Some of my Christmas goodies.

I was such a bad girl this Christmas. 

I generally don't buy a lot of things because I don't feel the need to splurge just because of the 'tis the season' mantra going on around. I *do* however love to shop. At the mall? No. I'm not insane. I hate the mall during regular times! Why is it people always stroll in the mall and block the flow of traffic. They just slow down to the point of a crawl with their strollers and seventeen children. But I digress..

I decided to splurge on some things that I wanted just because.

I generally don't get gifts. I do an illustrated Holiday card and send it out to all my family and friends. This year I didn't get a chance to do that, so I'm gift-less to other folks. Perhaps I'll send a 'just because' card later in the year. So it's understandable that I didn't get and goodies. I did get the classic $10 in a  card from Granny. I love my Granny.

New Year's Resolutions for 2012

Now is the time where people start to reflect on the past year. You see all those retrospectives on tv, and all the crap 'these people died' montages online.

I guess I'm one of those who reflect as well. I think on all that happened this tail end of 2011 and my head reels. Finding a job, preparing to move, dancing and having fun. Getting a dog. So much stuff, good and bad has happened to me, and I guess now is the time I purge myself of what is not working and fix what I can.

With that said, I should let you all know that I'm going to surrender Taylor. I've had him for over a month now, and even when I had him the first week, I felt this was not a good fit. I tried because I don't like to give up, but I do acknowledge when something is not working. He's a different dog from my lifestyle and I'm a different owner from what he needs. He's a great dog, but he keeps 'toying' with the cat, and the cat comes first.

I can't figure out what he needs and I want him to have a happy life. He's not getting that with me. I know he will be adopted quickly. He's a great animal, so I'm not worried about his future.

Looking back on it, I think I rushed my choice. I really just wanted Georgia back. I still miss her. More so than having any dog. I guess I was not ready yet.

I also decided to purge myself of some toxic people in my life. You all remember that. It's been very cleansing, and still I have work to do on it. I guess I'm in a 'burn your bridges' state of mind. I'm sick of people dicking me over, it's my turn to cut them loose.

From there I look at this tough year and I see what I want to work on, what I want to do, and what I feel will fulfill me

• Get better at dancing. I'm loving dancing, and I feel I can become a student of it, so I want to put more hours into it as often as I can.

• Move from my apartment. This is in the works. I just need to find a place that suits me, and not settle for whatever I can get because I think that might be my only option. I have a habit of doing that in a lot of aspects in my life.

• Flush out my animation reel. I've been making animation connections as best I can, and even though I have this illustration job, animation is my first love. 

• Put together a children's book portfolio. I've met quite a few people in the children's book illustration field over the last few weeks and I want to use that. I'm going to get back to my BFA and put together a new and more polished body of children's book work.

• Complete one of the novels I've been working on. Okay, I'm not a big writer really, but I do love a story. I've been working on and off of a fantasy story since I was sixteen. I want to finally finish it. If anyone would like to read it, I'll provide details later. I could use the feedback

• Get a car/license. I don't drive. I really have no desire to drive, but I should learn and get a moto.

That is my personal list of self improvement. 

It's a lot to do, but I got so much done on last year's 

list that I feel I can get this one done too.

Anyone else have a list of resolutions?

TDPS!!!

Christmas Catalog Sunday!

Chicago Mail Order mid 30s

Weekly Etsy Update!!

Happy Thursday before Christmas! Just wanted to tell you all about some of the new patterns I have listed in my store.

I have some 1940s great mail orders listed and more clothes to come soon!

Sewing for other people: The Mandarin Collar Dress

I hope everyone is having a splendid holiday week.

Mine is going well. Dance class, cleaning, the dog and friends. 

My Christmas plans are looking to be me grabbing a lot of junk food and just watching crappy movies. Ah, one of my favorite past times.

I don't know what has been in the water, but I have been bombarded with sewing projects! I'm making six pairs of gloves, taking a part a pair of men's pants and making a pattern from them (more on that later), and with now I'm making a dress for one of my dancing friends.

