my hips and stomach look huge in this blazer, and while I did inexplicably gain 5 pounds this summer that I can. not. get. off., I'm not that wide in real, non-blazer life. I know this is a relatively simple fix but I am SUPER lazy when it comes to altering things with linings. Ugh. Anyway, I know I need to unpick the lining at the hem and then just take in both the lining and the wool, but do any of you experts out there have any magic tips for taking in jackets or is it as simple as it seems?



Hope you all are having a fabulous week!
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Boo!

I didn't think I was going to have a chance to dress up for Halloween this year since we spent this past weekend at home for a family birthday and other non-Halloween themed events. The only Halloween plan was to pass out candy at the boyfriend's new house (we were informed by the queen bee of his cul-de-sac that EVERYONE passed out candy). I was taking my post yoga shower this afternoon before heading to the boyfriend's and I was overcome with the Halloween spirit. I decided to pull out my fallback costume that I've had since high school but never ended up using. I found this great early 70's maxi dress in a thrift store years ago and figured it would make the perfect, easy Halloween costume. However, I always came up with some other costume instead. I thought this year it was especially appropriate considering it was clearly handmade (and very well, the seams are super sturdy!). Not sure if the little kids got the hippie reference, but at least I got to dress up!


Happy Halloween darlings!
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Thrifting + a Good Mail Day

Lots of sewing items acquired this weekend. First off, the new Burda and a Sewaholic pattern came in the mail!

I loved lots of things about the new Burda but I really loved the fairytale theme than ran through the issue and I thought the Christmas crafts were adorable! It almost makes me wish I had kids so I could make a Little Red Riding Hood house!


Also loved the artwork for these plate and fabric transfers!


This page makes me want to learn to knit RIGHT NOW. How cozy does that blanket look? LOVE it!

I ordered the Sewaholic pattern to make this skirt for my sister. She is young and cute and in college so she can get away with wearing cute short skirts. I already had the perfect fabric in my stash so when I saw her pin this on Pinterest I knew all I needed was the Crescent skirt pattern to make it. Hopefully starting on this in the next few days...

Source: flickr.com via Forrest on Pinterest

Next up I visited my neighborhood thrift store and picked up some more sewing stuff. I probably have 20 jacket and top patterns just like this but for 25 cents I couldn't resist taking them home just to make sure...

I also picked up this hilarious jumpsuit pattern that just makes me laugh with it's craziness, but let's face it, I'll probably make it and pretend it's cool. I loved the sexiness of this 70's jersey dress, not sure when I'll make it but I couldn't pass it up.


Finally I found this great 60's Vogue suit in my size, and...


3 yards of black wool suiting, which is exactly how much this pattern calls for! And for only $6! Yay! To be honest, I have no idea when I'll get around to this project but I feel like it was serendipity to find the pattern and the fabric together!


Today I'm starting my "Week of Tops". I'm hoping to get through my Fall sewing by powering through a category of clothing each week. This week I hope to finish 3-4 tops, next week I'll focus on 3-4 skirts, then I'll give myself 2 weeks to get through 3-4 dresses. All the tops are cut out, and they should be fairly easy because they're all pullovers with no closures. However, I'm supposed to be spending this afternoon teaching a girlfriend how to sew, so my projects will have to take a back burner today. We'll see how it goes!

Hope your weekend was fabulous!
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