It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... well, inside at least! Outside we're still regularly getting into the 80s which doesn't feel much like Christmas. We have decorated inside which makes me so happy! We don't have nearly as much in the way of festive decor as most people but I'm quite happy with the pieces we added this year and how pretty everything turned out.

 One of the biggest changes this year was with our tree. I have always been a huge fan of real trees while my hubby grew up with faux trees. The last few years, we have had real trees which I thought was great. But this year, we ended up going with a faux tree.

And it's white! I had never thought of doing a white tree but when we had the opportunity to get one for free, we decided to try it. We opted to light it with white lights so that we could easily change the color scheme year by year if we felt like it.

We had a lot of decor in the traditional red and green colors so that's what we went for. Our tree still has some eclectic feel to it but my favorite ornaments are the bird ones and our Disney ornaments.

This year is the first time that we have had a mantle place to decorate! Unfortunately, our old decorations didn't have enough pieces to really fill out the space. So I had to go shopping.

The center piece of this space is the Merry Christmas sign. It's actually the last thing we purchased because we just couldn't decide what we wanted to go there. In the end, I think we made a great choice. Will's favorite addition is the little green lantern. I love the cute birds in hats and scarves!

The finishing touch to the mantle was the addition of a few pine cones. Before I moved to Florida, I had no idea that there were so many pine trees but they do make a great supplier of natural decor pieces.

What are your favorite holiday decor pieces?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Ah, Christmas! My favorite season is here! There's something quite magical about this time of the year. And I try to wear all of the Christmas themed outfits as much as possible between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So when I had a few Christmas parties to go this weekend, I pulled out a green skirt and red sweater for an easy holiday look. While it's not the most obnoxiously festive outfit in my closet, it's definitely a pairing that I can't pull off for most of the year!

Recently, I added a few plain t-shirts to my wardrobe and I've been wearing them a lot. They are great, comfortable basics even if they are not period appropriate.

However, I can't help but think that if t-shirts like this would have been available in the 1940s, they would have been a staple in the wardrobes of hard working, make do and mend ladies. So I don't have a problem of including them in a 40s inspired look.

To add a bit more flair to the outfit, I went with red and green jewelry and, of course, red lipstick! Red lippy is a great way to make any outfit feel more retro.

I feel like I've really come full circle in my fashion. When I started this blog, I was all into war ear 40s fashions, but I ended up trying lots of other period-20s, 30s, early 40s, late 40s and 50s.

 I keep coming back to the classic 40s silhouette! It's so flattering on me! I didn't keep many of my 40s pieces in my Project 333 and I've been missing them. So I cheated a bit and pulled this skirt out early.

I'll be doing a Project 333 write up later this month, but while I feel like I could live on just a 33 piece wardrobe, I don't feel like I'm very good at picking out those pieces. I'm to easily distracted by what I want to wear now which may not be what I want to wear in 2-3 months.

 In other news, it's been unseasonably warm lately so I haven't really been able to dig into my fall pieces yet. Boo.

Merry Christmas!

Hello all! I'm back for a break from unpacking! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas yesterday. Ours was a bit quiet since our movers didn't arrive until Christmas eve so we still had quite a bit of moving chaos to deal with today. But we did take some time to go to the Christmas potluck hosted by our condo association.

Our first couple of days in Florida were humid and in the 80s. Apparently, it was rather high for this time of the year! Thankfully for my poor husband who gets hot easily, it cooled down to the low 70s for Christmas.

 

It was still definitely warm enough to wear my 1950s Christmas dress! I wanted something comfortable and sort of casual but still nice since I wasn't sure what the dress code was going to be. It's really hard to wear vintage and be under dressed for anything since fashion has only gotten more and more casual over the decades.

Even though they didn't quite match, I wore my new Miss L Fire shoes. I've been wanting to get a pair for forever and when Lily of Mode de Lis had a pair for sale in my size, I snatched them up! Early Christmas present to myself I guess.

I'm also wearing another Christmas present-these molecule earrings from my hubby. They are theobromine which comes from the cacao seed. It's a mild stimulant and mood improver and is one of the reasons chocolate is so delicious! (Also, all of that sugar!)

So far, we are really loving our new condo. It's not my dream home or anything but it's perfect for us right now! And I'm finally getting my own sewing room! :D It's not unpacked yet since other rooms took priority. (I guess having a functional kitchen is pretty important and all...)

We're still getting used to Florida. With the sudden increase in humidity, my hair has decided not to behave so I'll have to wrangle it into submission but things are going well.