She likes the Chinese dress look from the 60s, but danceable, so shorter lenght and higher sleeves.

We went shopping for fabric in the LA Fabric district, and she picked out a lovely deep turquoise fabric with a bit of stretch. She's a petite gal, about 100lbs, so I can see why the stretch. It will make the dress formfitting as well as danceable.

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have blouses from my Butterick Fashion Book, winter 1934.

Birthday Dance!

I had so much fun the other evening! That was one of the first times I've ever thrown myself a get together and I was so warmed by how many people came out to help me celebate by birthday. I had so many drinks in the waits for me! It was fantastic!

Etsy Updates Yay!!

Hello all! I just wanted to drop a line that I have a whole slew of new separates in my etsy store. Most are from the 40's and I will be listing some plus size patterns shortly.

Sewing for Others this weekend.

Happy Monday everyone.

Taylor and I are doing fine and as we get to know each other, and he gets over his cold, I think things are only gonna get better.

Catalog Sunday

Man, you gotta love those mail order pattern envelopes from the 1940s. 

Busy Busy Busy

Hello everyone! 

Meet Taylor

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have work wear and play frocks from Sears 1942.

My guest arrives today.

I've been preparing all week! I'm so excited!!

I hope to have a name by weekend's end. Yay!!!

November Pattern Showcase!!

Good morning everyone! I hope your last month of the year is going good.

Patterns for this past November have been very precice.

My end of the year update.

The year is almost up. Just about six weeks to see if the list I made at the start of the year is still on track for me. Actually, I can happily say that these past few weeks have skyrocketed my list near completion!

These past couple of years have been monstrously tough. No full time work, an apartment that I hate, no money, or real social life. It's amazing how happy one can be when you finally get your foot in the door.

I don't know how it all happened for me, or what tips I can provide, but I guess perseverance and a shit load of luck are some of the most important things that no one ever really admits to saying is what got them going in the first place. Talent, sure, but I know tons of talented people with no opportunity, and lots more less talented people with great opportunity. I've always thought its a combo of both.

• Get a JOB! *Done! Not only that, but it's in my field! I'm working as an illustrator/animator for a start up doing online training courses. It's way more fun than it sounds. They LOVE my work, give me a lot of creative control, and value my input. What more can a gal ask for!?
• Finish one of my children's stories. *I did do this. At least I did finish one of my animations, Ninja Sheep. I'm very proud of the work I did on that project, but it's sunk into the aether. Not a lot of traffic, which I hoped would lead to my number one goal, but no.*
• Storyboard two stories I have. *Still working on this one., but since I have a full time job drawing, it's been a bit of a back burner issue for me.
• Learn to swing dance. *It's been about nine months and I'm loving the dancing. I learn something new every time I practice and my teacher thinks I'm one of the best people in his classes. Yay!!*
• Learn After Effects. (learning) *I've started with this, but have been standoffish about it. I need a chunk of time to really knock this out, but now because of the job, there never seems to be enough time in the day. *
• Move from my current apartment. *This is the one thing that I thought I would not be able to do. It's amazing how having a job can make the world open up for you! I am happy to say that I am on track to moving hopefully by the end of the year!! I'm looking for a two bedroom because I want a home office.

It's amazing to me. The constant nagging in my brain to count every penny when I had no money for wiggle room. It was exhausting. Everything I made via etsy pretty much ended up back in the store because that is what was keeping me going for a while. I wasn't able to go many places or do many things, and how I feel like I have a shot at more and it's great.

With this shot, I decided to add more amazing complexity to my life.

Meet my new doggie. I'm not sure what he is, but I'm glad to have him. He will need a lot of work, mostly in training. He's not potty trained or leash trained but he's smart and can concentrate which is a very good thing.

I'm going to have him kenneled until this weekend because I want a good chunk of time with him to get him acclimated to his new home. 

