1920's Sweater and Passing Grades

Hello everyone! Good news! I passed all my courses (I also almost passed out from shock as I was certain I had failed a couple). So if my application to graduate goes through I will have a Bachelors of Mathematics before the end of the summer. Eep! I am so excited to be almost finished. Of course there is the big scary "now what?" looming over my head. But for the next couples days at least, I will be relaxing and sewing myself some much needed winter clothes.

Speaking of winter clothes, I finally finished the 1920's sweater I have been working on. It took a long time but I love it! It was knit from a 1922 pattern, although I had to alter the sleeves since I ran out of the discontinued wool I used. The original pattern can be found  here.

 That's All.

Holidays

I hope everyone had/is having a wonderful holiday. I am absolutely exhausted but am finally getting a bit of a chance to slow down. Christmas was great, however I was doing the Christmas dinner this year and went a bit over the top. I only had 3 days to prep after moving back home, and in that 3 days I decorated the entire house including the tree, wrapped most of the presents, and made 19 different dishes (from scratch) for Christmas dinner. Luckily everything turned out wonderfully, and now that it is actually over I have a chance to sleep and unpack!

Catsy sleeping on the tree skirt

I got a lot of great gifts including a massive DVD box set of Buster Keaton films and another one of Harold Lloyd films. Other highlights include 5 boxes of violet creams (my favourite chocolate which are impossible to find!), some magazines about farming/permaculture, and an insanely heavy cast iron baking tray.

When we went visiting the other side of the family on Boxing day I wore my new blouse (made from a 1940's pattern). I added a vintage headscarf and a pair of jeans for a casual 1940's inspired look. (Ok the jeans were because all my other pants were still packed in boxes. Personally I find wide legged trousers much more comfortable than jeans!)

I was pretty bad about taking photos this year and didn't get any pictures of the many presents I made. The only picture I did get was of Britt in the chunky knit scarf + matching gloves I knit her. Speaking of knitting I have been doing a heck of a lot lately. I am almost finished a 1920's sweater which I am very excited to show you all. I am also working on a blanket. Each square of the blanket is named after a mystery novel. I'm knitting it in cream and grey, although it may be a long time before I finish it. If you are on Ravelry add me!

That's all.

Winter Fashions 1880

Just a few Victorian winter fashions for you. What are you planning on wearing for the holidays? 

Christmas Music

I'm still exam writing but I have written (failed...) 3 so far and only have 2 left! Which means any "free" time has been spent getting the last of my Christmas gifts together and doing what prep I can. While making Christmas gifts I decided I needed some music. Normally I just listen to 40's and 50's Christmas music, such as the standard Bing Crosby tunes. However I thought I would try and see if I could find some earlier stuff. Turns out there isn't much. Most classic Christmas songs weren't written until at least the 1940's and there just wasn't much Christmas music before then.

Luckily I was able to find some tunes and have complied a list of my favourites for you. These are a mix of 10's/20's/30's recordings, which a bit of a focus on the earlier decades. I forgot to save the links but all these songs are on archive.org, you might just have to do a bit of hunting to find them.
(Ok some of these are technically just "winter" songs but I thought they should be included)

1. Winter - Billy Murray
2. Jingle Bells - Charles Dornberger Orchestra (This is by far my all time favourite version of this song!!!)
3. Winter Wonderland - Lew Stone
4. Snowflakes - Harry Resser
5. Will you love me in December as you do in May? - Elysian Singers
6. We've got our love to keep us warm - Paul Whiteman
7. If Winter Comes - Atlantic Dance Orchestra
8. Christmas Bells at Eventide - Gracie Fields
9. Savoy Christmas Medley - Lloyd Shakespeare's New Piccadilly Band
10. The Fairy on the Christmas Tree - Gracie Fields

There are also a few good songs (and rather odd novelty recordings) in the Voices from Christmas Past collection.

What is your favourite holiday song?

Poinsettia's 

Any Early Christmas Present for You!

Hello everyone. I'm still here. I've just been drowning in school work. I shouldn't really be typing this now but I just had to blog something!

I had planned on adding some vintage-themed printables to my Etsy shop but just haven't had enough time to do so. So I've decided to offer one of my designs free to all of you as an early Christmas gift! This was a trial run for a bookplate using an image from a 1930's magazine. It is of a lower image quality than I would like but it looks fine when printed. Just print it on label paper in your desired size and put in your books! (If anyone needs help doing this just write me a comment and I will give you some help if I can.)

Isn't it cute? Perfect if you lend out any books. I am always worried by babies won't get back to me but a bookplate is a gentle reminder of the books owner (and proof if anyone tries to steal your book... I'm a bit possessive of my books haha)

That's All.

Cyber Monday Discount!

Hello everyone. Just a quick post to let you know all my patterns are 50% for Cyber Monday. Just use the discount code mondaymonday when making your purchase. (The code is already active and will remain active until early Tuesday morning)

And because no post is complete without a picture, here is a photo of myself in the Summer Rose hat I took a couple years ago when I was experimenting with hair and makeup.

Time to celebrate!

Well I've survived midterms (barely..). In celebration, I wore my "new" dress for the first time. Technically I bought this dress last spring but it was too warm to wear it so I tucked it away. I think it is late 50's and is 100% wool. It is one of the few winter dresses I have, as normally I tend to just wear lighter dresses with sweaters over-top.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vintage

Tiger-print Scarf: Vintage

Shoes: The Bay

Hat: Zellers 

I also celebrated with a little trip to my favourite antique store. I had my eye on a Victorian hat but alas even on sale it was out of my price range. I did get a few other little goodies though.

My first purchase was this 1920's curling iron. I have wanted one for ages but have never found one for a good price. This baby was a steal and is in perfect working condition. I am tempted to try it but I think I may be too chicken. Has anyone used one of these? I would love some advice if you have!

My other purchase was also rather silly. I bought a wax cylinder. No, I do not have a wax cylinder player, nor do I know anyone that does. I do want to get one someday but they are rather out of my very small student budget. Nevertheless, I bought this wax cylinder simply for the fact it is a Billy Murray recording. He is tied with Annette Hanshaw as my favourite singer. His songs tend to be humorous little dittys and most of his recordings are from the 1910's and 20's. The song on this cylinder is Casey Jones. It is not one of my favourites but you can listen to it (as well as many other great Billy Murray songs) here.

My last purchase was actually made a few weeks ago. Isn't she gorgeous?

That's All.

1920's Dressing Room Outfits

Once again I have been so caught up in school work I forgot to blog! Posting is unfortunately going to remain sporadic over the next month or two. As much as I love blogging and reading everyone's blogs, I just don't have enough hours in the day! Luckily tonight I finished early the assignment I have due tomorrow (early being any time before midnight) and have time for a quick blog post.

I found this article in a 1920's magazine. I just love looking at old styles of undergarments and pajamas. I really wish I had things this glamorous for lounging around the house in! I also wish I had a dressing room in which to wear such things...

(I've uploaded this to flickr so you can view it in more detail there if you wish)

I especially love the triangle pockets and scalloping on the armhole of the pajamas!

That's All.