I'm back!

I'm back after a week at my grandmother's cottage. It was a lot of fun, but we had to leave a few days earlier then expected (since my parents decided to go off to PEI for a last minute holiday).

I wore this 1920's inspired outfit for the car ride to the cottage:

Dress: Made by me using this method

Sweater: Thrifted

Shoes: The Bay

Necklace: Gift 

On the way there, I made everyone stop in Bobcaygeon since there was an antique fair going on. The fair was alright but very overpriced. I did however managed to pick up two new "friends". Aren't they lovely? Normally I tend to buy only women, but I thought I needed to add a guy to my cabinet card collection to balance the genders a bit more.

Despite rather chilly weather I did go swimming quite a lot (I'm nuts though. I've been known to go swimming about 2 weeks after the ice melts of the lake, which is not a smart idea by the way...). I was excited to wear my "new" bathing suit. I actually bought this suit in elementary school. I wore it to a pool party and everyone made fun of my "grandma" bathing suit, so it was buried at the back of my closet for years! I am so glad I never got rid of it, because I simply adore it now (and no longer care about being considered "grandmotherly" haha).  

One thing we always do a lot of when we go to the cottage is shopping. We have gotten in the habit of driving to Bracebridge for an afternoon (despite it is about 2 hours away!). It gave me a chance to get dressed up and wear my latest sewing project. The top of the dress is from a 1960's pattern and the bottom is from a 1950's pattern. I love the vintage lace I hand-stitched along the bottom, although it took nearly 4 hours to sew it on.

Dress and Necklace: Made by me

Shoes: The Bay

Belt: Vintage

I bought a few little things, but my major purchase of the week are the shoes in the below picture. I have never spent so much money on shoes in my life, but I just fell completely in love with them. They are very comfortable and fit perfectly <3

I'm now home and working on reorganizing my entire room, as well as sewing some new clothes for fall. I will however miss the few lazy days I managed to have at the cottage. I will never get tired of looking at this view:

That's All.

I've gone to the cottage for a week. Hope everyone's summer is going well!

The Long Haired Flapper

I did it! I made my first youtube video (although I'm still a little uneasy about it since there are so many mean commenters on youtube!)

There seemed to be a lack of 1920's styles for long hair, with the exception of faux-bobs on youtube. I have been doing a lot of research into 1920's styles for long hair so I thought I would make a couple videos and see how it goes. Let me know what you think!

PS: I know some spoken instructions might have helped but the "silent" format was chosen since I'm rather self-conscious of my voice. I had a speech impediment as a child and I still get nervous talking in front of people because of it  :(  

Home Decor (1959)

Here are some lovely pictures of home decor from my 1959 Good Housekeeping Needlecraft book. I'm normally not a big fan of 50s/60s decor but I quite liked these images.

 A sewing closet. Perfect if you don't have space for a sewing room.

 I love the needlework on this chair!

 I'm not sure if I hate this rug or love it...

 Every bathroom should have a vanity table! I wish I had space for one in my tiny bathroom...

I must learn to tat so I can make pretty tablecloths like this one.

That's All. 

Some Awards and Forgotten Photos

First off I would just like to thank Presley from Young Vintage Girl for passing on these three awards to me. I've done quite a few awards lately so I won't pass these along, but I just wanted to give a big thank you for these awards! I really appreciate it :)

Exams have been taking up most of my time lately. I wake up, I study, I go to bed. Not very exciting. However I was looking through the files on my computer last night and I noticed there are quite a few photos I planned on using for my blog but for one reason or another never did. I suspect this is common among bloggers. Since I have nothing better to post at the moment, here are some photos that never quite made it to the blog. 

 This one my friend took a looonnnggg time ago. 

 Aren't these bookends fabulous? They were given to me by my grandma who got them in the 1940's.

 This is from last fall. I love this 1940's (?) dress but it very fragile so I don't wear it very often anymore.

 I loved this outfit but was unable to get a decent picture of it. My friend said I looked like Minnie Mouse. I chose to take that as a compliment.

 Isn't it cute? This was the last knitting project I completed before the weather became too warm to knit. I love knitting stuffed animals. Too bad I don't know any young children to give them to... 

 Some forget-me-not's I dried and framed.

 This outfit is actually only from a few weeks ago but I forgot to post it. The skirt is made by me, the sweater is from Winners, and all the accessories are vintage. 

 A great hair day from a year ago. 

 This was my "uniform" when I waitressed the Victorian Teas at the Bowmanville museum last summer. Although it was really, really too warm for a summers day, I did LOVE that outfit!

 My very first time wearing Ruby Woo lipstick by MAC!

This is a cute little 1960s dress I picked up last year. 

My cat trying to sleep :) 

That's All.

All the Latest Steps: Novelty Dances (Part 1)

Hello everyone! It feels like ages since I last posted! I have been busy studying for exams and, although I have already written 2, I still have 3 left. However I thought I would take a break from studying to post another "All the Latest Steps". This post includes 3 novelty dances, which will hopefully make up for my neglect of this series. This is actually part one of two posts of novelty dances. 

I also want to welcome all my new followers! As I am getting closer to hitting the 200 mark I have started to gather items for a giveaway. Thank you to everyone for reading :) 

The first of the three dances in this section is "The Barn Dance". This simply refers to a type of dancing event rather than actual steps. It originated in America but also enjoyed popularity in Britain during the late 19th and early 20th century.

I was unfortunately unable to find history on the other two dances. I did however discover "All the Latest Steps" is an updated version of an earlier book from 1922 (the only information I was able to find was word for word what was written in "All the Latest Steps"), although a different author is listed... Nevertheless, here are the instructions for The Barn Dance, The Memphis Tapping Novelty, and the Lucky Number Novelty:

The Instructions (click to enlarge):

Exams, Pattern Discount, and a Curtain Skirt

Exams have started and I'm afraid my posts may become sporadic until the end of August. I'm rather busy studying for exams and getting ready to move (again).

Since I won't have much time for posting I thought I would offer a 20% discount code for the knitting patterns in my Etsy shop for my readers. Just use the code VINTAGEINAMODERNWORLD to get 20% until the end of August. I have a lot more designs in the works but I'm afraid it may be another month or two before I get a chance to finish them.

I haven't had much of a chance to do anything lately but here is an outfit shot from a few weeks ago. The skirt is actually two curtain panels I sewed together. I just used a ribbon threaded through the holes to cinch the waist. An elastic would have been better but this way I still have the option of easily turning it back into curtains if I wish in the future.

 (Please ignore the fact I have no shoes on. I didn't want to get the carpet dirty)

Outfit Details:

Skirt: Made by me from 2 curtain panels and some ribbon

Top: Giant Tiger

Hair Bow: Also made by me using the same ribbon as the skirt

Earrings: Made by me

That's All.

It's been a rough couple of weeks....

Thank goodness for retail therapy! Pretty things may not solve life's problems but they sure help ;)

(I should add this shopping trip was my first time out of the house, other than to campus, in almost 3 weeks! How is it that I can do so much work and still not get enough done?!)

Anyone know anything about "topper" dresses? I couldn't find any info about this lovely "new" dress I bought.   My best guess would be it's late 40s/ early 50s. 

That's All.