Quote of the Day: How Lucille Ball's Sage Advice Saved the Day at Tea Time!

Do you ever feel a little stuck when working on a project? It reminds me of trying to get a car up a slippery hill in winter (something I've gained major experience points in, this year!) You have an abstract sense of what you want the final result to be, and you can clearly see where you are right now, but the path to the final result feels like it is working against you. You make a little progress, and erase it. Make a little progress and throw out your sketch, start over, toss a crumpled paper across the room in the general direction of the garbage bin. 

Yesterday I was stuck on a group of designs I thought I had firmly in my brain. I'd set a goal for the day and was staring at it – scrawled sloppily on a scrap of paper and tacked crookedly to the wall in front of my face. 

I kept sketching the same darned thing, over and over. Yes, brain, I've already got the pattern for that one drafted and nearly finished. No, brain, it doesn't count if you just put a different sleeve length on it. Go home, brain, you're tired. Wait, we are home. Drat.

I decided to take a break to grab a cup of tea (Herbal "Sweet and Spicy") and a graham cracker and it wasn't until I sat down that I noticed the quote on my tea bag.

"I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done" – Lucille Ball

How perfect was that? In my moment of feeling droll, ordinary and unoriginal, there was Ms Ball, telling me to just let go and try some new things. I grabbed my pencil and began sketching out some designs based on drapier fabric, thinking about cowls and capelets and how they lay across the shoulders. I'd been focusing on designs using fabric that is easier for the average sewer, when all along my brain was trying to get me to say "Damn the average sewer! I want to challenge the average sewer and to make something truly elegant!" 

This quote was the four-wheel drive to my slippery slope, and I quickly met my goal and started drafting the pattern for this dress: 

I'm daydreaming of drapey rayon crepes and a gorgeous forties broach at the collar. I've also got some sketches of possible panel insertion and trimming for this one. We'll see! 

Have you ever found that perfect alignment of words that helps you forge ahead on a difficult task?

Thanks, Lucy!

xoxo Emily

Paper Ephemera: A Vintage Wintery Print

Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite vintage prints in my collection! This was printed in 1946 and depicts Central Park ice skaters from 1862. It's the perfect wintery inspiration scene for all the snow we've been getting here in Michigan lately! Here's a detail with the publishing date and place, and a hardly readable description stating what the piece depicts.

I love the typography used by the publisher, the block letters make this perfectly adorable. Couldn't you just imagine living in 1946 and dreaming about the days it was 1862? It's almost the same difference as us dreaming about the days it was 1946!

The details in this print are fantastic. Overall it has a fairly soft look - almost like a watercolor wash was put over the ink! There has definitely been some careful attention paid to the clothing and people in the print, too. I love the little hat worn by the man in the yellow jacket and look at that woman being pushed in a sleigh-type chair! There are also quite a few people that have fallen flat on their butts - little details that give the print a very relaxed and fun feel.

The whimsical wintery details make this print even more enjoyable in my eyes - we get to see a 1940s perception of the perfectly terrible ice skaters of the 1860s.

Prints like these are some of my favorite vintage items, I love collecting and displaying them everywhere. Even though the wear and tear on this print is pretty visible, I think that it gives it a little extra character!

Do you have any vintage prints that look even further back in time?

Ellen

Emily's Vintage Fashion Inspiration for 2014

It's exciting to think of the new year as a clean slate for DIY projects, whether they involve new skills or old, whether they're challenging or simple. This is the season for planning and scheming and I'm so happy it's finally come! Of course, when we get to the winter doldrums in four weeks or so I'll be whining and crying about how I can't take the winter weather anymore, but I guess Michigan is like that...

So here is a sampling of the vintage fashion that I've been drooling over recently:

 To the right here is a dress that is listed as being from 1918, though I have to admit I'm kind of skeptical of the dating on it. It really seems to be later than that. Still, it's listed by a seemingly reputable vintage dealer in Chicago, so maybe they really do know their stuff.  

Anyway, I love the large, bold front plaiting, made more delicate by the embroidery and bead patterned trim. The small pleats along the bust are awesome too, especially with the texture of the silk. It's a dress that you know would cling to all of the right places, alluding to form and shape without revealing anything too daring.  

There is very little detail about this dress on the web site where I found it, but the delicate, relaxed-looking lines and starchy, intricate details are enough to make me want to draft a pattern inspired by it. Now I've just got to find a nice source for silk that isn't in terrible, gaudy colors!

This next one is a woolen day dress from 1924, designed by Chanel and I'm pretty sure it's from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection (Ya know, that seriously amazing fashion collection that they keep hiding in some dark secret place? That one.)

I'm having a hard time finding much information about this dress as well, but I almost wonder if it's a wool knit, based on the way that it drapes. I love the covered buttons and the chain detail. This is a great example of a mid twenties dress that might actually work for someone a bit bustier than the typical female silhouette of the era.

The piecing on this one is also very curious, and the diagonal lines seem like they would be flattering to a curvier lady. I can just picture this one with a pair of buffed brown oxfords, a set of pearls and a sage green cloche hat!

 This third photo is a period photo from 1942 of two members of the Women's Land Army, specifically the New South Wales division in Australia. The Women's Land Army, or WLA, was a division of the National Service and was a volunteer organization. The women of the WLA were responsible for much of the agriculture during the second World War. 

