• 1920s Silk Frock •

Earlier this year a local Art Deco theatre had their 90th anniversary celebration that my mom and I were able to attend.  It was an absolute blast, and it truly felt like you were right back in 1928!  I got to wear my true vintage '20s dress for the first time, which was also super fun!

I found this dress on Ebay under "rockabilly," "boho," "hippy," "70s," and a bunch of other...less desirable (in my opinion) tags, but just as I suspected from the pictures, it turned out to be a SILK 1920s dress in nearly perfect condition.  In my size!!!!  To say I was excited would be a massive understatement. 

It's interesting to see the construction of the dress - the strip of binding and fabric at the "waist" of the dress is actually a piece that was added after the dress was made.  The dress also features a 12" hem, which is just incredible.

One of my dear church friends, who is nearly 80, gave me this brooch for my birthday last year, and it was her mother-in-law's mother's!  That goes back a few years for sure!  I hadn't had a chance to wear it yet, so it made a very special, fun addition to this outfit. 

There was a fabulous '20s roadster parked in front of the theatre, so we took the opportunity to get a photo with it!  :) 

The theatre is absolutely stunning inside - I can't get enough of it!  I'm so excited about this season's philharmonic concerts, as they are nearly all at this venue.

At this 90th anniversary event, there was a famed theatre organist playing on the Page theatre organ, one of only 3 remaining ones in the world.  Talk about incredible music!!!  I would have loved to have gotten my hands on that organ.  I could listen to that music allllll day long.

Thanks for reading!  Hope you are having a wonderful week.  :)

• 1930s Penny Rose Dress •

It feels *so* good to be back into sewing and a little bit of blogging again!!  Today I am sharing about this dress which I had mentioned in my last post - one that had been in the UFO bin for over a year!  My sweet mom gave me this fabulous Penny Rose fabric back in the day, and I commenced to designing my own 1930s dress. 

I used a couple of random patterns for a base for my skirt, bodice and sleeves, but altered them all to design the style that I wanted.  The fun part is that I *actually* made pattern pieces for the bows, sleeves, and pockets!  

The 1930s are famous for their fabulous asymmetrical designs, and I had fun playing on that theme with my bow and pockets.  I had just the right amount of orange buttons to set off all those little points!

I have several different pairs of shoes that match this dress, my favorite being the Royal Vintage Marilyns.  These are by far my favorite shoes I've ever had to date - they are the highest heels I've worn, but also the most comfortable dress shoes ever!  I have worn them all day long many times over, and never had a whisper of sore feet.

One of my favorite parts about this dress is what you see (or maybe don't see!) in the above picture!  The skirt is cut on the bias, so even with our modern-day 44" fabric, it would not fit on the fabric without piecing.  When I looked at the pattern, sure enough, they showed the layout with the skirt corners in a separate place.  Obviously back in the '30s, the fabric was only 35" or 39", so it would have required even more piecing!  I did my best to match up the pattern on this, and it worked pretty well!  And the fact that it's pieced - in true '30s fashion - makes my vintage heart happy!  ;)

This hat is definitely my favorite ever as well - I happened to see it draping sadly on a rack at a local antique shop, and grabbed it INSTANTLY, seeing it was definitely a '30s number!  The feathers just add fabulosity, and it's actually a size 23, which is my size!

These bow pieces were fun to draft, and they came out pretty much just how I had imagined!  Score!

Okay, time for THE most fabulous vintage piece I own.  AHHHH.  My mom and I ended up driving to a town about 25 miles away for a funeral, only to realize that the funeral was the following week, so we made the most of it and went antiquing!  Lo and behold, amongst the jadeite, vintage patterns, aprons, and other awesome things we found, there was a 1930s. velvet. hooded. fur. edged. CAPE.  In our size.  With fabulous details.  It was almost too good to be true!  And it's in near perfect condition, the hood fits perfectly, and it was something like $20.  WHEEE.  :D

So all in all, this was such a fun dress to make, and even more fun to wear!  I am definitely hooked on 1930s and 1940s styles these days for their functional yet fabulous details, and I am excited to continue making them!  I am wotking on a 1940s wrap dress right now, and the next project will probably be a little 1920s number! 

Thank you all for your sweet words and support, and for putting up with my sporadic blogging!  :)  Have a wonderful week and remainder of your January!

• 1938 Dress in Periwinkle •

A few months back, my dear friend Sarah of Prairie Rose Sewing sent me a package that included this gorgeous dress pattern from 1938. I couldn't wait to sew it up! I found some gorgeous fabric at Fabric by the Pound down in Alabama that just begged to be made into it.

I absolutely love the style! It's so very different from anything else that I have!! The style of the front bodice reminds me very much of Kristen's teal dress, which is just gorgeous.

The remarkable part about this pattern is that there are three different garments that can be made from it; a jacket and skirt, View 1, and a dress, View 2. Quite a difference from nowadays when pattern companies split up one outfit into three different patterns!! 

The pattern called for making thread loops, but let's be realistic; thread loops are a pain. And time consuming. So I made fabric ones instead!! :) They worked out very well, and once again are a change from my typical closures. Thanks to a tip from Brigid a while back, I used the nifty method of basting the loops onto a piece of interfacing, then sewing that into the seam and tearing it away afterwards. It is so much easier than trying to pin each loop onto the dress and stitch it!

I love the gathered accent on the front bodice as well; it adds such a ladylike touch!

The sleeves are puffy (my favorite!) and have pleated accents at the hem.

I finally found the perfect project for my pearly buttons!! :)

This buckle is another southern vacation treasure, and it's so nifty! Most other buckles we have are the two-holed kind, so this is a neat change of pace.

And, of course, I'm wearing my gorgeous shoes from Two Old Beans. They are still my absolute favorite. Leather, brand new, arch supports, low heel, perfect color to match the majority of my clothing....the list goes on!! :D

Thank you again, Sarah for the gorgeous, gorgeous pattern! :) I love it!