I get to go for walkies and bike rides and park visits and pet stores again. Yay! I'll have more information on him (and a name soon). 

Happy Monday everyone!!

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have part two of the 18th century black woman's wig catalog. Enjoy!!

I got pretties!!

Good happy Friday everyone. Whew. I know it seems redundant, but I am still recovering from the last couple of weekends. From work to dance class to extra sewing projects to cooking (made pesto for the first time) to build up of a lot of stuff, to cleaning...geeze. It just kept going and going.

BUT NOW!!!! I feel things have slowed down a bit and 

I can get back on track to my normal creative schedule. Yay! 

First things first. I bought myself some pretties.

Thread!!! 

I wanted to get a decent spectrum of thread for my serger and 

I decided to invest in some spools. 

I love stocking up.

Eugene's last stand.

Yesterday was Eugene's last night out and about. He's going to retire to a lovely place in the woods. But before he does, he wanted to do one last might. Our team, Passport to Dance went out with one last hurah and pranced Eugene all over the floor in a celebratory dance.

Catalog Sunday

Today I have hats from Sears fall/winter, 1941.

I'm back with a Dance-A-Thon recap!!

Helloooooo everyone!
Wow, this past weekend and the past week have been busy. From the start of 'resting' on Monday from the Danceathon I had two sewing projects, plus I decided to take on some OT at work. How could I pass that up!? I got so busy I missed a dance class. I'm pretty bummed about that.

But now that I'm at a regular pace, I gotta tell you all about the Danceathon!

It was so much fun as I'm sure you could see from the two videos I posted.

Here are some of the pictures I managed to snap in between dancing and sewing (heheheh).

Here I am the morning of. I spent the night at a friend's place, and we just went from there. I didn't even have time to wash my hair for the event, so I did it that morning and twisted it in the car!

Dance-A-Thon news coverage!!

Check out 0:09  :)

Here is another one. I'll have a recap soon :)

Catalog Sunday

Better Late than never :) These are from my 30s German Catalog, Bunte Mode.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Let's all take the time to say thank you to the Men and Women who have served so bravely in our armed forces.

Thank you all!

Last days to donate. Please donate!

Hi everyone. I'm going to be MIA until next week, 

so I'm making one last plea to donate to the Dance-A-Thon.

You can donate here. I will be posting images throughout the weekend, 

so stay tuned here and you can see the coolness of the event.

Thanks everyone, and I'll see you soon!!

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have an assortment of accessories from the era. Enjoy!!

Chicago Mail Order 41

October Pattern Showcase!!

Oops, September was last month! :D
One pattern. Seriously?

Some Halloween photos...and the winner is...

Still recovering from Halloween weekend.

Good morning, everyone. I'm writing this before I get to work just to let you all know I had a blast over the weekend.

Saturday I caught up on some sleep and decided to finally put together my last PPP dress. I was going to wear it for Halloween where we were having a bake sale for my Dance Team for the Dance-A-Thon later this month (still plenty of time to donate)!!

Sunday I went to see the Tim Burton exhibition at LACMA. It was cool and very crowded. Kinda discouraging, but I saw the sections I wanted to see.

Now onto finishing some stuff.

Last Day of the Giveaway!!

Hey all! Just a reminder, tonight at midnight is the last day of the PPP Giveaway!!

Catalog Sunday

Lane Bryant fall/winter, 1929.

I love a bargain!!

I thought I'd introduce a new series on my blog about my finds of new cool and discounted things that I feel will enhance my attempt to lead a vintag-y life :)

I say new because we can often find used deals at Goodwill or thrifting, but shopping new and finding good clearance is getting harder and harder to unearth. Especially when clearance is quickly becoming to go to place to shop. I mean really, who needs retail pricing, am I right!!

For fun, I occasionally roam around Bed Bath and Beyond to marvel over all their completely useless crap, wonder who would ever buy it, and how long it would be before the novelty of them actually buying it wore off. On this jaunt, I came a cross a clearance shelf in their baking section. I had just had a tough battle with a 'dough kneader', and decided not to invest in the $8 gadget.

