Youtube: Books and Nerdy Things

I just love books! I don't have nearly as much time to read as I used to but I still love my books. Enjoy this bookshelf scavenger hunt!

An easy weekend look

I love things that are classic, easy to wear and look great too! This dress certainly fits the bill!

Fabric: black and white gingham cotton ($4/yd)
Pattern: Simplicity 2502
Year: 1948
Notions: buttons (from stash)
Hours to complete: 6-ish
First worn: May 2012
Total cost: ~$12

I love the shape of late 40s dresses! And it's crazy comfortable. It was a bit light for the weather when I wore it but it'll be perfect all summer long!

 I made a self fabric belt, but I can imagine this paired with all manner of brightly colored belts and accessories!

I had a lot of fun with the construction on this dress. I used black and white striped bias tape for several of the seams. I found this delightful vintage bias tape at Sew Dayton, a super cute local sewing store.

This pattern uses a button fly front so the buttons are hidden! I happened to have matching black buttons but this would be a great option for left over or odd ball buttons since you can't see them anyways.

Here you can see the two layers that the buttons are hidden between. It was quite easy to do and I really like the look of it.

The first Friday of every month, Dayton hosts an event called First Fridays to encourage patronage of local businesses and this is what I wore my dress for. We popped in to quite a few local places including a new to us wine bar!

I was quite happy with my hair since I did a hot set! It's been pretty dry for this time of year and the lack of humidity has really made my hot sets last.

I'm so excited that I can go out and do stuff and look cute since the weather is finally getting nice!

Feeling Spring-y

I'm so excited because the weather has finally started to be warm consitantly!

So I thought it would be a great day to pull out my springy green sweater to wear!

It's such a nice fun color and it looks great with my 50s atomic circle skirt.

Sweater: Ribbon Threaded Jumper knit by me

Skirt: me-made

You'll have to pardon my hair. It was quite windy today plus I did this with a heated set and it was kind of crazy by the time I got to take pictures.

What spring pieces have you been wearing lately?

A Tale of Woe

Oh, what a lovely hand sewn hem on a giant circle skirt. I lovingly stitched you through Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and then some. Why did you end up so unwearably long? *sigh* Now to cut, and pin and press and sew again.

Youtube: The Mystery of Hair Styling

Today's tutorial is an experiment from the book The Mystery of Hair Styling, a 1950s hairdresser's text. I recently purchased it on Amazon and have been playing around with the setting patterns ever since. Enjoy!

HSF#7&8: Accessory and By the Sea

I've been doing some historical sewing! :D

Between the Stripes and the By the Sea challenges, I knew I had to make something nautical!

I made the Middy blouse for challenge #8 and the belt for #7 though I didn't get around to taking pictures of it till now!

The hat is one I retrimmed to go with my Lady Mary's garden party dress. It's not a perfect match but I didn't really have anything else to wear.

 I took these photos by a river since there wasn't a near by beach handy and we had some flooding so the water level was quite high!

The Challenge: By the Sea
Fabric: Green poly cotton and striped poly cotton (because I couldn't find any cotton in the right shade of green!)
Pattern: Folkwear Middy Blouse + self drafted patch pockets
Year: 19-teens
Notions: Self-covered buttons
How historically accurate is it? Wish I could have found something with less polyester! Nautical ensembles were very popular during this period and I'm really happy with the silhouette I got.
Hours to complete: 4 or so
First worn: April 2013 just for a photoshoot
Total cost: ~$25

I had a lot of fun running around taking pictures!

I just adore the peplum-ish length of the back! It made the whole outfit so fun.

Can't wait till I get to wear this outfit again! My inspiration/research is located here.

Sweet Tooth

I love sweets! And sweet dresses are even better! So when a local bakery owned by my a friend had it's grand opening, I couldn't resist wearing my cherry Bernie Dexter dress!

The bakery is Dream Bakery in West Alexandria, Ohio. They have the most amazing red velvet cake. Nom nom nom.

The barber shop next door was the perfect backdrop for some outfit shots.

I just adore a nice sun shiney day after a long gray Ohio winter!

The grand opening was very fun. I ate way too many samples and brought some more goodies home!