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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Future Projects And Vogue Pattern Book 1951

I missed the "Fall For Cotton" challenge.  As I begin to type this blog post, I have surrounded myself with a bunch of patterns trying to decide what I might do next.  I thought I had a particular pattern I wanted to do but had too much perplexity about finding a fabric for it so I guess it just isn't this pattern's time.  It sometimes becomes overwhelming to find just the right fabric.  I find myself wanting to pick out the same types of styles as what is on the pattern envelope because one of the reasons I bought the particular pattern is because I like the complete style:)

I was very fortunate to happen upon a copy of Vogue's New Book For Better Sewing at a decent price.  Of course, it isn't in the best of shape but I paid probably half of what they go for so I'm quite happy to have this copy.  I thought in getting this book it was about tips and tricks to sewing but it is actually a detailed look at some various patterns that were out in 1952.




You can see all the images to the pattern styles on Gertie's website.  I'm not sure if Gertie ever did find all the patterns from the book but she certainly made some beautiful things.

As I was scanning through the pages of this wonderful book,  I came to this image and thought how much I really loved this dress and thought that this would be the one I'd most like to make out of the book.  I thought that I would one day like to find this dress pattern.  So, I began to search around and I realized quite quickly that it is not easy to find the patterns from this book!  I wonder if anyone out there actually has them all?



Then a few weeks after buying this book, I was searching around for the above pattern and found it.    Oh joy!  This will be a fun dress to learn from. This pattern will certainly give me practice on covered buttons.  I wouldn't mind to have this dress in every common core color.  Hey, why not throw in a couple of novelty prints too?  

I am quite sure it would take a lot of skill to match up the seams on this dress with the striped pattern they show on this envelope.  Gosh just look at how the stripes would need to be matched up!  I think I'll stick to a solid color for the first go around.



I find in addition to vintage fashion magazines that Vogue Pattern Books are a wealth of fashion information.  It is amazing how well these dresses were designed.  So much different than going into a shop today and buying a dress.


As I was browsing through this book from 1951, I saw this image below and immediately fell in love with this dress.  How grand is this dress???  I just love to see the actual dresses on models, so this was indeed a rare treat to not just see an illustration.  So, I set out to see if I could find the pattern.


Low and behold, I found one lonely copy of this pattern!  So, this will certainly be a dress that I will try out in the future.  The sleeve caps are so interesting.


Within this pattern book was also the below images,  how cute are these bow accents on this dress?



There is this wonderful dress again in shades of green.  Although, I do prefer this dress in red.


I can only dare to imagine how much some of these patterns below would command today!!!

In all honesty, it would be difficult for me to wear a saucer hat with a little stick sticking out of the top.  Have any of you worn hats like this?  But, I can also say this model looks glamourous and gorgeous none the less.














A Schiaparelli Pattern, I dare to guess the amount this would sell for today too!



My next post, I will share scanned images from a 38/39 Vogue Pattern Book.     I'm not sure of the exact year as I bought it coverless.  But, it contains a wealth of great images to share!  I'll also share a couple of patterns I am thinking about starting on next.  I don't think I am quite ready to start out on the patterns above but they are high on my list.  I still haven't quite yet decided what to do.  








Thursday, September 19, 2013

Paper dolls

Paper Dolls:  In case any of you had a few minutes to spare and felt like dressing some vintage ladies, here are some nifty outfits.  Jane Arden had quite the wardrobe.  There are tons more if you google her.











Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Eisenberg Originals, Vintage Ads, and Celine

As you may know from reading my blog, I am a big Eisenberg fan of both their jewelry and apparel.

I thought I'd share with you an Eisenberg dress I bought off of Etsy awhile back.  This actually is one of the more "casual" dresses I've seen from Eisenberg.  I have subsequently sold this dress as I didn't really get the right vibe from the bolero as I thought I would but I thought I might share some photographs of this dress with you.


When Eisenberg first started out making clothing, they used to attach jewelry to their garments but the jewelry would mysteriously disappear.  Their jewelry became more famous then their garments.  This dress is probably more from the end of their dress making days but still a gem none the less.    I'd love to find the advertisement for this dress.

I have a lot more to share about Eisenberg jewelry and clothing in future posts.

Outfit Details:
Dress: Eisenberg
Hat:  Vintage Dior Etsy only $45
Brooch and bracelet: Eisnenberg
Shoes - vintage 50's







Meet Celine (my daughter decided on this name), this is my dress model.  This is one of those items I was on the fence about buying, but now I am glad I did.  It will make future cloth making much easier and of course selling items that aren't quite right for me.   I bought this dress form through Amazon and I'd certainly recommend this dress form to someone interested in one.  






Dress without the bolero.






