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):