Antique Sale Treasures

Last weekend I attended an antique sale in Port Perry. It was much larger than I was expecting and I barely had time to see everything. It was one of the better antique sales I had been to in a while. Of course I might be biased since my purchase of the day was so amazing.

I have long drooled over 1920`s dresses online that I couldn't even dream of affording. One of the vendors at the sale had a rack with two dresses and a jacket on it. None of the garments where in amazing shape but a black lace 1920`s dress caught my eye. Other than a small tear in the lace near the shoulder, it was in perfect condition. I looked around for a price. I finally asked the sweet older woman running the booth. She looked me up and down. She told me the dresses were in very delicate condition. I smiled and told her I understood that. She paused for a moment and said "Well I bought them all ten years ago for $50, but I would be willing to sell them for a little less. I just loved them so much I've held onto them all this time. How about $25 for the three?" I think my jaw hit the floor before I almost yelled "I'll take them!!!". She was very sweet and gently wrapped them up for me. I think she wanted them to go to a good home and wouldn't have sold them to someone she didn't feel would appreciate them. Anyways, I suppose by now you are dying to see some pictures!

The pictures really don't do this dress justice. It is simply stunning.

The jacket is in rather poor condition but is fascinating to look at. It has boning (possibly metal?) on the inside and lots of dark sequins sewn into the trim.

This dress is actually my favourite now. The faux pearls and lace are very captivating. It's a shame it is too delicate to even think about wearing (the lace straps have almost completely disintegrated).

That's All.

Mary Pickford Inspired Hairstyle

My second youtube video is now up!

This time I did a slightly more difficult style based on Mary Pickford's beautiful curls. It was a little difficult to explain but hopefully it is clear enough.



If anyone has any requests or suggestions I would love to hear them :)

That's All.

Buttons, Bows, and Earrings.

It has been a busy week! I am finally getting time to set up my room. Hopefully it should be done within the next week and ready for pictures, but as a sneak peak what do you ladies (and gentleman of course) think of my hair accessory 3-tiered tray? I have been making even more hair bows lately and needed something to fit all my flowers, bows and clips.

Despite not going outside due to an injured foot, I wore my new sweater today. I took several 1920's knitting patterns for inspiration and came up with this (sorry it's a bit of a dark photo, still experimenting with lighting!):

Before the foot injury, I did manage to get to my favourite antique store for the first time this term. I bought a big bag of buttons, some gloves that actually fit (!), and some clip-on earrings (which I will likely convert to something else).

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

That's All.

DIY 1920's Inspired Dress

Spring weather is almost here and summer is just around the corner. It is time to start wardrobe planning for the warmer months ahead. Here is a (hopefully!) simple tutorial for a 1920's inspired dress.

I love the 1920's but clothing from the 1920's comes with a hefty price tag and if often too delicate to wear. This dress is very basic but gives a 1920's look using a minimum of fabric. It looks best when done in a light sheer or silky material. (The pink version of this dress was created with a sheer fabric that already had a ruffle along the bottom)

1920's Inspired Dress

You will need:

-a couple meters of fabric (2 meters should do it but you may need more or less depending on your measurements)

-thread

-pattern pieces for armhole facings (you could make your own but using some from an existing pattern is easiest. I used some from a 1960’s dress pattern)

-about 1 meter of trim for the bottom of the dress (if desired)

Note: All seam allowances are 5/8” unless otherwise stated. Most of my seams were also finished with pinking sheers.

1) Cut out two armhole facings and two large rectangles. The rectangles should be half the width of the widest part of your body plus 2 inches (I made mine 22” wide since my hips are about a 40”) and the length should be 2 or 3 inches longer then the desired length of your dress.

2) Decide what type of neckline you would like (I did a square neckline for my dress). Cut out a facing for the neckline (as shown in the diagram below) and sew right sides together to the top-center of one of the rectangles. 3) Cut out the excess material on the top of the rectangle. Turn the facing inside the dress then stitch in place to finish the neck of the dress. You should stitch very close to the edge of the neckline.

