How to Wear Vintage at the Beach

In this installment of Q&A, we'll talk about what to wear to the beach and how to look classy during water activities!

Vlogging at Disney!

With my family in town last week, I didn't get any proper outfit photos! Oh, well. I did film a vlog from Epcot so you get two videos this week. Hope you enjoy this snippet of my Disney Bound adventures!

How to Take Great Blog Photos

We're back this week with some more Q&A. Today, I'll share with you some tips and tricks for better blog photos plus I'll give you the low down on what equipment I use for taking photos.

Vacation Week 2015

If you've been following me on Instagram, you've seen my adventures this past week. My family was in town visiting and we did a bunch of fun touristy things! I decided to leave the fancy camera behind and just do some Insta-blogging so here are a few of my snaps.

First, we hit Kennedy Space Center for some fun space adventures! While NASA doesn't do manned missions anymore, they still shoot off lots of rockets for satellites and such and several private companies are working on launching manned ships from the Kennedy Space Center. 

 While something 1960s would have been more appropriate, I went for an easy 1940s look that would be good for a day of walking around in big crowds.

Aside from some really cool space stuff, I spied these adorable vintage orange labels tucked off in a corner. So yummy!

And of course, all of the nerdy things! Even though I'm not much of a t-shirt person, I couldn't help but to snap a shot of this cute one.

Next up was Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure. Being a Disney buff, I've never made time for Universal so I was excited to see if it was as good as everyone says.

 For this adventure, I wore my Mexican peasant blouse, 1950s pedal pushers and comfortable shoes. When you are going some place you've never been, it's always better to be a bit more conservative in your outfits. I went for pants because skirts and roller coasters don't really mix. The park ended up being smaller than I thought but I was happy that I wore sneakers.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was high on my list of must sees at Universal. It was really cool! They did a great job of really making it look like Hog's Mead but the fake snow was a bit annoying in mid summer.

All in all, it was a fun day but definitely nothing to compare with Disney. There were more roller coasters but also a lot of water rides and 3D rides neither of which are really my thing. Universal Studios original park has even more 3D rides (almost all!) so I couldn't image going there. I did like the Jurassic Park section but was bummed that it's ride was a water ride. :(

For dinner, we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe which was yummy!

After two days of big parks, we took a rest day at the beach. It was super calm and we were able to go in quite far and see pretty deep into the water. Thank goodness for sun screen and beach umbrellas because I ended up falling asleep and napping on the beach.

After a break day, we hit up Epcot and I took my video camera so look for a blog some time soon. After my Downtown Disney vlog, one of my readers suggested that I do a Disney Bound. So here it is! I had so much fun doing this. Several cast members and visitors noticed my Snow White Disney Bound. Someone even knew it was a Disney Bound. :) Can't wait to do this again!

One of my favorite things about Epcot is the food! We stopped in France for a snack and look at those yummies! My husband was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that is triggered by gluten similar to Celiac Disease and the staff at Disney were AMAZING with helping find gluten free options for him. Yay for Disney!

 Another reason I love Epcot is all of the fabulous clothes from all the countries! I loved this ensemble from Morocco. We had dinner in Morocco and it was fabulous! I think I'm going to be learning how to make Middle Eastern food soon. I also did some shopping in Mexico. I know I just started the Project 333 but I'm feeling really inspired right now and it might not end well....

All in all, it was a great week with my family. I'm so sad they are gone already but we had a blast. Back to normal life next week.

Vlogging from the Cocoa Beach Pirate Festival

Who doesn't love pirates? They arrrrrrrre amazing! Oh, lame pirate puns aside, I did have fun at this local pirate festival. I don't have a pirate costume but I did get to test out my 1940s summer survival ensemble in the crazy Florida heat and humidity. Why don't you watch to find out my choices to beat the heat?

Changing Keys

Every once in a while, something comes along that causes you to break one of your own fashion rules. One of the things that I've learned about my style is that I'm not a huge fan of all over prints on myself. Separates, sure. An entire dress, not so much. And today I've gone and proven myself wrong. I'm changing the musical key of my wardrobe, so to speak.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I adore singing and have always wanted to live in a musical. I played flute for 8 years. I've taken music theory, philosophy of music, and piano classes. While I don't get the chance to play or compose much anymore, I do sing in the shower and rock out to music in the car. This print would also be great for swing dancers.

So when Wearing History offered it's melody print in one of my favorite fabrics, rayon, I knew I had to have some.

My original plan for this fabric was very different from what it ended up as. First, I envisioned a 1940s evening gown in this drapey rayon. But when the fabric got here, I changed my mind. It's a lovely rayon with a great drape. It's not too wrinkly or slippery to work with like some other rayons I've used.

And while this fabric would have been fabulous for an evening gown, when the fabric got here, I knew I had to make it up into something that I would wear more often. And when fabric speaks to you, it's a good idea to listen to it.

