Dirndl Skirt Sew Along: Sewing the Side Seams

Today, we're sewing up the side seams of our skirt (if you need too!) and we're applying interfacing to the waist band and button placket!

A Rose by Any Other Name

Today's outfit post is featuring my new Pin Up Girl Clothing dress! You guys have already seen a sneak peak of it on my vacation haul video. I've actually worn it several times but only just gotten pictures of it!

Tada! It's the Evelyn dress! They don't currently have this print on the website but there are several other color/print options.

I really love the fact that it comes with a reversible bolero. 

The print is a fabulous barkcloth-esque rose print that I just fell in love with.

I chose to wear this dress with a crinoline for extra poof factor!

And it matched my new 50s hat just perfectly! :D

One thing I love about this dress (aside from the fact that it fits me off the rack) is that it is quite long! I'm 5'4" and it hits below the knee. I can even wear it with my super long crinoline!

One of my big hang ups about Bernie Dexter dresses is that they are so short!

Overall, I'm very happy with the quality of this dress and I'll probably be shopping from Pin Up Girl Clothing again!

16th Century Sewing Plans (Again)

I've been tweaking my historical costuming plans again. With the Renaissance Festival fast approaching, I know I need to prioritize and plan so I can get stuff done.


I wanted to make some sort of outerwear and I've decided on a linen jacket like this:

There's a pattern in the Tudor Tailor that looks really great for this sort of jacket. Plus layers are great for all day events.

I also really want to make an apron. Since I hate blackwork, I think I'll try some lace insertion.

See pretty lace work aprons!! (source: left, right by Jennifer Kluska)

I also have this great striped fabric that I bought ages ago for that Simplicity pattern. Now that I know better I want to make something more historically accurate. Thankfully, the fabric is a lighter weight than I remember and there's more of it than I remember so I'm going to make a dress!

The Italians did wear stripy garments like these two girls. (Giovanni Antonio Fasolol, c. 1560s: Paola Gualdo and Daughters)

And look at those great sleeves!

I also really like these dresses! ("Three Children with Dog" by Sofonisba Anguissola c. 1590)

Lily of Mode de Lis did a fabulous recreation based on this portrait.

I won't be doing a recreation of any particular portrait but borrowing details from different ones to make my own dress. The first part of this project will be to make a bodied petticoat to wear under the dress. I could use my wool kirtle but I want something lighter to wear on warmer days. (And in Florida!)

Eeep! I'm super excited for faire season!

Drafting Our Dirndl Skirt!

Today we are going to be drafting the pattern for our dirndl skirt!

Disney Day!

I was lucky enough to spend my birthday at Epcot this year!

I'm a huge Disney nerd but even at 25, there's no place better to spend your birthday than the happiest place on earth.

Epcot is my favorite Disney park because I love the countries! I've always wanted to travel to Europe.

Not to mention that you get to eat all of this amazing food! nom nom nom.

I opted to wear this great vintage dress since it was light weight and cool. It was 90F the day we went.

I purchased the parasol in China and it was great for keeping the sun off of my face.

We had such a blast running around like big kids all day!

For dinner, we ate at Chefs de France and had yummy French food.

It's the less fancy of the two French sit down restaurants but it is still really nice.

I just love Disney!

Announcing the Dirndl Skirt Sew Along

We are kicking off the dirndl skirt sew along part of the Vintage Playsuit Sew Along so let's get started!

Beach Babe

I couldn't go to the Florida coast without getting some shots on the beach! And I already had a great retro swim suit so off we went!

Warning! Photo heavy post ahead!

The swim suit is from Fables by Barrie.

I purchased this suit back in 2012 for my last visit to Disney but it hasn't gotten much wear since.

It features a great midcentury print!

And the high waisted bottoms have a cute belt detail!

We chose this beach for the great pier! It was so fun to shoot with!

Pier of awesomeness!

I'm not generally super excited about showing off this much skin on my blog but I've been working on posing and it really helps my self confidence to know how to stand to show my body in it's best light.

And I have reason to believe that I'll be wearing this suit a lot more often in the future.

Because we are moving to Florida! :D

Part of the reason for the trip was to do a moving scope out of the area we thought we'd like to move to and we're going to do it! We won't be moving till the end of the year but I will be downsizing a lot of my vintage wardrobe in preparation for moving out of state so expect more wardrobe sales on the blog over the next few months.

Are any of you currently in or from Florida?

Photos by Will Thorpe Photography willthorpe.com