Mixing Things Up

One of the things about having a smaller wardrobe is that it really forces you to be more creative. I had some extra time to get ready in the morning so I set out to whip up an outfit I'd never worn before. Here it is!

This ensemble includes several items that I've had for a while but don't wear very often for one reason or another. I'm trying really hard to either find ways to wear these pieces or let them go.

One is this great purple snood. It's actually my very first snood which I purchased for a Renaissance Festival costume before I decided I liked wearing them for 1940s styles too. Alas, I don't really wear a lot of purple so it doesn't get worn very often. But you don't have to wear a color in the main part of your outfit before you can add it via an accessory.

The other piece is this great white collared sweater which you may remember from my 1920s outfit. I bought it thinking that it would be a great basic but then realized that I'm not too keen on the high neckline on me.

Then I thought what if I added a brooch or a bow at the neckline? Tada! Perhaps I need more bows and a whole host of lady ties since I adore this look so much!

And, lastly, a great pair of shoes. These used to be among my special occasion shoes but not anymore! As long as it's not supposed to rain, these babies are going to get loads of wear.

Oh, the power of basic solids! Not one thing I'm wearing matches but the colors all go together so the whole outfit works.

 I also took the opportunity to try out Jen's snood style from the A Vintage Vanity / Lisa Freemont Street collaboration. And wow, it turned out great! Who would have thought that my fine short hair could do such a huge voluminous 40s style like this one!

The secret is stand up pin curls, volumizing powder and back combing with an actual back combing brush. And a great tutorial, of course!

I did have to make one cheat though. This style is meant to give the look of rolls without the difficulty of actual rolls but my hair on the light side of the part was too short to pull it off! So I just substituted an actual roll instead.

Shhh! Don't tell Jen!

 Have you tried any new outfit combos or hair styles lately?

Red, White and Polka Dots

Despite the name of my blog and my love of 40s fashion, I'm not a super patriotic person. I've never been much of a "team" person (I despise almost all sports) and my experience with the military during my husband's deployment left much to be desired. But I do make an exception for the 4th of July. It doesn't hurt that red, white and blue are great colors on me.

This year I'm actually wearing last year's dress. Since I was a bad blogger and didn't get any photos last year, it's still new to you. And look, polka dots!

The pattern I used is Anne Adams 4832. Generally, I stick to Simplicity, Butterick and McCall vintage patterns but this one was just too cute to pass up.

And I lucked out in finding this great blue linen embroidered with red and white polka dots. So yummy!

I ended up making this dress a bit shorter than I usually like just to try it out. I still prefer a slightly longer skirt length but it's fun to be different sometimes.

I decided that this outfit had a bit too much blue so I pulled out a great red belt to break it up a bit. Belts have such transformative powers for outfits!

I also chose a red hair flower and red earrings to help this outfit pop. Alas, I didn't have a red snood but this ensemble convinced me that I really need a red one so I've ordered one. (I think I also need green and yellow and white but those shades will have to wait.)

And I got to pull out one of my favorite vintage purses for this festive day! I don't use vintage purses for my day to day outfits because I can't fit all of my stuff in such a tiny bag but for the odd special occasion, I still pull them out.

My holiday weekend was pretty low key. Just playing board games at home with my hubby all day and then a BBQ and fireworks at my brother-in-law's in the evening. The older I've gotten the more I've grown to appreciate a quite holiday rather than an endless parade of people to see (especially for people like me who are introverts and get easily over stimulated by large groups of people), a mile long list of activities to do and piles of unhealthy food that lead to tummy aches and extra pounds.

I was much happier to have time to watch some youtube videos including a great snood collaboration between two of my favorite youtubers, Ashley of Lisa Freemont Street and Jen of A Vintage Vanity. This is my version of Ashley's style and I'll be wearing Jen's style later this week.

And, of course, I found some time for blogging activities! My hubby snapped this shot of me updating my Instagram account. You can follow me here.

 Did you sport a patriotic outfit this weekend? Leave me a link if you shared one on your blog!

Thoughts on Living with a Capsule Wardrobe

I shared two 1940s capsule wardrobes back in May-one spring/summer and one fall/winter- in order to show you how a small, carefully curated wardrobe can really be versatile. I've been living with in my own small 40s capsule wardrobe and I thought I'd share what it's like.

First, a few notes. I haven't been living in just this capsule wardrobe. I've still been wearing other things, but probably 80-90% of the time, it's been the capsule wardrobe. I've also added a few pieces including a green skirt, a printed blouse and a black blouse. So now the new count is 1 dress, 1 suit, 1 extra skirt, and 4 blouses. I've not even tried to stay with in the capsule wardrobe accessories list but I have gobs of accessories so that's not really an issue.

One thing that is super awesome about having a capsule wardrobe is knowing you have an arsenal of comfortable outfits that look good on you. I don't get that "my closet is exploding but I still have nothing to wear" feeling since I know the things I do have are going to work for my life. Getting dressed in the morning is super easy.

This simplicity has caused me to simplify my hair routine as well. I've been wearing pretty much the same style everyday I wear the 1940s capsule wardrobe unless I have some place special to go. My make up routine has always been pretty simple so it fits in quite well with my new simpler style.

No one has noticed (or at least not commented) on the fact that my wardrobe has been less varied. Really, I don't think the average person would notice. I do worry about keeping enough variety for the blog, but I have to remember that you all don't see what I wear everyday so I can still keep things fresh.

Some of the downsides are that I still don't feel like I have enough pieces to really make it work. I only have two skirts and I usually spill something on one of them at least once a week. And then I'm down to one skirt. I'd also really like a day dress since my current dress is not good for day to day wear.

