Is it Spring Yet?

I am getting mighty sick of winter! It is almost April but the weather forecast predicts snow next week! Oh well, I am just going to stay inside and start working on some new dresses for spring. After a very stressful week of calculating finances for my next school term and signing a lease for next term, I am in need of some relaxing evenings spent by my sewing machine. I figure making new spring clothes should also save a fair amount of money and use up some fabric in my stash.

So for some spring clothing inspiration, here are some pictures from a 1938 Spring Edition of Butterick: (By the way, the DIY tutorial will hopefully be coming next week. I just haven't had time to take pictures yet. Sorry!)

That's All.

St. Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish, I don't drink, and I'm not going out to any parties today. Nevertheless I decided to be festive and wore a green dress to work. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

1950's/60's Dress: Adelines Attic
Shoes: Winners
Jacket: Costa Blanca

I also got these super cute sunglasses at the mall yesterday. I have been looking for a pair of cateye sunglasses for over a year and I finally found some. Yay! I ended up buying them from Icings.
That's All.

Postponed DIY and a rather boring weekend.

I wanted to thank everyone for their positive comments about my DIY seamed stockings post! I especially wanted to thank those who posted about my post. I was very flattered but due to my computer not letting me comment I was unable to express my appreciation. I have decided to try doing more DIY tutorials on here. If there is a certain type of project you would like to see leave me a comment! I will try to accommodate any requests :)

I had actually planned to do a DIY post today but the fabric store didn't have the trim I needed to complete the project. So here are two pictures as sort of a sneak peak. Can you guess what it is? (I'll give you a hint, the two pictures are actually two versions of the same project.)

This weekend has been quite boring since my mother decided to get sick and has now made me sick as well. At least it has given me plenty of time to work on my knitting for the Briar Rose knit-along. So far I have the back done and the collar.

I also went completely mad and turned my books the wrong way. I decided the books on my bookshelf looked ratty (all my pretty books are on display elsewhere in my room) so I turned them so you see the pages rather than the spines. I like how it looks but it might make locating books difficult (well slightly more difficult since they were already double stacked. 400 books do not fit very well on one tiny bookcase!).

That's All.

Casual Weekend Outfit

A lot of Saturday was spent in the car. I went to the Hamilton Home Show to see Sarah Richardson. She's my absolute favourite interior designer. (If you haven't seen any of her rooms, check her out. She is fabulous!) Unfortunately Hamilton is quite a distant away, so it took nearly 2 hours to get there.

Between a long car ride and dinner with my dad's side of the family (who tend to make snide comments about my vintage look) I decided to dress more casual than normal. I don't often wear jeans anymore but I decided to pair them with a grey vest and my latest sewing creation, a 1940's button up blouse. The picture was taken at the end of the day so unfortunately my hair and makeup wasn't as nice as earlier :(

Vest: Smartset
Jeans: Winners

Blouse: Sewn by me from a 1940's blouse pattern

The only other thing of note this week was that I received my giveaway prize from Porcelina's World. It was a lovely stationary set. I must say how much I loved the card she sent along with the gift. It was all so pretty!

One Last Thing...
As you may have noticed, I have added some pages along the top of my blog. I have created a page with links to neat vintage related websites I have come across (which I will hopefully be adding to), as well as a page with links to my accounts on various sites such as Ravelry (add me as a friend!).

The only page I am having issues with is the About Me page. I am totally stumped on what to write about myself. So I thought I would ask all of you what you would like to know. Leave me a comment asking me anything you would like to know (within reason...) and I will post my answers in the About Me section. It can be a serious or a silly question. Bonus points for creative questions!



Apologies again, but I am still having trouble with leaving comments. I'm not ignoring you all, I just can't comment on anything. It's driving me nuts!
Update: Ok after posting this, my computer decided I was allowed to comment again! Yay!!!

