1940s Hide a Bang Hairstyle

My new middy haircut is great except that my bangs are not long enough! Here's how I cheat with my bangs to get that classic 1940s look.

Oh, a Wedding

My husband is a professional photographer (and I help) so we go to loads of weddings. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a wedding as just a guest.

On Friday, I decided that I did indeed want a new dress to wear so I set about whipping up this dress.

Fabric: mystery garment district fabric ($2/yd)
Pattern: Simplicity 2509
Year: 1948
Notions: zipper ($2), buttons ($4)
First worn: August 2012
Wear again? Yes. I want to make the sash that goes with it and shorten the hem a bit. I decided that it was a bit long but I didn't have time to rehem it before the wedding.

I did view 2 on the right.

I just paired it with my normal shoes. These ones have just about kicked the bucket though. :(

I found the most adorable rose shaped buttons for this project at Jo-Anns.

I completed the outfit with a vintage hat and thrifted belt.

Me and my sassy mother-in-law.

I also met another vintage loving gal at the wedding.

Her name is Sarah and she rocked the wedding in a darling vintage 50s dress and hat.

She just started a vintage blog so pop over and say hi. Sarah has a few of our photo booth shots posted.

It's almost here!

Renaissance Faire season is almost here! I've been working furiously on my costume to make it wearable again.

I've made my sleeves detachable and whipped up a second pair of sleeves from Simplicity 3782 for when I'm in the mood for a more Elizabethan look.

Each sleeve is mounted on a facing and the rings are tied to another set of rings on the shoulder of the dress.

I didn't end up lowering the neckline since I was worried about it opening up a whole new can of fitting worms. But I did retrim the dress.

And I am almost finished with the foresleeves for those chilly days. Plus I have my lower class dress to wear. I really can't decide if I want it to be hot or cold since I want to wear both costumes so much!

My first outing to the Ohio Renaissance Faire will be Monday September 3rd. If you are going to be there that weekend (or another) and would like to meet up, please let me know. I was so bummed that no meet ups worked out last year.

The Girl Next Door

Last night, we went over to some friends house for dinner and a bonfire. I've been a kind of meh fashion week this week (probably because the humidity has been wreaking havoc with my hair) so this cute outfit was just the antidote I needed.

For some reason I felt very girl next door-ish. I think it was the ponytail.

I adore this vintage dress! It's light and cool but not super sheer.

Pleats!

I paired them with my new 50s style shades that I snagged in the LA garment district for $5. My husband makes fun of them but he also hates the shape of modern women's shades, so I figure that if he's going to hate them either way, I may as well wear the $5 pair that I adore.

I actually wore a bit more makeup than usual. I picked up a couple of mini eyeshadow palettes from Sephora a while back and I've been feeling adventurous in the eyeshadow department since then.

All in all, a really fab outfit, but now I have to go because I have a wedding to go to today (as just a guest for once!) and yesterday, I decided that I really did want to make a new dress to wear.

Middy-ish Haircut

Woohoo for a new hair cut! I went for something based off of the Middy Plus but would look cute when not styled.



Here are some unstyled photos:

If you're looking for other photos of unstyled Middies, this site has a few. There is more unstyled Middy footage on youtube than when I first started getting into vintage style, but it's hard to take a video to your stylist!

New To Me

I love getting new things but new to me things can be just as nice.

I recently went on a bit of a vintage pattern shopping spree. Some of these I bought for a specific project but some were just good deals.

A cute 40s dress complete with original embroidery transfer.

A cute scalloped 50s dress with fabric swatch pinned to it.

I also got this scalloped dress pattern with fabric swatch from the same seller as the one above. Both have handwritten notes on the envelope and I think they may have been from the same sewer's collection.

Super cute late 40s dress with detachable collar. I planned on using this dress for my white rayon until I found this pattern:

Super awesome early 40s shirtwaist dress!

One of my friends asked me if I would be interested in some of his mother's old hats and I said yes, of course!

A cute navy hat with 3 rhinestones.

A pink hat that looks like it may have had some veiling at some point in time. I'm thinking that I'd like to replace it.

And a very pretty white floral hat.

And right after I came home from Costume College, there were two surprises waiting for me!