4) With right sides together, stitch the top of the two rectangles together. Press the seam open and stitch along the back part of the neck opening. Stitch very close to the edge like you did for the front of the neckline.

5) With right sides together, sew the sides of the rectangles together leaving a 2 inch gap at the top.

6) Sew your armhole facings according to the original patterns instructions (this will likely be only one seam joining the short edges to make a circle). With dress right side out, pin the armhole facings to the dress. It may take a bit of time to correctly position them on the rectangle.

7) Cut out some of the extra fabric on the inside of the armhole and sew the facings to the dress. The stitch line is shown in red in the below picture. Turn facings to the inside of the dress and stitch in place (as was done for the neckline).

8) Hem the bottom of the dress as required. Attach the trim if you are using any. This dress would look great with some beaded trim around the bottom (I looked everywhere for some but I couldn't find any in my price range!).

9) Cut strip of fabric about 3 ½ “ wide and 5 inches longer than your hip measurement. Use a zigzag stitch to finish the edges. This will be your waist tie. When wearing your dress, simply tie this around your hips to give the effect of a 20's style dropped waist.

And voila! You know have your very own 1920's style dress. Here are some more pictures of my two dresses:

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for tutorials you would like to see!

That's All.

Awards and Things I love

This was originally going to be called "long overdue post #2". Before Christmas, Miss Margarita was kind enough to give me a blog award. The next day, I sat down and wrote a post about it with the intention of adding pictures later. Unfortunately with exams it completely slipped my mind, for which I apologize! The conditions of the award are

1. Post who gave you this award.
2. State ten things you like.
3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment.

Since then, Frl. Irene Palfy has also been kind enough to give me another blog award. The conditions for this award are

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

As you can see the conditions are very similar so instead of doing two long boring posts about myself, I have decided to condense it to one (with some random pretty pictures to keep you all entertained!). So here are 7 things I love:
1)Stationary: Nobody sends letters anymore, which is such a shame. There is something about receiving a letter in the mail that just brightens up the day. I love sending letters and I have a massive collection of pretty stationary on which to do so. It would just be nice if someone actually wrote back!

2)Frozen Juice Boxes: I realize I am likely the only person who does this, but I love eating frozen juice boxes. It is better if you freeze them upside down then allow to thaw just slightly, then cut open the top, grab a spoon, and enjoy!

3)Books: This one is quite obvious. I have a complete obsession with books and have run out of places to store them all (over 400 last time I counted). I tend to favour murder mysteries, novels set in the 20s/30s, and large beautiful coffee table books about any subject.

4)Rain: I love when it is raining. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon than at a great little cafe (with a newspaper and a latte) watching the rain pour down outside. I also love rainy evenings spent inside watching Masterpiece Mystery with my family.

5)20s/30s music: It seems I always have some Annette Hanshaw or Whispering Jack Smith playing in the background. Drives everyone else crazy :D

6)Farms: I would love to own a farm someday, with a Victorian brick farm house, at least 10 acres, and a large old barn. I have it all figured out. I would raise sheep, alpacas, angora bunnies and have a couple llamas too. Then I would make yarn from their fleece and have a little shop selling the yarn, knitting supplies, and completed projects. (Yes, highly unlikely to actually work out but a girl can dream...)

7)Number 7 already? But there are so many other things I love! Oh well, I suppose I will just have to put down Crafting: I do a little bit of everything: knitting, sewing, embroidery, painting, using a glue gun on just about anything, etc.

Well I hope I didn't bore you too much! And now to pass these awards onto other people. I always have a hard time deciding who to pass these awards onto. I have decided to let the winners pick which award they would like (partly because I was afraid of someone thinking something like "wait, what do you mean you are giving me the sweet friend award? Are you saying I'm not stylish enough for the stylish blog award?!" ). So I pass the award of your choice onto the following:

Tickety Boo Tupney

Missy Vintage

I've Got An Island

Red Lips and Corsets

Land Girl 1980

Sirens Sexy

Baby Steps into Vintage

The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart

For the Vintage Fashionista

Good Rockin' Baby

That's All.

