Orange You Glad It's Summer?

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but orange has become my unofficial color for summer 2014.

Maybe it's the move to Florida but when I saw this orange fruit filled skirt at Pin Up Girl Clothing, I had to have it.

Especially since I already had this orange blouse in the works for my playsuit! Speaking of playsuits, I've been bad and not gotten any proper photos of mine yet. I'm sure some of you ladies are in the same predicament, so we'll do the wrap up/link sharing party on July 7th. This way, we all have a few more days to get photos, write blogs and post to Flickr!

Ok, back to this outfit! I've seen this skirt styled a lot with dark green which does look nice but I wanted a brighter color palette for summer!

It's finally hot now. Not too hot for me, just a nice comfortable cozy sort of warm. (Which, of course, means everyone else is sweating buckets.)

I didn't have any orange or green gloves to match (and it's almost impossible to find vintage white gloves that are still actually white) so I went with yellow. There is quite a bit of yellow in some of these oranges plus I got to wear one of my favorite yellow hats.

I'm sure I'll be wearing this outfit loads this summer because even my hubby loves it! Apparently, it's not as "old lady" as I usually like.

The blouse is Butterick 7641 c. 1958 which I have made before but in the short sleeved version.

I was a bit nervous that this view would be a bra strap showing version, but my fears were all for naught since they stay safely hidden! :D

What fruits do you love to wear in the summer?

Fit for a Princess

There's a part of me that's pretty sure that I was supposed to be born a princess.

Specifically, a Disney princess because the best things always seem to happen to them.

So when Pin Up Girl Clothing launched a line of fairy tale inspired pieces, I fell instantly in love with the Sleeping Beauty inspired pieces!

I ended up choosing the pink color way instead of the blue because pink is princess-y but I did love the subtle hint at the make it pink make it blue bit from the Disney version.

I also snagged this darling purse (and a few other goodies) during their fabulous 15th anniversary sale. So far I'm very happy with this recent wardrobe splurge!

I love the 50s inspired shape of this bag and the fact that it is big enough to fit all of my stuff.

A basic black top and a pink hat finish off this outfit.

Pretty, pretty princess Stephanie!

Hair, Hair, Hair

Oh, me and my hair! I love it then I hate it. I make snap decisions to change it. I worry about it for weeks without making a decision! I want it short. I want it long.

*Sigh*

Well, at the moment, I want it long again so it's time for a grow out. I'm going to try and do a better job of documenting the grow out process this go around. (If you are new to the blog, I had a pixie cut fall/winter 2012 and then grew it out winter/spring 2013.) So I'll be doing regular youtube videos on my progress the first of which will be at the end of this post.

I didn't get a chance to talk much about why I got the pixie, what I liked/disliked about having it and why I decided to grow it out. That would have been waaaaaaay to long of a video! So that's what this post is devoted to.

Part 1: Getting the Chop

This past winter was horrid! We didn't really warm up for good until May. I usually get a bit of seasonal depression in the winter and bad winter = bad seasonal depression. My hair was being rather uncooperative. And I needed a change.

Also, I was already thinking about the trip to Florida and the vow renewals. Last time I visited Florida on vacation, it was serious pin curl fail every day. So pixie cut it was!

Part 2: Living with the Chop

Having a pixie cut was awesome! It was so easy to style. A pixie may take more work to style than a modern long style which you can always throw into a pony tail but it's much less work than pin curling. Especially since I didn't have to do anything at night.

It was pretty much a weather proof style as well. I no longer feared rain, wind or humidity-all enemies of the pin curl set. Ah, it was glorious.

But something started to happen. My casual go with anything pixie started causing me to dress more and more casually on a day to day basis. Before I knew it, I was living in shorts and t-shirts when not at work or planning on an outfit post.

Even when I dressed vintage, I didn't feel the way I did when I had longer hair.

Part 3: Deciding Against the Chop

So that's when I decided to grow out my pixie. During my last pixie, I planned out the grow out so that it would be during the winter when I could wear loads of hats. Alas, I'll be doing the worst part of this grow out during the hottest moths of the year.

Part 4: The Grow Out Plan

So here's my grow out plan!

HSF#12: Shape and Support

This week's Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge was all about changing the shape of the human body.

I decided to make a 16th century bodied petticoat to wear in lieu of a corset. I do have a nice wool one but sometimes it's just to hot for wool!