I'd also like to add a few more work appropriate pieces. I have things I can wear to work but I do want to make sure I can still look professional enough so that's where I'll be focusing on next.

Red, White and Hearts

Red is one of my absolute favorite colors to wear. It's so bold yet you can still wear it as a neutral. Perhaps that's why I decided to make my 1940s summer suit in red!

There are a lot of colors that go really well with red but for this outfit I decided to go with white and more red to complete this look.

 I wore this outfit on Sunday to go to church and I decided to chance that my hair would last through service and went ahead and styled it down. (and with a curling iron too!)

I didn't do anything too fancy. Just a wave on one side and curled under at the bottom. Simple hair dos are perfect bases for hats though.

This red half hat is so pretty! It's mostly a red velvet with silver sequins and some red netting. I love a hat with a veil! It's another level of sophistication.

And, besides, it's good 1940s etiquette to wear a hat to church. I'm quite sad that almost no one wears hats to church anymore. They are so classy and it's not much to ask for once a week.

Oh, well. I do not get to make the fashion rules which is probably a good thing. I think that much power would go to my head.

In my quest to wear more brooches, I finally wore this lovely heart and key pin for the first time. It's missing a few rhinestones on the key part but it's still so cute!

I like to think that it was a sweetheart gift. You have the key to my heart and all that. Guess I'll never know.

I thought it looked quite cute on the lapel. I think I'll definitely have to remember this pin for Valentine's Day next year. Heart jewelry is perfect for that romantic holiday!

I also pulled out a pair of white gloves to round out this outfit. They were quite dingy when I got them but some soaking made them quite white again. They are not perfectly white especially on the fingers but that's ok.

Sometimes it's those imperfections that make vintage pieces so special. They come with a past and a history. Even if we don't know all of the details, we still have that connection tot he past.

Date Night

My hubby and I try to do date night at least once a week. Sometimes we go for a movie or a picnic on the beach or just a night in playing board and card games. This week, we went out to a new to us restaurant so I had the occasion to get dolled up.

I'm still loving my 1940s capsule wardrobe and have been wearing pieces from it quite regularly. This dress is my nice dress for spring and summer and I just love the great shade of green!

 I made it from Sense and Sensibility Swing Dress. It was quite a success story for me because I originally made this pattern way, way back in winter/spring 2011 and it didn't go over so well.

This one fits so much better but it still has limited range of motion in the arms so I like to wear it for everyday. And it gapes a bit at the neckline so I have to wear a cami under it. Alas, if I sewed it together where I wanted it to stay, I couldn't get my head through the head hole.

Anyways, back to the outfit. I accessorized with my Erstwilder cockatoo brooch. Then I pulled colors from it for the rest of my accessories-yellow gloves, black snood and white shoes.

I've been wearing snoods a lot lately. They are perfect for high humidity days when my hair just won't cooperate. I'd been out all afternoon, first at an outdoor event and then swimming to cool off after being outdoors. So my poor hair was just about done for the day.

All I can say is yay for air conditioning. It makes life so much better! Add that to the list of reasons why I'm glad I didn't live in the past before ac was prevalent.

 All in all, this outfit was perfect for a great night out finished off with an amazing bread pudding that I was going to photograph and share with you, but I completely forgot when it arrived. And the poor dessert didn't last too long after that.

Bread pudding is one of those odd desserts that I always have to get if I see it on the menu somewhere. That and creme brulee. Nom nom nom nom.

 What's your favorite dessert that is impossible to pass up?

Blue Green

I've been wearing the same outfits over and over again lately so sometimes it is hard to decide what to show you on the blog. I've got good selection of easy basics that are perfect for the heat right now that I keep pulling out.

 The weather here in Florida is way more predictable than it ever was in Ohio. I don't even need to check the forecast anymore. It's been around 90 with a chance of rain in the afternoon/evening with no sign of change for quite a while.

I'm so not used to that! When it's 60 and cloudy and then 80 and sunny and then 75 and rainy etc it's so easy to vary your wardrobe because every day needs something different.

Oh, well. This is the sort of thing that can lead to wardrobe creativity. And I've been working on it.

For this outfit, I wore a blue swiss dot blouse. I love this blouse because the dots are too cute! And it's very light weight but opaque so I don't need a cami underneath it like I would with a white one.

And on the bottom, I'm wearing a 40s skirt in a green cotton/linen blend. It's rather wrinkly but I'd much rather be wrinkly and comfy in a natural fiber than wrinkle free and boiling in synthetics.

Since I went so basic with my clothes, I decided that I needed a hat to spice things up. Hats are perfect for spicing up a basic outfit. I've decided I really need to start wearing my hats again, even if it's just to the grocery store (which is what I did today).

My hair is in another one of those awkward grow out stages. It's too short for a gibson roll or low bun and it's much too humid for curls everyday so I've been wearing lots of snoods. Snoods and hat's weren't really meant to be worn together but sometimes you can make it work!

I've also been trying to wear more of my cute shoes since I don't have so many footwear restrictions as I did in Ohio but alas many of my cute shoes have flat, slick bottoms which I'm finding makes driving more difficult so I've been wearing these white shoes a lot.

Speaking of shoes and feet and things on the ground, the grass here is very different from the grass in Ohio. It's a crab grass and very tall and springy. So that's why my shoes are always hidden in the grass. The landscapers where actually mowing yesterday and it's still quite tall!

 Don't forget to leave a question for me on my Q&A video post!