Oil Cleansing?

I ran out of cleanser last week so I decided to experiment with something I have thought about trying for a while: the oil cleansing method. The basic method involves applying an oil to your skin then removing it with a toner (such as witch hazel). It is basically the same thing as the cold cream method only using an oil.

It relies on the principle that oil dissolves oil. You apply oil to your face in order to remove more oil and dirt. I have heard of just using water and a washcloth to remove the oil afterwards but that didn't seem to get it all off so I opted for a witch hazel toner.

For oil I tried Jojoba oil (which is actually a liquid wax produced from a seed) mixed with tea tree oil. At the beginning of the week I was using a lavender witch hazel without alcohol, which didn't seem effective enough at removing the oil, so I switched to a basic witch hazel toner that did contain alcohol (both by Thayers).

I was hoping that it would live up to its claims but by the end of the week my skin was breaking out a lot more than normal. Has anyone else tried this method? I was really disappointed that it didn't work.

I guess I am back to searching for an all natural facial cleanser. What do you ladies use on your skin? I am always curious about what other people use since my skin has always been "problem skin". (Both my parents had terrible acne and my grandmas was so severe her parents took her to get experimental medical procedures to try and help it, so I think genetics might have something to do with it....)

A Lady of Chance

Movie review of: A Lady of Chance (1928)

Summary from the TCM website:

"In her last silent film, Norma Shearer stars as a con woman who marries a wealthy Southern cement tycoon (Johnny Mack Brown) after her former partners (Lowell Sherman, Gwen Lee) skip town with her money. Shearer's plan to milk Brown for all he's worth backfires when it turns out he's poor--and she may have actually fallen in love with him."

I found it to be a cute movie although the plot was very simple. There were very few secondary characters in this movie but not many were needed. I quite liked Norma Shearer's character Dolly. She was very feisty, intelligent and rather witty. And her outfits were gorgeous!

I very much liked this movie, although I found the ending left me wanting more. If you like silent movies then I would recommend seeing it. Overall I think I would give it 4/5.

Birthday Aftermath

Well, my birthday was a lot of fun. I had to work on the actual day but it was an easy day at work so it didn't seem so bad. I ended up listening to old radio shows most of the day since not many people came into the museum. It was Fab 50's in downtown Bowmanville and although there were a lot of great old cars I was a little disappointed. I was the only one dressed in a 1950's style!

I then rushed back home to have dinner (takeout from the Jasmine Garden in Whitby. They had really great vegetarian food), open presents from le parents, and get everything ready for my party. Whew! It was a lot of work!





I didn't have time to take photos of the decor but here are a few snapshots of the evening. It was a 1920's themed party (since I just turned 20!). We got a little silly in the photos by the end....

And no, I did not cut my hair. I just pinned it under the hat so it looked shorter :)
It was a really great evening. Thank you so much to every one who came.





And now for the presents! Everything I got was so beautiful! Here is a picture of most of my gifts (well everything I could find when I was taking the photo). I was given some lovely cards and gift cards too.

This is the magazine I mentioned a while back that my Grandma gave me for my birthday. It is from 1921 and I absolutely love it!

And you may notice something new on my shelf. That's right, my friend Carly gave me an absolutely stunning vintage teacup for my collection. I was looking at it later and noticed that it looked very similar on the outside to one of the ones my Grandma gave me. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it was made by the same company! Carly, I don't know how you got me such a perfect gift but thank you so much!

And the last of the gifts actually arrived in the mail a couple days late. I finally have Vintage Hairstyling by Lauren Rennells! I am already trying out some of the hairstyles and I must say it is a fantastic book.