The Challenge: Shape and Support
Fabric: Cotton duck for the inner layer, linen rayon blend for the bodice outside and skirt, cotton for the bodice lining, poly felt for the skirt hem support
Pattern: self drafted
Year: mid/late 16th century
Notions: ribbon for lacing, 6 steel bones
How historically accurate is it? well, the materials are iffy but it gives a nice shape
Hours to complete: eep, did not keep track
First worn: not yet
Total cost: ~$20 (I reused an old petticoat for the skirt and the lining and felt were left overs from other projects)

 One thing I wanted to try with this project was hem stiffening. I was inspired by these two articles on stiffened hems (1) (2). Now, I didn't get quite as amazing results as these ladies did but I can tell it makes a difference!

 The skirt I used was too long so I sandwiched 3" of felt between the hem allowance and the skirt. It actually gives a nice shape for a lower/middle class. I have high hopes for trying it in a less drapey material such as taffeta!

As far as the bodice shaping, I did the same 6 bone layout as in my grey wool kirtle. There is some slight curvature in the bust but it still does a great job and you won't be able to tell under another layer. Plus it's so much more comfortable with out all the extra boning I'd need to get a perfectly flat bust.

This piece was designed to be an undergarment, but now that I see it with my chemise from challenge #9, it looks very cute and generic peasant-y. The skirt does gape in the front so I'll need an apron or something but I'm getting excited!

Dirndl Skirt Sew Along: Buttons and Buttonholes

This is the last part of our dirndl skirt sew along! You still have till July 1st to finish up your playsuit. There have been some lovelies popping up on the Flickr page!

Dirndl Skirt Sew Along: Hemming and Button Placket

Today we're hemming our skirt and attaching the button placket!

Playing Around

Ohio has been having crazy weather, as usual. After a freakishly long winter, an almost non-existant spring and a taste of summer, spring finally arrived wet and chilly in the middle of June. Oy.

When we finally got a day that was warm and rain free, I just had to celebrate with a bright outfit!

I just adore my patio dress and I'm on a mission to wear it loads this summer.

I grabbed the opportunity for a shoot on the playground when I saw it was momentarily kid free.

Tada! For some reason, I thought it would be a fun idea to balance on the see-saw in my wedges.

I didn't end up getting hurt so I guess it was an ok idea after all.

I actually made this patio dress from some old curtains that used to belong to a friend. They were moving and didn't want them any more.

So I loaded up on vintage ric rac and whipped them up into a playsuit.

I pretty much stay in the same styling box when it comes to this outfit. But it's so loud on it's own that I don't think it can really handle too many accessories!

Do you have a patio dress?

Crafting a Wedding Dress

Having wasted loads of time spent hours researching on pinterest, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for my wedding dress on the beach!

Being a beach wedding, I wanted something comfortable, not too hot and oh so cute!

source

Having already spotted this great vintage wedding dress on etsy

source

And the pattern (c. 1947) it was made from, I had a plan!

So I ordered up 12 yds of cotton lawn (since I knew I'd have to at least double each layer for modesty!) and got sewing!

The actual sewing of the dress was quite easy especially since I found a copy of the pattern in my magic size 15 (Bust 33).

Originally, I had wanted to do flowers under the bustle like in the vintage dress, but I never found any I liked so ocean blue ribbon it was!

Veil/ Vintage Box 1947
Earrings/ Sparkle Lux
Parasol/ Epcot
Pattern/ Wearing History

What's your dream wedding dress look like?

Photography (c) Charity K Photography unless otherwise noted

Dirndl Skirt Sew Along: Attaching the Waistband

Today we're attaching our skirt to the waistband!



Keep a look out for more vow renewal photos tomorrow!

Beach Bliss

Finally, I get to share my secret vacation project!! For our five year anniversary, my husband and I decided to do a vow renewal on the beach. So what's a girl to do but sew up her very own vintage wedding dress!

We had a very intimate beach ceremony in Melbourne where we will be relocating to.

I actually have our original wedding vows but I forgot to pack them so we each wrote a letter and read them to each other.

It was crazy romantic!

I was always so bummed that I discovered vintage after my wedding and never got to do a vintage wedding so this helped me live out my dreams of being a vintage and pixie bride!

Charity K Photography came down to Florida to shoot us and it was a blast!

My dress is from a 1947 pattern. Don't worry! It's getting it's own post with even more beach photos!

Will obliged me by wearing a teal tie to match my accessories. It was actually quite difficult to find a tie in that shade!

I just had to have a bird cage veil and earrings with tiny seashells in them! I think I'm going to have to do a wedding accessory video!

It was super hard for me to pick photos to share with you because they were all so amazing!!

So now I'm sort of running out of things to say.

But that's ok because you're all distracted by the pretty pictures.

Oh, look, it's the end!

Photographs (c) Charity K Photography