NewVintageLady

Rayon Madness!!!!

Busy weekend.

Thursday I went out with some friend visiting the country. Had a very bad old fashioned and got to bed late. Then I got a freelance job on Saturday (yay!) that will keep me busy for a few weeks. Then yesterday I went to the always fun Santa Monica Vintage expo. I love going and looking at all the overpriced vintage stuff. Dealers from all over the state and sometimes the country set up shop. Its held a few times a year and even though I rarely buy anything, I love to look. I'm the type who does not mind window shopping.

This visit, I got to spend!

I had the most delightful time. I tried on a pair of cream suede shoes from the 30s (too large!) and watched as all my friends looked and fawned over some lovely 30s pieces. There was a lot of 70s and 80s era clothing there this time. Its understandable with the 80s being 30 years old now. I didn't find any clothing, but I was able to get some fabric!

All rayon all the time.

I was so happy I decided to splurge on this lovely, LOVELY fabric. What a great way to add that true vintage touch to my wardrobe!

These palm trees are post likely mid 40s. There isn't enough for a full blouse, so I'm going to make a dicky.

Same for these daises. The fabric will be great as a dicky or an accent design on a dress.

This rayon I believe is 30s. Its 40" wide and I was able to get a remnant of 3 yards! Thats enough for a whole dress, yay! The background color is actually navy, not black.

The next fabric I had my eye on last time, its 3+ yards and more than enough for a long sleeved 40s tailored blouse. I wanted it then, but had no money. Hehehe!

I even have the perfect pattern I'm going to use for this one.

This leaf print is on a navy background as well and I have enough for a blouse bodice. I might make the sleeves in a solid color, like white. That would really pop.

The last fabric isn't mine.

A friend bought it. I'm going to make her a blouse. A thank you for something she is doing for me. 40s sailboats and stars! How could anyone resist such a delightful novelty print!?

I even got to see some friends.

My friend Jen, on the left I went with, but Julie, you might know her as FabGabs we ran into! Such fun at the expo!

Last but not least my overalls are progressing just fine.

I've completed all the machine sewing, and now all I have to do is add all the buttons.

Sheesh!

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday I have coat scans from Chicago Mail Order Co. form 1940-1941.

Overalls progress: Progress on the bib.

Nearly complete with the bib to the overalls.

I must say, I am liking the way it's looking.

I pieced the back parts to the front bodice and then tried the whole rough front on Onda.

She likes it.

I did a placement pinning of the back straps and marked them.

The next step was to finish the bib's edges.

Through the whole thing I used a denim thread for the top of the overalls and a thin Gutterman thread for the bobbin. My serger is being fickle with thick fabrics so I ran a ziz-zag stitch around the edges. After that I got out ye old trusty muslin and made some bias tape.

I'm cheap and didn't want to cut clean into the middle of a nice newly washed sheet of muslin so I pieced a lot of smaller scraps. More work, but make and mend and all.

Bias tape is never pretty and this denim really frayed something awful. I knew using the ziz-zag stitch was not going to be enough on this thick weave, and I knew that alone would not hold up to washings. I'm glad I treated the edges and used the tape. I don't think its redundant at all. I'm sure it would have looked better if I used a different color thread, but no one is going to see it but me, so I can live with it.

I then folded under the top of the bias tape and plan to do two rows of top stitching on to complete the look.

I also plan on doing two 'X's to hold the back of the shoulder straps in place.

Once I do all that I'll pick out buttons! Yay buttons!

More to come!

Reclaiming the word 'Stout'

It's so strange that if you are lucky enough in life, after a certain age you can actually be at peace with some of yourself.

I'm not a very politically correct person, but I do have sensitivities and I also don't walk on egg shells when it comes to body size. I remember my mother saying my legs were like 'hammocks' when I was about 9. I remember being called 'buffalo' in middle school for years by a boy in class. Growing up I was only allowed a 'sliver' of cake or pie or whatever else it was that was making me fat, and I distinctly remember when I was about 11, my mother asking me if I was 'okay' when I didn't want an ice cream cone.