Typewriters and Technical Difficulties

First off, I must apologize for not responding to comments and not commenting on other people's blogs for about the last week and a half. My computer has decided it hates me and will not allow me to log in to post comments. I have tried everything I can think of but it still isn't working. While I continue to try and fix this problem please understand that I do read all your comments and every single post from every blog I follow, my computer just wont let me comment!

On a happier note I have finally replaced my old typewriter! As you may remember my typewriter was a very ugly 1990's model that wasn't working properly anymore. It would randomly decide to start typing in the centre or write in all captials, and then beep at me if I tried to change it back to normal! This is what it looked like:

Ok I may have edited the photo just a teensy bit...

After work one day I stopped in at one of the little antique stores in town. They normally don't have anything of interest but that day a beautiful typewriter caught my eye. After much deliberation I went back about a week later and bought it! I've named her Miss Lemon which I think is an excellent name for a typewriter.

She is a 1923 Underwood #5. The interesting thing is that she is actually a teaching typewriter. This means none of the keys are labeled. I will have to brush up a bit on my typing skills before I can use her but it will be so worth it!

Some people have a bucket list. I have a "5 things to buy before I die" list. An old typewriter was #5 on the list. One down, four more to go! If anyone is curious the rest of the list consists of: an old farm complete with a brick Victorian farm house, a single strand of real pearls, an oil or acrylic portrait of myself (ok yes, a little bit narcissistic but I have always wanted my portrait painted!), and a car from before 1950.

That's All.

DIY Seamed Stockings

I love stockings. They are about a hundred times better than pantyhose in terms of look, feel, and cost (when one legs gets a run, you don't have to throw out both legs!).

When it comes to seamed vs seamless I would always choose seamed. The only problem is that around here real seamed stocking are nearly impossible to find! When I do find some (either in store or online) they are at least $20! Being a university student means that at the moment I have very very little money (stupid tuition...) so spending that kind of money on something I can only wear a few times is not an option.

For daily wear I have some seamless stockings I buy at the Bay for $4 or less. I suppose I could always draw seams on with eyeliner like some ladies did in WW2, but I would worry about getting eyeliner on my dress! Instead I have come up with a simple method to create the look of seamed stockings.

Instructions

1) Do a trial pair! Buy a cheap pair of pantyhose at the dollar store (or use an old pair of stockings) to practise on. It is very likely there will be some areas on your machine that will snag the fabric. Make note of these areas.

2) Thread your machine with a thread that is the same colour as your stockings. Now tape over the areas of your machine that snag the material with scotch tape.

3) Turn your stockings inside out and iron a crease where you would like your line to be. Use the coolest setting on your iron so you don't melt the material.

4) Set your machine to the zig-zag stitch. I used a width of about 2.5 and a length of 2.
5) Start sewing along your crease, starting from the top of the stocking. You should be so close to the edge of the material that on part of the zig-zag the needle is no longer touching the material. Do this very carefully and very slowly. If you don't sew your seams straight they will never be straight when you wear them!

6) End the seam about an inch before the toes. Cut off any excess thread and turn right side out. Tada! You now have your very own pair of seamed stockings!

This is how my pair turned out:

That's All.

Practical Winter Shoes

I'm feeling a little under the weather this weekend so my DIY steamed stocking tutorial is going to have to wait. In the mean time, I thought I would share these fabulous vintage boots with you. The ad dates from 1951. I have searched and searched trying to find a modern equivalent in stores but so far no luck. If anyone sees a pair (only faux fur please!) let me know!

There always seems to be such an emphasis on high heels, so it's nice to know there were also practical shoes around in the 1950's.

Hopefully I will be feeling better in the next day or two and can gather pictures for a couple posts I have planned. I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and a great Family Day (for those of us in Canada)!

Oh by the way, I have finally gotten around to joining Ravelry. My user name is PurlsofthePast (I am not good at coming up with creative names so I just re-used my Etsy shop name). If anyone else is on Ravelry feel free to add me as a friend! :)

That's All.

Happy Valentines Day!

This little Valentine was originally given to "Phillis Sweet"

Just a quick little post to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day!!!