Catalog Sunday: Montgomery Ward 1940

 

Catalog Sunday

Today it's Chicago Mail Order 1941

1940s style halter top recreation.

Hi everyone!

Hope your week was good and you are gearing up for the weekend!
I am so booked this weekend, going to a vegan festival tomorrow, working, and seeing friends.

One friend I saw this past week asked me to help her with her costume for her dance performance at Camp Hollywood this weekend. She's part of the JR LA  Shag team and she needed to have a top remade to work with her partner's costume.

She brought in this rayon halter that was super cute and with a few modifications (because the new fabric was cotton) I drafted a pattern off the blouse and was able to make her blouse.

The fabric I got to work with was this cute Hawaiian/Tiki novelty print with these super tan surfer boys!

Catalog Sunday

Sweaters part 1: more dyeing more fashion

You all know I love sweaters. I am always wearing one (like right now) and I find them a great accessory that's quick, warm and easy.

I'm a Land's End whore. I am. I go to their clearance webpage, and I'll get 4 $11 all cotton sweaters for a song. I've sone it twice now.This go around I got a cotton wrap over blouse sweater. Super cute. I bought 4, all white. Well, cream. But the key is 100% cotton, which means dyeable.

This was my first time dyeing something in this new apartment. I was very worried about the process. I didn't want to splash dye everywhere, and more importantly, I didn't want to stain my lovely, lovely sink.

Working on my beauty regime.

Happy end of the world, everyone!

Okay, if this *were* the end of the world, then you wouldn't be reading this and rolling your eyes that I made an end of the world joke, so we are all better off, right?

Back to business...

Photo shoot: My work attire for Thursday.

I felt like wearing a dress yesterday. It's going to be cold and rainy for the rest of the weekend but I wanted to wear a dress, dammit. You know how you get those urges. 

Most of my dresses are a bit large, and my wool ones are too large. 

Weekend of aesthetic warmth.

Good morning everyone. 

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I staied at home and actually worked on sewing! I got the second pack of royal chrome furniture and stowed those in my storage locker, and I got the cool boxes I ordered from House designs earlier in the week.

Fashion Show Extreme!!

Hi all!

Thanks for your words on my last post. But I am done with swing dancing. 

I may look at it again next year, but I don't think so. 

I have a lot of free time now. Truthfully, I've been sleeping more this week. It's been good. I also decided to do a 10 day juice fast just to clear out my system. You can read about that a bit here.

I have spent the week going on long walks and doing some sewing. I've finished a ton of projects, some for other people and some for me.

Wardrobe deficit: 10 shoes for $100

Okay, okay. I know I was a bit uppity in my last post about shoes, and how cheap shoes were just beneath me. Well, not beneath me, but I was just over them.

Turns out I'm not.

Here are a few of my non cheap shoes just resting in the closet. 

Wardrobe deficit: Awesome vintage shoes.

If there is one thing I'm pretty girl about, its shoes. I'm girl, but I'm practical. You won't catch my cubby ass in a pair of 5" stilettos. Not that I wouldn't work them like nobody's business, but I'd rather not fall and brake my neck.

I do like gal shoes, a lot, but I have this need to not want my feet to hurt after standing in them for 10 minutes. Oh, if men knew what we did to our feet in order to make our calves look all hot.

But I digress.

As you can see, my normal run around shoes are in severe need of replacing. As I steer my footwear to a more vintage slant, I remember buying these Bass shoes from Mervyn's about 4 years ago for all of $8 each pair. I LOVE them. They have a 50s vibe, and the thick soles are so comfortable. I've tossed these bad boys in the washer and none of the rubber ever came unglued.

I love the denim pair, nice and broken in. Too broken in. They have holes at the creases now. Yeah, it's time to replace them.

I wanted some basic canvis kicks that I could walk a long time in and not have to worry about my toes. Some that I could wear thick socks with. Some that were not so thin that I'd feel pavement after 6 months.

I have a couple pair of old Converse, pre Nike. I'm kind of over this shoe brand. I know it seems kind of silly, but the magic of chucks faded when Nike bought the brand.

I decided to look into PF Flyers. They were bought by New Balance.
PF Flyers have been around for ages, and lo and behold, they came out with a reissue line a few years ago. I have a pair of canvas wing tips from them I got nearly 4 years ago and I could not get over the awesome kitschy vintage box they came in. I store sewing stuff in it now.