Wow, it looks like I had a pretty horrid childhood in those above few sentences, doesn't it? I didn't in the least. My late mother was amazingly encouraging of my creative side, I left home and grew into my own person, loosing nearly 50 pounds when I became vegan. I came home and got hit on by that boy who called me 'buffalo' when I was a child, and now that I am an adult, I feel no need to sit and take any comment toward my size. As a result I have a very sharp tongue.

This all brought me to thinking how we actually think of ourselves, visually. I think sewing helps. I haven't bought RTW in about 3 years. I don't have to worry about the crazy inconsistency of modern clothing sizes, or the tent like garments or to the opposite, the unnecessarily 'sexy' paper thin see through tops. It's not as if you can bluntly guess in sewing, "Oh, I'm this and that," and get amazing results. A lot comes down to math. And what is math? Honesty.

Being honest in how you see yourself is more valid than how sensitive in what you want to be called. If you have a gut, say so. Its not as if no one else can't see it. Thick thighs, fine. Fat arms (raises hand), okay. Double chin....yeah.

Plump, Curvaceous, Zoftig, Voluptuous, Plus Size, Rotund, Stout, Fat

My politically correct size index. I left out a few, and some might say rotund is worse than stout, but some people love the compliment their boobs being 'rotund' so there counts the word's extra bonus points.

First off I don't think anyone wants to be fat. Period. Thats not what I'm taking about. Just like I don't think people want to be short, or unwillingly bald, or old, or have bad skin. Duh! But ample (which is my favorite word next to stout) has been expected since the beginning of time.

I just decided that for me, and for the styles I like, I was going to find the most relevant identifiers I could and see how they were in their element. And when I think of larger women from the 30s, I think of Lila and Rita Sue.

Carnivale was an awesome show, but those two women, who were sexy unapologetic and stout, helped me identify with some of the characters. The show starts in 1934, so I looked through my NRA marked Lane Bryant catalogs and I see them, and the target customer the clothes were aiming to. Not women ashamed of their size, but wanted something that *was* their size, made to flatter their size. Not the constant notion of, 'You need to change to fit our clothes because smaller is overwhelmingly better,' that we get today.

I mean really, in the modern context of weight appearance, what we call fat is really what was fairly normal back in those times.

Take modern Lane Bryant for instance. Those current models are average weight, or straight sized. That is plus size today. So the fashion industry jumps from a size 2-4 to a 10-14 for plus. Wow. So if straight sizes are fat, what are fat sizes?

Look at this progression of Lane Bryant Catalogs.

See how ridiculous it all is?

I'm also not talking standards of beauty. Those change with each gust of the breeze.

We've gone from The Venus of Willendorf

to Ruben's Venus to Twiggy and beyond. Wow.

Acceptance of your body, which I know is not an easy thing to reach is empowering. But really, the older you get, don't you get more and more tired of standards that are applied on the wind? I know I do because I've never looked like the modern standards, but I do look like the oldest Venus (except I have feet and a face). If I had lived back then, I would have had the body of a goddess.

Naw, I'm cool with living now. I like deodorant. :)

Vintage Homemaking: Keeping up the living space.

I once had a friend call me the queen of pre-fab. I take that as a compliment. I don't have much real furniture because I find it bulky. No dressers or anything like that, I just have a lot of industrial shelving. I love it and use it for everything. Not vintage, I know, but its easy to transport and customize to a new space. I've had some of the shelving since 2001. My collection has grown since.

I've fashioned a lot of the shelving into a wardrobe where I store most of my clothes. I bought some denim a while ago to use as covers. Keeps the dust off the clothing. In the closet of my apartment I've made a vanity. And yes, that is a kick the Cheat doll on the top shelf.

Well, kind of a vanity. I don't really have space for a make up table, nor would I want one, but those two black shelves I store my jewelry in.

I also decided to reorganize my vintage sewing patterns.

I had recently grown into a fourth box and was just tired of rooting around to search for them. I poured them all out on the floor and organized the by decade.

I also had two friend to help me. One even kept my knee warm as I was sorting.

Once I had them all straightened up, I cut out some labels I made and taped them to the boxes. Now I know what is where and it's so nice! I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.