Are you ready for summer?

Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer are just around the corner! I am so excited for summer and fun, pretty summer dresses (even though I can wear them pretty much year round here in Florida). I'm so ready for bbq and picnic season to begin. The 1950s is a great decade for summer wear with bright, fun prints and light full skirts.

I am so in love with this pink polka dot dress that it's seriously making me reconsider the lack of pink in my wardrobe. This dress would be dreamy in a lovely light cotton.

 If pink is not your thing, why not try this lovely black and white number? This darling sleeveless sundress will keep you looking fabulous at all of your summer events. Don't forget your sun hat.

Solids with white accents make a smart look for summer. A great basic dress like one of these will be in heavy rotation all summer.

While florals definitely have a strong spring feel, I adore wearing them in the summer too! Swap your cardigan for a parasol and you'll be ready for summer.

Don't forget to think of comfort when you dress for summer. Whether it's too hot to be bothered or you're having too much fun to fuss with your outfit, stick with styles you love to live in. I particularly love her updo which will stay looking great all day in the summer heat.

Are you ready for summer? What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend?

Time Traveling Fashion Blogger

One of the cool things about being a vintage fashion blogger is that I get to time travel trough the decades looking for fashion inspiration where ever I go! So let's go time travel!

1920s

The 1920s is a decade that many vintage loving ladies shy away from but I love this cute lady golfer look!

1930s

I just adore my 1930s beach pajamas! They really are quite fabulous for a day sea side!

1940s

Nothing says classy quite like the 1940s lady in a matching suit set!

1950s

Rock a casual 50s look for a summer bbq (or whenever you wish you were actually at one!)

5 Fall Trends to Get Excited About

Ah, fall, the most glorious of seasons! Here are some fall trends to get excited about while we enjoy the cooler weather and color changing leaves.

Plaid, plaid and more plaid! Wear just a touch or try head to toe. Plaid is the print of the season.

Wide legged trousers are a classy look for fall. Ladies of the 1930s and 1940s loved this look because they were chic and comfortable.

Fabulous suits are great all year round but there is something about fall that makes me reach for these sharp tailored ensembles in glorious fabrics like wool and velvet.

 All things leaf related are fabulous additions to your fall wardrobe. Go subtle with leaf jewelry or go bold with an all over leaf print like this great vintage dress.

Layers are a key feature of fall looks especially as we near the end of the year. This is the perfect time to play with mixing and matching colors, textures and prints. Play around with different combinations and push yourself.

2014: A Year In Review

Phew! It's almost 2015 already! This year has been crazy and busy and crazy busy. It's already time for a year end review. So what have I been up to this year?

I attended a charity gala. Yay for fancy fancy!

I hosted a vintage playsuit sew along and made an awesome playsuit!

I chopped my hair off into a pixie.

Took a trip to Florida.

We did vow renewals on the beach and I made my own 1940s wedding dress.

And stopped by Epcot for my 25th Birthday!

I finally got a fruit hat! Yay pears!

I splurged on myself and purchased several pieces from Pin Up Girl Clothing including this lovely dress!

I explored a lighter hair color but eventually went back to my natural color.

I made a ton of Renaissance costumes including this fitted English gown from the Tudor Tailor. It's one of my two favorite Historical makes this year.

My other favorite Historical make is this Italian dress. I got to use stash materials, remake a dress from a portrait and do a new period! Plus this dress is just too fun to wear.

I got a fabulous new vintage dress that fit me perfectly! I don't wear a lot of actual vintage but this dress just had to come home with me.

 I participated in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress and got a chance to wear this darling vintage dress.

My latest fashion obsession has turned out to be the 1930s! And I'm sure you'll see more 1930s in 2015.

And, most exciting, we moved to Florida!

Finding my personal style

Vintage fashion is quite a small niche that once you find it, it's easy to think that you've got your style sorted out. But once you've been wearing vintage for a while, you find that you gravitate to certain looks more than others. And it you wear vintage long enough, you'll find that your tastes will change.

So here's some snapshots of my personal style journey.

Initially, I was drawn to 40s styles, but 50s styled pieces were easier to find so I ended up doing a lot of more 50s styles.

Once I started sewing, I could do much more period accurate looks.

I discovered hats and learned how to harness my hair.

I obsessed over the early 40s.

And the late 40s.

And I made a couple of side trips to pixie land.

So what have I learned about my personal style?

• My favorite fashion years are 1940 to 1950 although I do occasionally go older or newer.

• I prefer clothing that is comfortable and easy to wear. While I'm more than willing to wear a girdle and huge crinoline for special occasions, for everyday wear I just want to wear regular old under things.

• I don't like most novelty prints. Oh, they are so cute, but they make me feel like I'm 12! I need be more picky with my prints and also do more solids.

• Separates are awesome! Again, more solids than prints.

• Hair matters. I need to work on finding a great everyday hairstyle so I can look good everyday.

• I love linen, cotton and rayon! No more polyester!

• I look good in color! And I can wear loads of shades that a lot of people can't so I should embrace them.

• I prefer a classic, tailored look rather than a frilly, girly style or a tomboy look.

What have you learned about your personal style?

1930s Fusion

One place I always find it difficult to dress for is work. I'm a chemistry professor and that means I spend a good amount of my week in a lab. Labs have safety rules and that means pants!

My teaching schedule really picked up in the lab department for the fall semester so I had a wardrobe emergency! Enter these linen pants I made 3 years and 30 lbs ago.

They didn't fit that well to begin with and they definitely didn't fit after the weight loss. I hung on to them though since I wanted to save all of that yummy linen. Originally, I made them from Wearing History's Smooth Sailing Trousers but, due to time constraints, I used Wearing History's 1940's Overall pattern to remake them to fit since I already had a properly fitted version of the overalls.

 So these are my Wearing History fusion pants! The blouse I made from Simplicity 3173 from the 1930s. I got it for a steal on ebay! I love all of views included but this casual, sporty top was just perfect for me!

I wore this outfit for my first day teaching lab this semester with a pair of saddle shoes. Alas, I found these shoes are not up to 7 hours of teaching. So I'm still on the hunt for a good pair of work appropriate vintage style shoes. Until then, it's sneakers in the lab!

These shots were taken on the property of one of the guys in my husband's photography group. They were having a model shoot and I tagged along after work. I wasn't planning on modeling but I couldn't resist taking a few shots for the blog! It was very beautiful there!

Do you wear vintage to work?

Photography: Will Thorpe Intelligent Design

An Evolving Personal style

Style shouldn't be static even for those of us who take inspiration from the past. Here are 10 things that I'd like to really make part of my personal style this year.

1. Circle Skirt

One of my first sewing projects and I still wear it all the time!





These are my most worn articles of clothing and I love making them! And they are separates which are great for a versatile wardrobe.

2. Hats

One of my favorite hats!

I adore vintage hats and one of the things I hated about short hair is that it's harder to wear hats with. I'm so looking forward to wearing more hats as my hair grows out!


3. Hair Flowers

In my heart, I'm a Belle Blossom girl!

The same goes for hair flowers. I love them and they are great for me to wear to work because they look cute without being over the top.

4. Cropped/vintage length cardigans

An appropriate length cardi keeps you from having awkward lumps and bumps in the waist and hip areas!

Cardigans are a must for a vintage wardrobe and ever since I got a nice short cardigan, I've realized how much better it looks with my vintage looks that modern hip length cardigans. I'm going to try and shorten some of the cardigans already in my wardrobe and be on the look out for cute short ones.

5. Jersey Tops

A black knit top is so versatile!

I've come to the realization that I don't wear a lot of my me made tops and it's because they are woven and I just don't like woven tops that much. And since I have no desire to sew tons with jersey, I'll be adding cute jersey tops to my list of allowed purchases.


6. Fun Prints

I adore this dress!

I love fun and novelty prints so I'm going to run with it. I'm ok with fun prints that are not "historically accurate" and beside, novelty prints are so 40s and 50s!


7. Some Rockabilly Flare

 Gorgeous!

I'm approaching graduation and I've been thinking a lot about a good work wardrobe. I'm a chemist and vintage and lab work don't really go together. I really want to move in a bit of a modern/edgy/Rockabilly direction for work so I can still enjoy some vintage in my day to day life. Plus there's loads I like about Rockabilly style.

8. Bangs

Bernie is my bang idol!

I've been looking back at past blog posts to try and decided what to do with my hair. And I really like myself better with bangs even if it does limit my style options a bit. Plus, it looks great with Rockabilly and is very work friendly. I'm sure I won't always have them but I want to make them a more regular part of my style. Now I just have to decide how long I want to grow my hair out before I cut them again.


9. Winged Eyeliner

Love the brows too!

I do wear winged eyeliner on a daily basis but lately I've been experimenting with a bolder look and I really like it. (Especially since I can go bolder when I'm wearing glasses or lab goggles). Here's to more eyeliner practice!


10. SOWERS/outside appropriate outfits

Aren't they so cute!

Aside from needing work appropriate clothes, I need some outdoor appropriate clothes. I am so not an outdoors kind of girl but I am part of SOWERS at church where we teach elementary school kids about nature/science and God. It's really fun but during the summer we do outside activities like gardening, creek stomping and playing games. As much as I would love to be a skirt girl, I need some outdoor summery things. I really want to make some overall shorts and a bunch of light cotton blouses.

What will be driving your personal style this year?