Gotta love Zappos. I picked up a pair of their center-los that are styled from their early 50s sport shoe.

I LOVED them the moment I tried them on. So awesome and comfy because PF Flyers have a removable arch support in all their sport shoes. I'm not a total arch support needing person (I have regular arches), but these are just like walking on clouds.

The rubber soles are thick and the canvas is lined. They are great.

Gotta love Amazon even more.
I found a 40s styled Grounder-Lo version that the PF FLyer website discontinued a few years ago.

I expected only super tiny sizes to remain, as I'm a pretty standard 9 1/2-10 in women's, 8 in men's. That size was there! I was shocked! I bought two pairs!

When they arrived I squeeded like a kid when I found they were in the same kitschy vintage box my Flyers wing tips came in! Not to mention they were half the price of the ones at Zappos. Sorry Zappos.

I made a pledge to myself a while ago to invest in shoes, not simply buy them. I was tired of getting 3 cheap pairs only to not wear them because my feet hurt, and forgoing that three figure pair of shoes because they were too pricy. As a result of this pledge, my shoe selection is pretty skimpy.

It's always been skimpy. I'm picky. I haven't bought leather shoes in probably 10 years. It's the vegan in me. Don't get me started on my own personal hypocrite soap box. I figured I had done my part, paid my dues and decided on getting some cow skin for my feet after all these years.

*sigh*

Every girl needs a pair of saddle shoes. I think it's written somewhere. Of course when I decided to get some saddies, I went to Muffys. I selected a pair styled from the 30s with a white rubber sole. They came before Christmas, but the left one was damaged, and just like the champs they are, they promptly sent me a replacement shoe.

I haven't worn leather shoes in years, so I'll have to get used to the braking in process. I'm most likely going to do the alcohol soaked socks and wear them around the house for 30 min. In any case I'm excited about them. I'm just excited about new shoes.

It's not like I don't want girlie shoes to go with my dresses. I do! I tried on a few pairs of dance shoes (thanks Zappos) because they are often styled from vintage designs with a workable heel, but didn't find any that were to my liking. Im saving to get some Re-Mix shoes. Their showroom isn't too far from me (don't judge the shoes by their horrible website). For all those in the 'scene', Re-Mix is the place to go for vintage styled shoes. *sigh* Their 30's shoes DO something to me, if you know what I mean.

This adventure is far from over. I have a lot of shoes to try on and if time is on my side, I'm more than willing to take up the cause.
If not for me, for America!

Wardrobe deficit: Floor Length Gowns.

This past Sunday I went to one of my favorite vintage hot spots, the Cicada Club. Sundays are a total throw back. A live band play always 30s-50s inspired, and most come out dressed in stylish vintage attire. Its awesome.

I go fairly often and Im sure I've yammered about it too. This Sunday was pretty crowded and I met a lot of new vintage folks. Plus, I had the best Mai Tai Ive ever had. They have a kick ass bar with bartenders who know and love the art of spirits. Its a rare and beautiful thing.

This night I wore my Gardenia Dress and it was a hit. But you know what, I felt miss dressed. The Gardenia dress I now know feels like a fall dress, not a summer one. And sure, it was cool, but when I went home and looked through my wardrobe, I felt I was missing something. Then it hit me. I need more evening gowns.

I mean seriously, who would ever say that?!

I only have one floor length gown, and looking through a lot of my catalogs, I see they were fairly common.

I say its time to bring that sleek stylish after five dress back.

I looked through my fabric and remembered this lovely rayon I bought some time ago.

$3 a yard baby! It will be perfect for a floral 30s floor length gown! Now I need the right pattern. Well, I have it! I'm going to use my flutter sleeve repro! *Perfect* All I have to do is make it floor length and omit the hip ruffles (sorry, they are totally going!). Squeeee!

I've been wanting to make this pattern and what better reason, right!? I even have a great solid coral colored rayon that I can make a coordinating wrap with! Yes! I love it when things come together like this!

So once the oven that is the sun starts to act right, I'll get started on this dress. I will prolly get started on it soon anyway. Its not like I have much else to do!

Yay sewing!