No Supervision, No Problem! Well, Almost...

Hello Lovelies!

 Oh wow. I know it has been awhile. I could bore you and bring you down by explaining my absence from blogging and from my world of vintage, but I'll spare you from that. I mean, unless that's something that you would actually like to hear about. 

 Today I am posting my FIRST completed garment sans supervision. That's right. The last garment I had sewn was a pair of PJ's in high school. High school was so nice. After every step I could take it to my lovely sewing teacher (Mrs. Burger!) and she would let me know how it looked. I could also run to her if I had any issues and she usually sewed along with us and would demonstrate each step. I've bought patterns over the years, but just never had the guts to put myself out there and actually attempt to sew them. I have always just been far too paranoid about messing up and wasting a ton of money, but I have finally made up something! 

The Pattern: Advance 7729

The Fabric: Moda Bandana Bows and Dots Turquoise

 One of my main insecurities about sewing is laying out the pattern pieces. I know that they give you a diagram, which by the way did not have the width of fabric that I was using, woes of a vintage pattern, but I still worry that the grain is not perfectly straight. This is probably the main reason why I never start the projects that I intend to make. Another reason may be that I hate cutting out the tissue paper! Luckily, this pattern was already cut and ready to go by someone long ago. However, I am transferring the pattern pieces onto sturdier material as I think I could make millions of circle skirts from it. Circle skirts are incredibly versatile.

 Another anxiety for me is sewing zippers. Everyone always talks about how difficult they find it to sew in zippers. This project called for a kind of zipper that is no longer sold, but I asked the lovely We Sew Retro community about it and discovered that it is basically a regular zipper with a flap of fabric over it, a lapped zipper. Oh boy was I intimidated by this! Lapped zippers just look so complicated. I immediately binge watched several YouTube videos on how to sew a lapped zipper. Eventually I decided to go ahead and give it a shot and I think it turned out lovely for a first attempt. I also did not find it nearly as difficult as I had been anticipating. 

 So now I laid out the skirt to admire the beauty that is a full circle skirts. There is just something so satisfying about seeing the perfect circle of gorgeous fabric. I started to be very pleased with my work at this point and was gaining some confidence in my sewing. I had done all of this is one day and it was looking like a 'thing'. 

 Everything had been going so well, right? Well, here's where I ran into an issue. It was time to fit the waistband onto the skirt. Now, the skirt itself the waist is a square, but the corners were clipped in so that you can fit the square into a circle. I lined up my notches and starting pinning, but between the first set of notches I was having so much leftover fabric from the skirt. I kept unpinning and then repinning, trying to pull the waistband tighter. I just kept having left over bits! And it wasn't just a small amount leftover. It was at least an inch of extra fabric. I started to get really frustrated at the pattern maker (who is probably dead). "Who tries to make a circle out of a square?!"

 So at this point I call on Calvin to try and help me. We figured that somewhere a measurement was wrong. I measured the waist band and it was exactly what it should have been. I then wondered exactly how I was going to figure out the waist measurement on the skirt pieces because it was a square with clipped in corners. This is where Calvin came in handy. He calculated and figured it out for me. In that process, we discovered that I had stitched a couple of my reinforcement stitches 1/8" too deep. This was where the disparity came from! And, incidentally, it worked out in my favor as the larger measurement would fit my current body better anyways. We crafted a new waistband only to realize we forgot to add the extra couple of inches to it for the overlap where the hooks and eyes would go. We redid the waistband AGAIN. Third time was a charm because it was perfect. 

 Now that everything was finished except for the hem, the directions instructed me to let it hang for at least 24 hours before hemming. I am glad that they did otherwise I would have hemmed it and finished the skirt all in one night! I learned that the parts of the skirt that are on the bias will stretch out over time and that is why it needed to hang for a while before hemming. 

 The pattern instructions suggested hemming by hand with a blind stitch. This was more anxiety for me because I truly suck at hand sewing and this was a stitch I had never done before. Once again, I ran to YouTube and binge watched tutorials on how to hem a circle skirt and how to blind stitch. It looked like a lot of people still machine stitch their hems, but I really wanted my skirt to have a more authentic feel to it. Therefore, I was going to have to spend a couple of hours hand stitching the massive hem of this circle skirt. Honestly, I was pretty impressed with my stitches.