I had to share this up close image of the fabric detail.  Look at how the seams match up perfectly to create a pattern.  This is quite impressive.  The dress fabric has a bit of a texture to it even though I believe it to be a cotton base. 


I thought I'd also share some vintage Eisenberg ads.   As I find more Eisenberg ads, I'll also share them.

I also have, yep you guessed it and Eisenberg Ad file on Pinterest, please check it out.

Here's a vintage ad, from Eisenberg 1951... fancy a cup of tea with these ladies?  Check out how the jewelry is integral to the design of the dress.  I have yet to see an Eisenberg Original garment with the original jewelry still with the garment.  I think in the case of these below,  they were sewn in.   These dresses were quite expensive back then at $60 and $70, respectively.  This is probably $600-$700 today.




Eisenberg Original Ad from Vogue 1950






Eisenberg Clothing ad 1949


Eisenberg Dress 1948






Eisenberg Original ad "My Vintage Vogue" 1944










A Happy Ending...



Oh, but Celine must have a head my daughter tells me.  The necklace is my daughter's.  She wanted Celine to wear it with this outfit.


Postscript:
Celine was also granted hands by my daughter but they don't quite work with this particular outfit.







Saturday, September 14, 2013

Lilli Ann, Suit Inspiration, and the 50's in Fashion Vogue/Bazaar

I'm hoping to at least get a new blog banner going in the next few weeks.   I'm also going to host a fabulous giveaway that you'll all want to take part in but you will also need to follow me on Facebook to be apart of the action, so if you'd like to get a head start you can follow me here.



Continuing on with the "well suited" series:

I've been trying to figure out a little more about light and shadow in photography.  It's an interesting mix.   So, also stay tuned for my next post.

In addition, I've been wanting to understand more of the makeup style of the early 50's.  I took a trip to the mall earlier this week, to add some additions to my makeup stash.  It's nice to add some new shadows, lipsticks, and products.  I've listed a couple of new products below that I thought you all might be very interested in too.  

In the pictures below,  I wanted to practice my makeup style to match kind of an early 50's makeup style.  Although my jacket is probably very late 50's, I think it still sets a great scene for early 50's.   In looking at the fashion magazines of the early 50's, the eyebrow was very defined and the beginning of  a really dramatic black eye liner can be seen.  Of course, the red lips were also an elemental force.


Also, I have a great Pinterest board called "Sensation Suits Vintage Style", if you'd like to stop on by and take a peak at some really great pieces of fashion history!

I also have a few other great early 50's ideas on outfits coming up, including an very spot on early 50's Paul Parnes dress that very much reminds me of something you'd see in vintage Vogue.   I hope to be able to get to this look this fall too.



Outfit details:

Hat: Etsy purchase $5!
Scarf: Schiaparelli gem (Schiaparelli scarfs can be found on ebay for actually pretty low amounts, unlike the jewelry and apparel!)
Earrings: Schiaparelli
Brooch:Eisenberg
Suit: Lilli Ann (I bought this jacket as a separate which is considerably less than paying for a full suit and paired it with another Lilli Ann skirt I owned from the same time frame, it worked out rather well.)
Umbrella: Vintage 50s love this umbrella
Bag: Vintage ebay 
Gloves:  Paris -my favorite Michigan vintage shop - gloves are from the "old" Hudson's brand when you would love to take a stroll in Detroit to go shopping.  But, now Detroit is just a photographer's dream place of many pieces of historic nature crumbling.  Of course, there are a few patches of Detroit that are not in decay but overall it's a big city that had big dreams that needs big help.  There are so many grand buildings from the days when the auto was all made in the USA and many people lived in the city.  Even the old homes, have so much character.  











A couple of recent purchases for makeup that I can say are making a difference to my "50's" look are the eyebrow pencil from Anastasia.  This will certainly be a new staple.   I really love this pencil!  I have been using Smashbox for their eyebrow set, which I also like but I think a nice combination of both is just perfect.  I'm digging my eyebrows, what do you think? Think I got the early 50's right?






For lipstick, I used a pencil and then followed it by this incredible lipstick by Kat Von D Outlaw, which I can say is a great "stay on" formula.  I did also add a bit of my "regular" lipstick as a topcoat but just mildly.  I do like this formula.  You might even add a bit of gloss to the top for added effect.  Although this image does look gloss like, don't be fooled it is more of a lipstick "stain" in matt that has a more permanent effect than a "regular" lipstick.  I also bought her liquid liner pen but I have to say, from my experience, MAC still has the best liquid liner pen. 







I thought this hat above had a lot of resemblances to these hats in this image below..




I thought I would also share some vintage suits from vintage fashion magazines that I have scanned.  Suits were such a big part of vintage fashion history.