Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween all! This year instead of a full blown costume, I went for a 1950s Halloween themed dress instead. Much easier and more comfortable!

Tada! I used a TNT shirtwaist dress pattern for an easy project.

 

I used Butterick 8078 and a novelty print quilting cotton with tiny potion bottles on it.

It was really fun to wear at my church's Harvest Party. The weather was quite chilly, so I paired it with leggings and gray boots.

I was on chili serving duty so here's a great action shot. It was fun standing next to such a cool pot all day in my potion dress.

What did you wear for Halloween this year?

Youtube: Snoods for Short Fine Hair

Snoods are a great easy option for vintage styles. Here's my fix for ladies with short fine hair who suffer from empty snoods!

Make It Work

Moving will make you think about a lot of things and one of those is why do I have all of this stuff!?!?! So I've been really thinking about my wardrobe to slim it down a bit.

This chartreuse dress is one that may be on the chopping block.

Strangely enough, it's not the color that kills it for me. I like chartreuse and I think it looks pretty good on me.

The bodice never quite fit well. The design didn't lend itself to an FBA and I'm not sure I made good decisions on how to approach it.

Plus I lined it in white which peaks out a lot. :(

So I threw my favorite cardigan over it and voila! Looks great!

So I think this dress will go back in the keep pile and I'll work on some other outfits with it.

How do you make not quite perfect dresses work?

We've moved!

The mister and I (and the birds!) have been moving all week but thanks to the magic of scheduled postings, I was able to keep blogging through it all. We're still working on getting everything set up and all of the kinks worked out but I thought I'd share a bit about the building's history! It was originally a YMCA and actually the back part of the building still is a YMCA but most of it has been converted into apartments. It was built in 1929 and great care was taken when designing the apartments to keep some of the great original details like crown molding and original flooring. Some of the apartments have really unique features due to the historic nature of the building.

And early snap shot of the exterior.

The original lobby with some guests.

Part of the courtyard. It seriously looks like the inside of an Italian villa in there!

I just adore the style of the building!

Do you live in a historic home?

Beginner's Guide to Vintage Patterns: Part 3 Care and Keeping of Patterns

Vintage patterns can be in quite delicate condition so it's important to take the proper care so they don't get damaged.

Whenever, I first get a pattern I always take everything out and check to see if all of the pieces are there. It's also a great time to take a peak at the instructions and look at how the dress is constructed. Now, I personally don't like to put the pattern back in the envelope since I often further damage the envelope when stuffing the pieces again.

If any of the pieces are crumpled, flatten them out gently. I have heard that ironing on low heat with no steam can help particularly wrinkly pieces. To keep all of the pieces together, I put them in a clear plastic bag. If the pattern did not arrive in a bag, I use gallon sized zip lock bags. Comic book protective sleeves also work well.

When I go to use a pattern, I trace it onto sheets of tracing paper. You can get them in the drawing sections of craft stores. The pieces are too small for some things so I tape them together with scotch tape. This keeps you from damaging the pieces while cutting and is perfect if you need to make any pattern adjustments such as an FBA. If you have an unprinted pattern, take this opportunity to translated into printed directions.

I also photo copy the pattern cover to stick in a separate zip lock bag. It's also a good idea to photo copy the instructions, but since they are in a rather awkward size for home copiers, I usually skip this step unless the instructions are in particularly bad condition. (Shhh! Don't tell!)

Always store your vintage patterns in a cool, dry environment. I have some vintage pattern storage boxes that work great for vintage patterns. I also have one drawer of a plastic organizer full of patterns plus a second drawer for all of the traced copies. Comic book storage boxes are also a nice option.

It is also important to store your patterns away from other vintage and antique things like lace and linens since they can spread different kinds of molds to each other.

The Votes Are In

You all voted and here's what I wore to the date night dinner and a movie!

The green dress won by a lot-about double the votes of any other dress.

And I really love this dress too so I was quite happy it won.

To combat any potential Christmas-iness I stuck with black accessories.

 

I also went with coral lipstick and blue earrings with gold flecks that sort of read greenish from further away.

I've been crazy busy with school lately so it was nice to have a night out.

And yay for a good hair day.

Thanks all for participating in my date night dress decision! I had fun. Should we do it again sometime?

Another Day at the Faire

Unseasonably warm weather here in Ohio threw out my plans to wear my court dress this weekend, so lower class it was!

Love wearing this dress!

It's so comfortable to wear. and the linen is a great midweather fabric.

But it did get rather hot, so for much of the day, I wore the skirt tucked back into my belt.

It really helped cool me off and give better air flow. Plus I got to show off my petticoat.

 Faire Shopping!

I picked up this pretty necklace at the faire. It's so hard to find even vaguely period correct jewelry at the faire. I was looking for something gold tones with non-faceted stones. Success! Plus it matches my court dress.

I also picked up a copy of The Tudor Tailor! Can't wait to start making things from this book.

Huzzah for the faire!