 I only turned under an inch because the skirt was already at a pretty suitable length for me. I didn't want it to end up being too short, but I also didn't want a teeny tiny hem to have to sew. 

 So yesterday I completed the hem and today I wore the skirt to class!

Outfit Details:

Blouse and Cardigan: Cherry Canary Vintage

Shoes: B.A.I.T. Footwear

 I was so happy that it ended up looking just like the pattern envelope. Maybe I should have more faith in my sewing skills, eh? Either way, I went out and got compliments. It was so satisfying to tell others that I had made it myself. I am so completely proud of this skirt even if I don't think that it is perfect. I am still completely in love with it and think it turned out great for my first foray into sewing without supervision.

 Do you sew vintage? What are your favorite patterns? I'd especially like to know the easier ones as I am looking for ideas for my second project! Also, would you like to see Sewspiration Sunday posts where I share the various photos I have saved in my phone as inspiration for future sewing endeavors?

xoxo,

A Silent Summer

Whoa, hello Lovelies! This summer has been quite a silent one here on the blog. This is due to the fact that I have been working a lot and long days at that! I typically come home and sleep instead of getting prettied up and going out. I have two more weeks of my summer left and then I will be back in Bloomington where posts will pick up. I'll have a new apartment so photo locations will be different! I still can't bring myself to do photos in front of a bunch of strangers though. I don't want to be seen as quite that crazy.

So today I would like to share some snaps from my summer! As always I have more snapshots from my daily life on my Instagram where I usually share my purchases. There have been many this summer!

From the ONLY day this summer that I did my hair. My work makes it difficult to do any sort of wet set. This day I pin curled the night before and put it in a scarf while I was at work. Of course everyone was asking what was up with my hairdo. Grrrrr.

I got to feed a giraffe!!

One purchase from this summer is this gorgeous sewing pattern. Now if only I could get the courage up to actually start sewing clothing!

A head vase I scored while shopping in Michigan City.

Adorable fish brooch that was just calling my name at the Michigan City Antique Market.

I purchased my first lucite purse this summer! (I also have purchased a second one that I just don't have a photo available.)

Wearing my fish brooch with my hawaiian dress. I had to have Calvin force me into this dress. Ugh. So much weight gain!

And last, but not least, two days ago I scored myself my holy grail skirt: giraffes! I have to alter it to fit, but I don't care. It's more than worth it.

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Outfit Details:

Cardigan: AZ Vintage

Blouse: Cherry Canary

Skirt: Geronimo Vintage

Shoes: B.A.I.T.

Bracelet: Pandora

Hey lovelies!

This has been a horrible couple of stressful weeks. Last Friday my car was destroyed. Yes, my brand new, baby car was hit when someone ran a red light. Just proves that no matter how cautiously you drive, accidents still happen. Sadly, I had just washed my car for the first time the day before. Dealing with insurance companies for the first time has been stressful and not very fun. My car needs a new bumper and hood. It's still driveable, but I have chose not to drive it for fear of the bumper ripping off in the wind. Friday I have to drive it in to get an estimate on the damage. Oh joy. Calvin will then strap it up best that he can so that after finals next week, (yes, next week! Another reason why this was horrible timing.), I can drive the car home to be repaired at the body shop my parents take their cars to.

Today I had a presentation to give in which I had to dress nicely for. Pretty easy to do when, by today's standards, my entire wardrobe is 'dressy'. This is also why my hair is in a bun. I hate the way that I look with my hair up, but I just felt that a bun looked more professional. This skirt is about as short as I can possibly go anymore. I feel extremely uncomfortable in short skirts or dresses. I don't know how I used to wear short things without my booty hanging out!

In the midst of all of the stress, I was asked by the lovely Alison of AZ Vintage to model for her at a local fashion show in June! It just so happens to be a few days after my cross stitch class at Gather handmade shop. I think Calvin and I will just make it a weekend getaway.

Have a bright, sun-shiny day!

I Thought Green was Icky

Outfit Details:

Hair scarf: great grandma's

Cardigan: Delia's (looks like they will be relaunching this brand soon. This cardigan is ancient!)

Dress: Cactus Flower

Shoes: gift

Hello lovelies!

Today I wore this brand new (to me!) dress from Cactus Flower. I was unsure if I was going to keep it because of the color, but I did get compliments on it today. Maybe it is a keeper, but maybe I hate this shade of green too much to keep it.