So I dug through my pattern stash and after a quick shout out to Facebook, I decided on Anne Adams 4832. I've made it before in a mid-weight linen which I wore on the 4th of July but I decided to make a few changes in this version.

I decided to bind the neckline instead of face it with a casing. I also moved the gathers from the center to off to the sides which gives more of a square-ish neckline. And I went with the optional patch pocket. The only other change I made was a narrow shoulder adjustment.

Between these changes and the difference in the behavior of the linen and rayon, these two dresses feel completely different! The rayon sewed up beautifully. Sometimes rayon can be super slippery and difficult to work with but this one behaved.

Something to consider when sewing with this pattern is that it is large and busy. It is best suited for a pattern with a simple design and not too many seam lines. A design with lots of crazy seam lines would get lost in the print and the print would get chopped up by the seam lines.

 On the up side, the print is so cute and would work for a wide variety of decades including modern styles. And the color palette is great-navy, pink, green, blue and white. It's got great potential for accessorizing in any of these colors. I also think it would be super cute in a color blocked dress.

Since I had originally planned on making an evening gown, I have some extra fabric. I really want to make up some coordinating accessories. I really want a navy jacket or bolero lined in this fabric to wear with this dress in the winter. And I'm saving all my scraps to trim a hat to match.

Love that music print so much!

 I finished this dress just a week ago and I've already worn it twice! So, overall, I give this fabric a thumbs up! If you'd like to have some of your own, you can find it here.

 Disclaimer: Fabric provided c/o Wearing History for review.

The Next Wardrobe Adventure: Project 333

I'm embarking on yet another wardrobe adventure! I really enjoyed putting together my 1940s capsule wardrobe and I shared last week about my experiences with one so far but now we're kicking it up a notch. I stumbled upon Project 333 and it's blog earlier this year and I instantly fell in love.

Project 333 (pronounced three thirty-three) is a minimalist fashion challenge that has a basic premise. You pick 33 items and that becomes your wardrobe for 3 months. At the end of the 3 month period, you can go back to your full wardrobe or try another round with a new set of 33 items. The goal is to help you see that you can live a smaller wardrobe and that it has benefits for your life. It's not about rigidly following rules or suffering through something that's not for your. It's totally cool if you find you need 37 items or want to do it just for two months.

I've been wanting to do this but it was never the right time and my wardrobe was never just so. Finally, I decided that I'm just going to do it. It will never be the perfect time. So I picked my 33 items and packed up the rest of my closet on Wednesday and we'll see how this goes.

My Project 333 will run from July 7 through October 6 which, from what I've heard from Floridians, is all summer here in Florida so I can pretty much expect the same type of weather that we're having now except hotter with more rain. That helped out a lot because living in a new place with new weather can make this project difficult. I also  decided to stick with mostly 40s pieces since that's what I've been really loving this year. So let's do a run down of my 33 items.

Items 1-7: Blouses- Wearing History Norma Jean and Ruthie blouses, white button up blouse (left) blue 50s blouse, white sweater, black 50s sleeveless blouse, white Mexican peasant blouse (right)

I'm noticing a lot of blue and white here. This may be an issue but I do love all of them.

Items 8-11: Skirts-green 40s, red 40s (left), blue 40s sailor, green anchor (right)

Again, the two green skirts are sort of duplicates. That's something for me to keep in mind while sewing during this quarter. I also want to replace
 the blue skirt (since it's getting a bit old) which I may do during the project.

Items 12-17: Dresses-red roses 50s dress, orange floral 50s dress (left) green 40s dress, Melody print 40s dress (blog post coming soon!) (center) black and white maxi dress, pink 40s dress (right)

I included two light weight 50s dresses for those days when I'm in a 50s mood. I don't have a ton of 40s dresses so I included them all (including a new make that I'll be blogging about soon). I also included a modern maxi dress for events where I need to dress modern. Its crazy comfortable and easy to dress up or down.

Items 18-22: Other- red 40s suit jacket, white bolero (left) 1930s beach pjs (center) Freddies jean capris, red 50s capris (right)

And a couple other completer pieces.

Items 23-29: Shoes and Purses- I've got 5 pairs of shoes including flats and heals. I'm including my current summer purse (not pictured) and one vintage purse (not pictured) which I haven't decided on yet.

Items 30-33: UFOs- Being a seamstress, I knew that I was going to have to bend the rules of this challenge to make it work for me. I'm including 4 not finished pieces in my wardrobe. First up is a peplum blouse and skirt in yellow eyelet. Next, I have a red sleeveless blouse and hawaiian print skirt.