Last summer when I went to visit my grandparents, one of my dad's cousins offered to give me her serger that she never used any more. Well, her house wasn't exactly on the way home and there was no room in our car to take it back home anyways so I figured it'd be a while before I ever saw the serger but my dad was nice enough to pick it up and drop it off for me when he went to see my grandparents while I was at CoCo. My dad's cousin also gave me a hemmer machine. Both the hemmer and serger will be visiting a sewing machine repair shop in the near future (hopefully) for a tune up before I use them but I'm super excited!

Sassy Shorts!

I made these cute pleated shorts as a last minute, secret Costume College project for the Carmen Miranda Pool party.

Fabric: teal cotton twill
 Pattern: Wearing History Rita Shorts
Year: late 30s/early 40s repro
Notions: zipper, hooks and eyes
First worn: August 2012
Wear again? Of course! I actually ended up wearing these three times at Costume College! The pleats make these shorts super fun to wear and they look just like a skirt. The only thing is that they are short and voluminous so I have to be careful not to bend over in these shorts. I'm really thinking that I need a pair in white with contrasting top stitching! And a pair with the suspenders!

They are super flattering from behind!

These shorts were very easy to whip up. I ended up making 2 muslins and wearable muslin, but I went against my gut and cut out a size smaller. If I'd cut the larger size, I'd probably only have needed to do one muslin. I did my wearable muslin in a plaid (oy, don't ask me why) and on that pair, it's much more obvious that they are shorts and not a skirt because my plaid doesn't match up exactly at the center seams. Just keep that in mind if you want to use a fabric that needs stripe/plaid/print matching.

The pattern directions were very easy to follow. It includes a nice step by step lapped zipper insertion. I loved lapped zippers! They are so 40s! This pattern even includes extra seam allowance on the side seams to make the lapped zipper insertion easier. I may never sew a lapped zipper with less than 3/4" seam allowance again because it was sooooo much easier than with 5/8" or 1/2".

I paired them with my 40s style wedges for a super fun outfit! I'm so happy that I made these with enough summer left to really enjoy them.

Costume College: Thursday

Most people wear as much sweatshirt material on their person as possible while flying. I prefer a cute early 60s dress.

Alas, I did not get any pictures of me frolicking around in the airport or garment district in this dress so I wore it again on Sunday with my new petticoat for some pictures!

Fabric: quilting fabric ($5.50/yd)
 Pattern: Simplicity 4326
Year: early 1960s
Notions: buttons
First worn: August 2012
Wear again? Yes! And I'll probably sew with this pattern again! It's a great shirtwaist dress pattern and fits me wonderfully! With a different collar, it could easily work for 50s too.
Total cost: ~$20

I know sewing garments with quilting fabric is a big no no, but I just couldn't resist these cute little 50s/60s girls!

I wore my new crinoline and was super poofy! I do not recommend a crinoline for air travel though.

I paired this dress with a velvet vintage black belt.

Thursday night at Costume College was also the Carmen Miranda pool party. I didn't get any shots but here are a few from around the web.

From Lady Carolyn

Me and Lauren M. She had a great fringed white dress and butterfly turban like the one at the end of this post. I wore my Mexican blouse and my new Wearing History Rita shorts. These shorts will be getting their own in depth review post later but they are so awesome! At least there's still enough summer left to enjoy them properly.

From Val of Time Traveling in Costume

Me and Ginger. She also went 40s with a fabulous vintage chenille cape.

Costume Collge: Sunday

On Sunday, I finally made it over to the costume exhibit at Costume College. Enjoy some of the lovely costumes I got to see in person!

A dress inspired by the liquor hpnotiq.

A fabulous bustle dress.

This dress is based off of one that Glenn Close wore in Dangerous Liaisons.

Pretty purple with beaded trim!

Teal is such a great color to make all of the lovely lace on this piece pop.

The stomacher on this gown was fabulously decorated.

Regency with cute shoes.

I love the hat with this one!

Fur!

This masque dress had a tea pot and tea cups resting on the top of the skirt!

Titanic era evening dress.

Pink Edwardian!

Purple bustle dress with some great examples of fabric manipulation.

Red and black dress for a masque.

A brown dress with gorgeous gold embroidery.