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Friday, August 29, 2014

Sisterhood Of The Vintage Dress - First Stop Pennsylvania!

The lovely Kristen at Verity Vintage Studio has posted about her adventures with her visit from our Sisterhood of the Vintage Dress.   This is the first stop of our sisterhood dress adventures and oh my, what a grand entrance!
 

This dress will make its way through the USA, then to Canada, then to Australia.   I smiled all the way through Kristen's post.  Her post is so warmly written and oh wow, what an amazing place to live!  I almost felt like Kristen was going to offer me a nice slice of homemade apple pie at the end of her visit with the dress:)  I'm quite sure the dress enjoyed this first stop.

The dress just fits her beautifully and she shares a lot of wonderful images.  Please take a look and leave her a lovely comment.   She really took a lot of time out to think about the dress, accessories, and incorporate some of her own personal journey into this dress.

Thank you Kristen!!!  How gorgeous is Kristen's hair?


Saturday, August 23, 2014

Recreating A Fashion Look - 1942




There is a certain art to bringing back to life an outfit that I've seen portrayed in a vintage magazine.  I feel like I am learning a lesson in history, art, form, discovery, connections…the list goes on.

A couple months ago, I was wandering the lockers of ebay and I came across an auction for a butterfly skirt.  This skirt looked very familiar, then a rather large wave of epiphany hit me, this is the same skirt pattern from the butterfly image by Louis Dahl-Wolf.  The image below was originally printed in a 1942 Harper's Bazaar fashion spread in very rare color form.  You could buy the skirt from B.Altman.

Thie skirt that was worn in this iconic image was way before its time.  The sweeping nature of what was to become the 1950's circle (full) skirt look.  But, it is not just the skirt, it is the whole impression that just lingers and is one of those fashion images that leaves an imprint.  The composition is perfection and so is the lighting, not to mention the beauty of the model (Bijou Barrington), it's like all forces of nature were aligned to bring this image together in color.

So, when the auction ended for the version of the skirt I am wearing above,  I fell off my chair when I won it for $18.  I did have to have the side button holes fixed but well worth the investment.  It is a cold rayon skirt and still very vivid in print.  I also bought a yellow linen kind of short sleeve cardigan that I believe went with this skirt.  But, that is for another day.

Then, my quest began, to find accessories to match this creation that would be similar to the vintage fashion image.   Isn't it crazy that this image is from 1942??




I really did want to recreate closer to the exact image but my skirt isn't full enough for the effect.  So, I opted to photograph near a rounded arch doorway in a Spanish influenced entranceway.






The interesting vibe I really like about the jewelry in the 1942 fashion image is the metallic nature.  I think we so often think of Bakelite and rhinestones but there was also a big movement of warm earth tone metals.  Some of these bracelets and earrings carry with them a great mid-century modern overlay.


Outfit Details:

Earrings:  I found by looking for "pearl and metal" and came across these wonderful  Hogan Bolas screw back earrings from Etsy shop Classic Mid-Century.



Bracelets: Various sources keeping to the theme of the 1942 photograph.

Butterfly Clips:  Even better in person and appear to be made from feathers.  Olgadesigns

Blouse:  Made by me, vintage pattern Simplicity 2127.  I actually bought this pattern as a size 30 bust and it's still crazy big.  I think if I ever made it again I would certainly bring it in.  Pattern went together pretty easy and I made this pattern because there was nothing similar out there for what I was looking for.

Skirt: Ebay 1942 cold rayon with butterfly motif.

Shoes:  Gave me blisters:)  Really need to break them in but they were free with Amazon rewards points:)



























Wednesday, August 20, 2014

A Traveling Hat

The lovely Tanith Rowan is thinking about a hat design to travel the world.  I'm so very impressed with her lovely hats.  Take a moment to take a peak at her blog.

How fun to have a traveling hat!!!   She also has a Facebook page here.  Go ahead and give her a big like.  How could you not?