Once I finish these projects, I'm going to focus on fall/winter sewing instead. Having lived through a Florida winter, I know that it does still get chilly but a lot of my Ohio winter wardrobe is just too much. I've got a couple of things that I want to add for winter that I'll work on if I can keep in focus. If I want to add anything else, I'll have to retire something from my capsule wardrobe.

My other modification of the Project 333 rules was not to include any accessories other than shoes and purses. Maybe next go around I will but it was too much for me to think about this time. I did, however, make an effort to pair down the accessories that I do have out to give myself fewer choices and even put a few pieces in the donate pile.

Mixing Things Up

One of the things about having a smaller wardrobe is that it really forces you to be more creative. I had some extra time to get ready in the morning so I set out to whip up an outfit I'd never worn before. Here it is!

This ensemble includes several items that I've had for a while but don't wear very often for one reason or another. I'm trying really hard to either find ways to wear these pieces or let them go.

One is this great purple snood. It's actually my very first snood which I purchased for a Renaissance Festival costume before I decided I liked wearing them for 1940s styles too. Alas, I don't really wear a lot of purple so it doesn't get worn very often. But you don't have to wear a color in the main part of your outfit before you can add it via an accessory.

The other piece is this great white collared sweater which you may remember from my 1920s outfit. I bought it thinking that it would be a great basic but then realized that I'm not too keen on the high neckline on me.

Then I thought what if I added a brooch or a bow at the neckline? Tada! Perhaps I need more bows and a whole host of lady ties since I adore this look so much!

And, lastly, a great pair of shoes. These used to be among my special occasion shoes but not anymore! As long as it's not supposed to rain, these babies are going to get loads of wear.

Oh, the power of basic solids! Not one thing I'm wearing matches but the colors all go together so the whole outfit works.

 I also took the opportunity to try out Jen's snood style from the A Vintage Vanity / Lisa Freemont Street collaboration. And wow, it turned out great! Who would have thought that my fine short hair could do such a huge voluminous 40s style like this one!

The secret is stand up pin curls, volumizing powder and back combing with an actual back combing brush. And a great tutorial, of course!

I did have to make one cheat though. This style is meant to give the look of rolls without the difficulty of actual rolls but my hair on the light side of the part was too short to pull it off! So I just substituted an actual roll instead.

Shhh! Don't tell Jen!

 Have you tried any new outfit combos or hair styles lately?

Q&A: Part 1

Here are the answers to the first round of Q&A questions! I'm splitting them up into several posts since you all asked such great questions. I've already filmed over 30 mins for this series! If you missed the first round of questions, you can still ask below and I'll add them to the list.



If I didn't get to your question yet, don't worry! It'll be coming up in a later video. I've already shot footage for many of them.

Red, White and Polka Dots

Despite the name of my blog and my love of 40s fashion, I'm not a super patriotic person. I've never been much of a "team" person (I despise almost all sports) and my experience with the military during my husband's deployment left much to be desired. But I do make an exception for the 4th of July. It doesn't hurt that red, white and blue are great colors on me.

This year I'm actually wearing last year's dress. Since I was a bad blogger and didn't get any photos last year, it's still new to you. And look, polka dots!

The pattern I used is Anne Adams 4832. Generally, I stick to Simplicity, Butterick and McCall vintage patterns but this one was just too cute to pass up.

And I lucked out in finding this great blue linen embroidered with red and white polka dots. So yummy!

I ended up making this dress a bit shorter than I usually like just to try it out. I still prefer a slightly longer skirt length but it's fun to be different sometimes.

I decided that this outfit had a bit too much blue so I pulled out a great red belt to break it up a bit. Belts have such transformative powers for outfits!

I also chose a red hair flower and red earrings to help this outfit pop. Alas, I didn't have a red snood but this ensemble convinced me that I really need a red one so I've ordered one. (I think I also need green and yellow and white but those shades will have to wait.)

And I got to pull out one of my favorite vintage purses for this festive day! I don't use vintage purses for my day to day outfits because I can't fit all of my stuff in such a tiny bag but for the odd special occasion, I still pull them out.

My holiday weekend was pretty low key. Just playing board games at home with my hubby all day and then a BBQ and fireworks at my brother-in-law's in the evening. The older I've gotten the more I've grown to appreciate a quite holiday rather than an endless parade of people to see (especially for people like me who are introverts and get easily over stimulated by large groups of people), a mile long list of activities to do and piles of unhealthy food that lead to tummy aches and extra pounds.

I was much happier to have time to watch some youtube videos including a great snood collaboration between two of my favorite youtubers, Ashley of Lisa Freemont Street and Jen of A Vintage Vanity. This is my version of Ashley's style and I'll be wearing Jen's style later this week.

And, of course, I found some time for blogging activities! My hubby snapped this shot of me updating my Instagram account. You can follow me here.

 Did you sport a patriotic outfit this weekend? Leave me a link if you shared one on your blog!