C'est fini!

I finished my apron last night! It was a very fun yet frustrating project. I did learn a lot and the next sewing project will be much easier. First up was more rick rack! Here's where I decided to get creative. I opted for two different colors of rick rack. What I didn't know was that the pattern called for a continuous strip of rick rack where I wanted to change it up. It was perhaps a bit much for a first project, but that's what happens when you decide to be creative before you look at the pattern. I made it work.


The straps were pretty easy but I did attach the first one to the apron wrong. It's fixed now! I was a bit nervous about the slip stitch, but, lo and behold, not a minute into the video tutorial, I realized that I'd done this before! woot! I did start over with this part because I realized I could do it and not have it show in the front. I'm glad I did. It looks much nicer now.


So for my apron photo, I thought I do an outfit post as well. Again, nothing I'm wearing is vintage (except, sort of, the apron) but I thought it went well with the whole doing-housework-in-pearls thing from the 50's. A woman should always be able to look glamorous!

I didn't have a wooden spoon so I grabbed a pasta scooper to pose with.

Skirt: Banana Republic
Shirt: New York and Company
Sweater: Ann Taylor
Necklace: New York and Company
Shoes: Payless
Apron: handmade by me from a vintage Butterick pattern

I look a little wonky in this pic. :/ But yay for getting contacts tomorrow!

This apron has pockets! I adore things with pockets!


The fabulous shoes my husband bought me yesterday that I cut off in my outfit pic.

Crazy Weekend of Sewing

Yesterday I went to Hofbrauhaus in Newport, KY with one of my girl friends, so I didn't get started sewing until late! The evening was pretty much a crash course in using my sewing machine. I had a pdf of my sewing machine manual and Brittany's blog post up on my laptop and the pattern directions up on my kitchen table and muddled through making my apron. I did pretty well until the gathers, which gave me all sorts of trouble for some reason. I'd seen my mom make them before but never made them myself. Once I completed those, I moved on to the pockets. They were slightly more complicated but I did one and moved on to the next.

My tiny sewing space on my kitchen table. I had my laptop up there too!

But about halfway through the second one, I realized I did the first one wrong! No big. I took apart pocket #1 and started over. The rick rack was simple after that and before I knew it, my apron had pockets! This was about 10 pm. I crashed.

My apron so far!

Brittany had to delay day 3 of the sew-along until tomorrow, but that's ok with me since today was pretty crazy too!

Much Ado About Sewing

Today was the first day of Va-Voom Vintage's sew-along. Bright and early this morning, she had a very detailed post with pictures and directions. Not only did it make navigating the pattern directions much easier, Brittany wrote her post in a way that took the training wheels off slowly. It was a great help.

I have had some experience sewing. My grandma is a big quilter and I've done some quilting with her. Over Thanksgiving weekend 2008, I even made two quilts-one for me and one to send to my then fiance now husband while he was in Iraq. I also once hand sewed on a seemingly endless amount of lace to the hem of a vintage wedding dress that I removed the train from to turn into a Christine costume (that'd be Phantom of the Opera Christine, not crazy prom killer Christine). So, I'm pretty comfortable using a sewing machine and hand sewing.



But I'd never used a pattern before! I was pretty nervous last night, but after reading Brittany's post, I bravely charged forward! It was kind of difficult cutting the pieces out on my living room floor, but I think I did ok. We'll see tomorrow I guess.


While I cut pattern pieces, I watched the 1936 Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Having already seen the 1968 and 1996 versions, I was still impressed. The costumes were lovely and the acting was great. I really liked the death scene at the end. I'm not a fan of Juliet's death in the '96 version (her last line is one of my favorites!) but this one past muster. It was a nice little film for me to watch while I was working on my apron.


Speaking of aprons, I could really have used mine today as I made peanut butter sandwich cookies to take to a friend's tonight. yummy!

Red, black and blue

Yay outfit post! Today I got all cute and decided to share with you.


I love this outfit! The only thing is ...... none of it is vintage! But it looks cute and vintage-y.

Dress-Forever 21
Shoes-bought on my honeymoon in Portland, ME
Earrings- studs- Claires
flowers- Forever 21


I love this dress! It is so cute and so comfy! And it has pockets! I adore dresses with pockets! I wear it everywhere, but today I was just hanging around the house.

So, after I'd done the whole awkward photograph myself with the mirror thing, I discovered that my camera had a timer! Woot! Now I can take much better pictures of myself. :D



I tried out some new stuff with my hair today. I'm still getting used to the new length. And I haven't forgotten that I need to do a pin curl and (possibly) hot roller style with this new hair. I've been working out in the mornings (go me!) but that doesn't exactly jive too well with pin curls...

Shopping for Sewing!

So my pin curl set yesterday was a total flop.... but I did get to go shopping for Va-Voom Vintage's sew-along! I got some really cute fabric for the vintage apron we are making. And today (after I cleaned out some space in the kitchen for my sewing machine) learned how to use my sewing machine-hopefully well enough to make it through this sew-along!


All of my stuff on my (mostly) clean kitchen table.


The pretty fabric and rick rack I picked out. The pattern only calls for one color of rick rack but I thought I'd switch it up and use two!


My sewing machine! My lovely mother-in-law picked it up at a garage sale for me! All I had to do was dust it and find the manual online.


The pattern I'm going to be making. The sew along is for the red one on the left.


My sewing basket. One of my good friends got it for me for a wedding shower gift. So cute! I'd love a purse in that print.

I can't wait for Friday!

The Baby

So, today I got my hair cut in a vintage style. I the baby hair diagram from 1940's Hairstyles to my hair stylist. It is similar to the Middy style but shorter. I plan on continuing to grow it out in order to end up with a longer style, but, as my last cut was a super short bob, I'm working with what I have.


Here is a before shot.


And some after shots. I did keep my Betty bangs. They look super cute now that someone other than me cut them.

I plan on doing a pin curl set here soon and we'll see how much the cute changes the curls.

My Best Pincurl Set Yet!

Sunday night, I pin-curled my hair using the diagrams from Lisa Freemont Street's 'Laura' hair tutorial. I was quite amazed when, Monday morning, I didn't have my usual mess of curls, but a super cute style! And I lucked out that it was the first day I've had in a long time that was below 98% humidity so it stayed in!



My bangs even cooperated and did cute little curls that (with a bit of hair putty) stayed in all day too! I got lots of complements on it at work, which made me super happy! See the original tutorial for the youtube video and pin-curl diagram.



I have learned that pin-curls work out much better when I use product and follow a diagram. It also takes a lot of practice. This is the first set that I ever felt comfortable wearing down and not pulled back. So, if you, like me, are working on perfecting vintage hair, try try again!

On a side note, Va-Voom Vintage is doing a sew along! Check it out here! If I participate (which I want to), I'll be sure to blog about my experience.