Tuesday, August 19, 2014

What Did She Wear To The Firemen's Ball? 1947

I came upon this very lovely scrapbook filled with a few pages of patterns and some brief explanations and fabric swatches of the outfits.  Some of the patterns have pieces missing but I wanted to buy this because of the overall thought of this scrapbook.  The pattern pieces are included in a sleeve in each section.

Care to take a peak?






Caption:  Made this skirt in the fall of 1947


Caption:  Made this blouse in the fall of 1947, to go with the skirt.  Had  bit of a hard time with the collar.  (Note: also fabric swatch included)




Caption:  Made aprons for Christmas 1947.  Each one was different in color.  There are quite a few of these patterns available on Etsy.


Caption:  Started out the new year right with a new dress.  Worked on it until 10 o'clock New Years Eve.  Must be dazzling.  I caught Alex's eye and got a lot of compliments.


Caption:  Had to have a new dress for the Firemen's Ball,  February 9, 1948.  Went with Kenny Anthony, another success got a very nice compliment from him.  Dress is trimmed with gold buttons and gold belt.



I do wish we would have heard more on these lovely pattern creations from this lovely lady.  But, she must have given up on the scrapbook idea after this.


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

From Olga With Love

I've been on the hunt for novelty prints with kind of a mid-century artistic vibe.  I do believe I found this in this fabric below.  It's so bazaar that it kind of draws you in to take a closer look.    I'm planning an upcoming post on where art and textiles converge.   Did you know that even Andy Warhol designed fabric for a short time?  I also find it fascinating when I see in vintage fashion magazines how fine art was used as a backdrop to present fashion.  There really was a strong correlation in the artistic movement of the times and mid-century fashion.  So much more than I would find today.

I wanted to share with you a recent purchase.  I'm not sure what this fabric should turn into.  What do you think?  I was thinking it should be partnered with a pattern from around 1949/1950.  The dilemma is what type of outfit to make as this is a very bold print to say the least.

What also drew me to this fabric, is that I could date it!  It came with an original receipt:)  This fabric was stored very well and the colors are vibrant.   This fabric was purchased from Olga in Mexico in August of 1949.  The lady (or gentleman) that purchased this fabric paid $8.50 for it.  This would equal around $81.   It has a linen type of weave to it.   It's very primitive in the pattern.  I'm quite sure Matisse and Picasso would approve.   I very much wonder what this fabric was originally intended to make.  Maybe even some curtains?  This fabric has character.  I'm sure there are some underlying themes to this fabric.  It's a total doodle type of theme  You have this man hunting with a spear and then this other kind of freaky face that looks like it was zapped with something atomic.  Think this fabric was even too bazaar for curtains?

So, what do you see as a good use for this fabric?









Swedish Hasbeens

I've blogged about Swedish Hasbeens in the past and got a great deal on mine and there were a couple of you who wished you knew about the sale so I thought I'd spread the word on this one.  They are having a sale as we speak for even USA customers.  Go check them out:)




LINK


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Traveling Dress Update

Sending out a blog post to let you all know I sent an email of the agenda of the traveling dress, if you didn't get this email, please let me know.




Friday, August 1, 2014

Novelty Friday

I'm going through a phase right now of really enjoying novelty prints, especially 1950's skirts.

Other than the length, which I would have preferred a slight bit longer, this is a perfect skirt for me.  It is a store made skirt but I am not able to make out the label.  I'm thinking this was more of a teenagers skirt due to the length.

I'm very interested in the artist inspired novelty skirts.  This one is whimsical and tells a story, so fun!   It's  a field trip to a museum theme.  How perfectly me:) I'm not able to let down the hem as there would be a mark and it is a tad bit to small for me.  This is where my latest gadget played an awesome roll.  I bought a button extender.  I do recommend them as now this skirt is quite comfortable to wear and I can breathe in it:)

The top is a NOS Judy Bond.  I'm really in need of some new blouses/tops in vintage 50s styles.  It certainly is easier to find skirts than tops.  I'm hoping to find some nice color blend tops as I know the white is a bit bland.


Outfit Details
Top:  Judy Bond ebay
Skirt: ebay
Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens 70% off sale
Bracelets/Brooch:  Bakelite













In case any of you are interested, here is the expanding button: