Latest Antique Store Finds

I went antiquing today for the first time in ages! I saw a lot of pretty things, but I have been trying to only buy what I need (this has been moderately successful...). I'm saving up so I can hopefully take a course in Small Business and Entrepreneurship after I finish my Bachelors in Mathematics. So much school requires waaayyy too much money :(

Anyways, here is what I bought:

A reprint of a 1960's ettiquette book. It was only $2 so I snapped it up. (Technically this was purchased from the nearby discount book store, not the antique store).

I needed a box to store my growing collection of antique jewelry. I have been looking for a box for a while, so I was quite pleased when I found this one. It was a good price and has a velvet lining. (It looks better in real-life than in the pictures...)

This last purchase I was really excited about. I found these two handknit sweaters for only $6 each. I measured and knew they would fit. Well turns out I forgot to measure the neckline on the pink one. My head is too big. So at the moment I can't actually get that one on... I may try slicing a slit up the back of the neck and adding a button. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Overall I've very happy with my purchases and it was a lovely afternoon out. Now I get to spend all night doing school work.... yippee...

That's All.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!! I was actually hoping on posting this in the afternoon but I took waaaaaayyy too many photos and it is taking me forever to edit them! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Yesterday we spend Christmas with my mom's side of the family, and we don't see my dad's side for another few days, so Christmas itself was a rather quiet day spent around home. It was rather lovely just lounging about, in my new pajamas, looking at all my presents, drinking some fancy new tea and eating violet creams (these were a Christmas gift. I'd never had any before but I am officially in love!).

Warning, this post is a little picture heavy...

Christmas Eve:

These are soooo yummy. Recipe found here. I used white chocolate instead of icing
so they were easier to transport.  These snowflakes are giants!
We had to split one cookie between about 3 people!

Chocolate candy cane hearts.  I found the idea somewhere on Pinterest...
They look really good but were a little difficult to eat. 

Not what I was originally planning on wearing, but it was very comfy and warm.
The red peaking out is actually a Victorian style petticoat that I have hiked up to wear as sort of a slip.
The belt is part of the dress, which I have threaded through the space between two buttons. 

 Christmas Day:

My new nightgown set! I actually finished sewing it about a month ago but I was saving
it to wear on Christmas morning.  The pattern I used is actually the Vintage Vogue
 reprint of a 1930's evening gown and jacket, but I thought it made a lovely loungewear set. 

And now the presents! I didn't take pictures of everything but here are some of the more "vintagey" items. I used the handmade quilt I got as a backdrop for these photos. 

This is a stunning Edwardian brooch my parents bought me (which I picked out)

Signed copy of Maureen Jennings new book (she wrote the Murdoch Mysteries series).
 My mom bought this for me  when we went to her book signing a month ago. 

The only two seasons of I Dream of Jeannie I was missing! I now have every episode :)

Some cute pendants (that will soon be earrings) from Michael's new "Deco Chic" line of
jewellery making supplies. 

Stunning book of Art Deco illustrations

Four sewing books and one hairdressing book. All are reprints of original 1920's and 1930's books.
They are just fabulous!!

Gramophone sticky notes!

 The next few gifts were a complete surprise. They are all from my grandmother and are all family heirlooms or things she has bought over the years. I am definitely going to cherish these forever!

Not sure how old this one is, but my grandma bought it on a trip to Scotland. 

Also a piece bought by my grandma.

Also bought by my grandmother on a trip to Scotland. 

My grandfather wedding ring from 1947. The inside is engraved with the date and my grandparents names.

Beautiful ring that belonged to my great-grandmother. 

A pair of earrings from the 1800's (in their original box!)

I hope everyone has as good as Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) as I did. 

Happy Holidays!!

That's All

My Favourite Item

A couple posts ago I asked if anyone had any questions about me (since I couldn't come up with 7 random facts). The only respond I got was from Jennie. She asked "Out of all your clothing, shoes, bags etc, what is your favourite item, and why?"

My favourite item is a late 1950s/early 1960's dress my grandmother gave me. It is one of the few pieces of old clothing she has kept. She has always had a deep love of clothing and held onto this dress as it was a favourite of hers. She gave to it me last year and it fits me perfectly. The soft green netting (which hangs over a rich brown lining) is quite worn and starting to disintegrate so unfortunately this dress spends most of it's time carefully folded in it's box. 

Here is a (slightly blurry) picture of it from last year when I went to see Swan Lake at the National Ballet in Toronto. 

That's All

An Award and Giant Pants

A while ago the lovely Susan of Susan's Diary - Vintage style meets heavy music awarded me an irresistibly sweet blog award. I was supposed to write 7 random facts about myself then pass on the award. The problem is that I can't seem to come up with 7 random facts! After failing to think of more than one or two facts, I found Jennie of It's a Charmed Life was having the same problem! She decided to ask her readers to leave her questions in the comments, and she would answer them in a post and pass the award to those who asked her something. What a brilliant idea!!!

So I'm going to be completely unoriginal and do the same thing. Leave me a question and I will answer them all in a post :)

In other news I finished one of my many autumn sewing projects: a pair of giant pants! I have been craving a pair of 1930's style pants, especially after discovering Giant Pants of the 30's, so I decided to try and make myself a pair. This was technically my first time sewing pants but I drafted my own pattern and got to work. I LOVE the result! These pants are soooo comfortable! It is like wearing pajama pants.

One last thing, don't forget to enter my giveaway! You have until October 1st.

That's All.

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.

Outfits for College and Boarding-School (1910)

In my last post, I shared a photo of what I wear to university on an average day. After posting that I was flipping through some magazine pieces I had bought a while ago and discovered an article about college/boarding-school style from 1910. Wow, I'm rather jealous now! I wish I could wear clothes like this to school, but even I have some limits... (not many though, as I tend to just wear whatever takes my fancy).

Here are the pictures from the article (the article itself is mainly just a description of the outfits so I omitted posting it too).  I love the simpleness of many of the dresses and skirts. I may have to figure out a way to incorporate some of the details into my wardrobe.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I've never been a big Easter person, but this year I felt like getting all dressed up, including an Easter Hat and some white gloves. In the last few days the temperature has gone from being -1C to about 15C which means I can finally wear spring clothing! Yay!

     

Outfit Details:
1950's Dress: Christmas gift
Sweater: Reitmans
Gloves: From an antique store
Hat: Made by me (same hat as I wore for Halloween but with some flowers attached to the silk scarf)
Shoes: Bigleys




That's All.