I spent all afternoon yesterday downtown. My 4:00 class was canceled and I decided to enjoy the day! I bought a pair of sweater clips at AZ, browsed the antique mall, and purchased a top and this dress from Cactus Flower. I tried on a lot of things at Cactus Flower including a bright turquoise Swirl dress. It fit, but I chose not to buy it since someone had cut out one of the waist ties. Finding matching fabric would be near impossible. It was also missing the iconic Swirl button in the back. Even for $35 I chose to just skip it. 

Lately I've been squeezing into all of my clothing. I have gained SO much weight this semester. I think it's a combo of not walking to class as much and binge eating. I'm beginning to think that I may have developed an eating disorder that is the complete opposite of the one I struggled with in middle school. To me, that makes absolutely no sense, but lately I find that I can't buy certain foods or I will eat them completely gone in one day. I've gained about 30 pounds since becoming a vegan/vegetarian and I think it may be that when I do eat sweets, I can't stop myself. I eat until they are gone. Whole tubs of ice cream? Gone in two days. A bag of chips? Gone in one sitting. I'm not sure if I should seek help or just not keep these things in my apartment. I've never really had a healthy relationship with food, but I'm starting to hate myself and the way that I look more than I ever have. Calvin claims he hasn't noticed the weight gain, but I can see it and feel it, and for some reason it just makes me want to eat even more. I know how I'm supposed to eat, but for some reason I just can't control myself.

Sorry for the super personal post today, but I think I just needed to put that out there for others to see.

Polka Dotted Poison

Outfit Details:

Cardigan: Cherry Canary

Dress and Chiffon scarf: OLL Facebook group

Petticoat: vintage Malco Modes acquired from Cactus Flower Clothing

Belt: thrifted

Shoes: Payless

Hello Lovelies!

Yesterday I wore this new dress that I picked up as a second chance on my new poison: the Ooh La La! Vintage Swap and Sell Shop on Facebook. I now have vintage clothing for sale on my Instagram, Facebook, and here in town! Horrible for my addiction. I had originally seen this dress on my Instagram feed from When Decades Collide. I loved it then. The dress was posted to OLL Facebook group by the girl that had bought it from her. The post sat for two days and each time she bumped it I was notified. I eventually took it as a sign that the dress really did belong to me. It cost a pretty penny, but was well worth it.

Yesterday I also tried out a new brand of lipstick. I was at CVS with Calvin the other day and took a gander at their makeup selection. I was eyeing some bright lipsticks from Milani. I opened one and for some odd reason I decided to take a whiff of it. It smelled just like my Besame lipstick. It had that same delicious vanilla scent. I decided then that I should give it a try and see how it compares. I was pleasantly surprised by how moisturizing and long wearing it was. I ate and drank and the lipstick faded gracefully, AKA, it didn't just fade in the middle of the lips like some lipsticks. It had an overall fade that looked better than that ring around the lips fade. For only $6, I'm happy with the quality of the lipstick. A great way to hold myself over until I can splurge and get a tube of Exotic Pink from Besame.

And the last photo in the bunch is from last weekend. I convinced Calvin to take a quick drive down to Nashville, IN, because I had heard so much about it. Honestly, I really wasn't that impressed with it. Where were all of the true antique shops?! We didn't get to go to all of the shops, but a majority of them were overpriced gift shops. I don't really get all of the hype surrounding it. I will admit that the architecture of some of the buildings was pretty neat though. Unfortunately, I'm not yet comfortable with taking photos in public and didn't get many snaps of the architecture. Maybe next time.

Antique Store Finds--March

Hi lovelies!

I hope you enjoy all of these photos. Dang, that was a lot of photos!

March was a lovely month for antiquing. I picked up a set of 6 pin-up glasses, a lipstick holder (I still need to remove tape from it!), and two clutches: one a beauty kit, the other with a matching compact. I love finding these sorts of things at antique stores! They must not be very popular because that tape was on the lipstick holder for a very long time! I'm struggling with removing it. Bleh.

Today was my no class Friday and I picked up a few things from AZ Vintage and Cherry Canary that I will hopefully share with you soon!

I wanted to keep the text short since there were so many photos! What have you thrifted/antiqued recently?