 I've actually been enjoying not being quite as active on social media. My life in 2014 can be summed up in one word-busy! One of my goals for 2015 is to take more time to relax. I want to hang on the patio and read my books. Growing up, I was never without a book to read and I've stopped having time to do that over the last few years.

I'm also planning on lots of trips to the beach too! How was your Christmas?

Happy Christmas to Me!

I thought I'd share a few of the vintage goodies I got for Christmas / graduation this year. Some are gifts and some I picked out myself with gift money. I was very lucky in my goodies this year. Aside from a nice fabric haul, I got some great stuff!

Vintage patterns galore! Can't wait for early 40s sewing this year!

Simplicity 3523, Simplicity 3468, Simplicity 3424

Simplicity 3702, Simplicity 4413

Simplicity 3457, Simplicity 3301

Wearing History's Deliah 1940s blouse and 1930s Day or Evening blouse and skirt pattern

 A Complete 1950s Guide to Vintage Makeup, Hairstyling & Beauty Techniques and Beauty, Glamour & Personality A Complete 1940s Guide to Vintage Makeup, Hairstyling and Elegance

I also got a new pair of Freddies on sale! :D

Did you get vintage lovelies for Christmas?

Thanksgiving (Again)

If you've been around the blog a while, you know that I have a lot of Thanksgivings to go to every year. (Lately, it's been 4) So there's more Thanksgiving outfit goodness ahead.

I went for more of a Christmas-y look since I adore Christmas! (That's my hubby's cousin posing with me!)

This dress is from way back and it has some fit issues but that's easily fixed with a cardigan.

Do you love Christmas or Thanksgiving more?

Christmas Gifts

I feel so far behind posting yet another Christmas related post in January but I was so busy this holiday season! This post is dedicated to sewing/vintage related gifts given and received!

I love a good book and these are the ones that joined my library this holiday season. All except for the Downton Abbey book (which was a gift from a friend) were purchased with holiday spending money from a used book store. I picked Broadway: The American Musical and Great Movies: 100 Years of Film for the eye candy both vintage and modern. I also spied Montgomery Ward Fashions of the Twenties. I have similar books from the Sears Catalog in 1909-1920, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s so this filled in the gap nicely. On the plus side, the Montgomery Ward book has a series of colored pages in the center but nothing is dated like it is in the Sears Catalog books. I can't wait to really delve into The Chronicles of Downton Abbey but since it's for all three seasons, I'm trying to hold off doing more that drool over the pretty pictures so I don't stumble upon any plot spoilers.

The friend who gave me the Downton Abbey book also gave me two hats-the yellow crochet one that is modern and the blue one which is vintage. She knows me well!

My mother-in-law surprised me with this gorgeous Fossil bag. I'm sad to say that I'm just not that into vintage purses. I'm a big purse kind of gal! I was so ecstatic to receive this one! I love Fossil but they are usually out of my price range.

This one is not technically a present but I picked up this lovely Vintage Vogue pattern. With our wedding photography season already starting to get busy, I'm in desperate need of appropriate dresses to wear. Most of my dresses are too "costumey", mainly white, or too casual for wedding shoots. I thought this one would be fabulous!

I did do some Christmas knitting! I made this scarf for my littlest sister.

I knit this one for my step-mom. And I also knit a cowl for my other little sister but I forgot to get photos of it.

And I couldn't help but share a sneak peak of my 1913 combinations! Lace!!!

Christmas Part 3

Phew! I made it to my last Christmas outfit post! I wore my Christmas Crepe dress to a Christmas eve party.\

I love this dress because it is so easy and simple!

Plus with the wrap style, it fits even after my weight loss. And there's extra room when you know you're going to be stuffing your face all evening.

I also paired this dress with my Belle Blossoms poinsettias.

And while at my parents' house over Thanksgiving, I found all of my old holiday earrings! It's so fun to jingle all night!

Sewing For Others

I don't know about you, but I don't normally sew for other people. Most people don't have any idea of how much work goes into sewing a garment and just the material costs alone are normally above their intended budget! Plus it's hard enough to fit yourself without having to learn someone else's body too. But every year my church does a live Nativity and this year I offered my help with the costumes.

 

The cast is mostly preschool through middle school kids and don't they look so cute! Most of the costumes we could use from last year's stock but many needed to be rehemmed or altered just a bit.

Shepard boys! (And on a side note, if you've ever heard my gripe about not being able to wear certain things to church/the barn, this is what I have to walk around in all day-sand!)

Angel girls waiting to go on!

My church does horse ministry so the wise men get to arrive in style!

Another group of wise men!

The Nativity went very well and the kiddies were so well behaved. I did end up running around and being super busy through most of church but it was so worth it! It was so great to be able to help out and use my sewing skills for my church!