My weekend of sewing.

This past weekend, I did a few things. I went to the LA fabric district to look for fabric on a few projects. I has been a while since I was able to treat myself to some nice fabric. I haven't found many patterns lately that I've been interested in, but I have been craving some fabric. 

For one project in particular, I have a trade going on with a lovely etsy seller. She has a dress that I have my eye on, and in exchange, she wants a dress made from one of my repro patterns.

Done.

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have scans from Sears fall winter 40-41.

Enjoy!

New Pattern Day, yay!!

Happy Saturday everyone! 

I've just finished a new repro for you all. A sweet little soldier doll. He has working arms and legs, ears and separate clothing.

The pattern is in PDF and available now!

And also, all sales from my etsy sore now until Nov. 11th will have 10% donated to the 24 hour cancer dance-a-thon.

Have a great weekend!!

My peacocks need a new home.

I've had this green sweater for a few years. It was a discount department store find, a few dollars, a nice dark color, and seemed to work with a lot in my wardrobe. This was when I was starting out in the vintage. I decided to pick up some appliques and deck the puppy out. It looked even better after that, but there was one problem after all these years of wear.

I'm Dancing to fight Cancer!

I've decided to add some more activities to my plate. Aside from the sewing, and the job, and a few other small things, I'm going to kick my dancing into high gear.

I just signed up to participate in...!

It's a 24 hour dance that goes on the weekend of November 12th. There are going to be classes and dancing and bands and all sorts of things!

Just Because

"Don't worry," comforts your mother, "you'll thin down in a few years". But-who wants to waste precious Teen years just waiting for pounds to melt off? Much smarter and smoocher to wear Chubbette fashions, designed to minimize; sized to fit.

The Plain Pattern Project Giveaway!!

Happy Monday one and all. I hope you all are recovering from The Walking Dead premiere (I'm a dork, I know!). Guess what, I have a giveaway for you!!

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have a collection of 30s odds and ends. They range from the mid to late 30s. Enjoy!!

Wards Sale Catalog

Once, twice, three dyes a lady.

Sweaters are done!

As you all know, I decided to re-dye that navy one with a more 'blue' dye. Welp, success!

I am very happy with the outcome. It is a bit lighter than I thought it was going to turn out, but the color is even and smooth and I used some of my most wicked 20s buttons on it, so yeah, it was worth it.

Your pants too big!

Made these cords years ago. It was before I got my jeans fit from my repro. I made about three pair of corduroy pants, in what I thought was a good loose 40s fit. Now, they are just too droopy on the sides. It's kind of embarrassing. I'm talking each leg like 5" too much fabric.

Just Because

I found this McCall ad in one of my patterns. I love it!

Catalog Sunday

When it rains, it pours...So dance in the puddles!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Sorry I have not been posting much this week, but now that I'm working full time (I love saying that), I've been having a crazy time.

First off this month, I'm taking 3 dance classes! Two of them are on the same night, so I sometimes don't get home before 10 pm. I like to get to bed by 11, so I can get up at 6:30 and have some decompression time before I leave for work at 8.

I love the ritual of getting up and ready for the day.

Work is fine. I'm having a good time and constantly mentally thinking, "am I being productive enough." I know way too many people out of work, so I want to make sure I am doing a good job.

In Memoriam

I've got one word for you...Chartreuse!

Yes, no, maybe, ick?

I got to dyeing again and picked up a pack of chartreuse iDye. I'm sold on this stuff. It dyes so well, no streaking and it washes very well. I still have some RIT, so if I decide not to keep this color, I'm going to use the kelley green I have to tone it down.

Catalog Sunday

September Pattern Showcase!!

Welcome to October! I hope this month is going to be a grand one. I've got employment, prospects, and my etsy store is still humming. I'm adding new items all the time, so things are looking up! Yay!

My addition of patterns this past September was not too bad.

I did get some nice ones, I think.