So anyway, this photo shows some great vintage overalls, or dungarees, and I am just dying to make myself a pair to throw on in the morning for farm chores. Theirs are most certainly army issued, so there wasn't much variation in them. I am currently drafting a pattern that allows for a thick cotton flannel lining and if they work well I may eventually do a pair lined in wool for the coldest of our Michigan months.  

I am constantly finding myself inspired by the women of the Land Army, as well as the thrifty utilitarian fashion of war-time. War brings about a sort of practicality in fashion that seriously stirs me.  

Finally I wanted to end with something a little less predictable. This dress is supposedly straight from the 1940's, though it's another one that I suspect is a bit later than the original poster has said. There is something so classically utopian/dystopian about this dress's design that reminds me of the aesthetic of older sci-fi movies like Blade Runner, and Dark City (and maybe even a bit of City of Ember). 

I love the seemingly pointless detail around the collar, and there is another tab with a strip of non-functional buttons down the back. It's so starkly contrasting against the utilitarian and somewhat stuffy, conservative cut of the dress. 

This just begs to be drafted and remade in a slubby neutral wool with some sort of wild button color (and maybe contrasting stitching or embroidery?) The possibilities are endless! 

Have you been seriously inspired by anything lately? Do you have any big projects planned for the new year? Thanks for checking in!

- Emily 

Public Domain? Yes, Please!: Meet The Andrews Sisters

The Andrews Sisters are definitely more well-known than the Boswell Sisters that I posted about earlier this week, and they're a staple in any 40s and 50s music lover's collection. Even if you aren't familiar with them persay, most people have at least heard their music in movies or alongside Glenn Miller Orchestra in old recordings.

The Andrews Sisters were heavily influenced by the Boswell Sisters, and even emulated their style and sang their songs when they were first starting out. Their complicated harmonies and jazzy style, while borrowing from the slightly old group of sisters, became their own in a short time following their popularity during World War II and they often visited bases to sing for the troops (in several overseas countries, even!)

If you're completely enamored by the peppy, upbeat sound of the Andrews Sisters I strongly encourage you to NOT read up on their history. I can't help but feel a little sad when I hear them sing now that I now have read of the hardships and family tensions they went through. I guess life gets hard when you're in such close quarters with your siblings in fame.

Here is a youtube sampling of their amazing songs:

This first one is my absolute favorite song of theirs, and I am so pleased that I was able to find this footage from 1942 of them doing a performance (presumably in a movie)!



One of their biggest hits was "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" which is a seriously infectious swinging good time. This footage is from Abbott and Costello's "Buck Pirates". Check out those moves! You also catch a serious glimpse of LaVerne's knee toward the end there - Scandalous!

This final one is a much less known song, but has some great lyrics and a thick jazzy beats. I can't help but feel peppy when I listen to these songs.

I hope you enjoy the Andrews Sisters as much as I do! Please let me know if any of my YouTube links go stale. You can also visit Archive.org's site for them and stream and download additional public domain recordings of their music! 

Work In Progress: Early 20th century Skating Skirt

Emily, here!

A week ago I was invited to attend an even called "Holiday Nights" at Greenfield Village, the open-air living history museum adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum. Holiday Nights is an amazing adventure into the past. The Village itself is an amalgam of historical buildings and "places", all arranged neatly along streets to provide a literal walk through history. There are houses and workshops, and even a factory originally owned by Thomas Edison, seated comfortably next to his workshops which you can tour.

If you're a history nerd like I am, this place is heaven! Holiday Nights is their wintertime celebration during which they offer live music in various settings around the village. You can snuggle next to a bonfire and listen to fife, crowd the foyer of a 19th century manor to hear hammered dulcimer and glockenspiel, follow the traveling carolers and more! There are "street vendors" selling roasted chestnuts, hot cocoa and warm cider, as well as lanterns and wreaths. It was so beautiful. Everywhere you looked were people carrying little lights and lanterns, and people were laughing and singing all around the village (except for one of the houses. One of the houses belonged to a very conservative family, whose religion I have forgotten, who did not observe Christmas...) and the end of the night was led by a parade of noise and lights to the town hall where all of the visitors caroled as fireworks were set off over the village lake. Holy cow. I haven't had good educational fun like that in a very long time.

SO.
I've had this idea for a vintage-inspired skirt tickling the back of my head ever since that night and over the past few days I've been able to really get some work done on it. I want desperately to make one of those warm woolen skirts that you see women wearing for figure skating both in the 1910's and again in the 40s.

Ideally I'd like it to be the kind of skirt that you can pair with a fancy muff or a muck fork, depending on where you are! The biggest challenge for me was definitely coming up with something that is practical as well as elegant.

I spent an entire day pouring over my vintage/antique patterns (and Pinterest, of course) in order to come up with just the right cut. Finally I settled on one of my favorite patterns from "Past Patterns" which is a 1915, six gored skirt with a sort of "yoke belt". I used this patter as my base and altered it slightly to give it a slightly more 40's silhouette and length, and unless I'm sorely mistaken the result is going to be spectacular!

This pattern is a perfect example of how to find yourself in over your head with antique sewing! The pattern has a scant 4 lines of directions and was originally unprinted, leaving a series of perforations to be carefully deciphered by the seamstress or tailor. The "yoke belt" is nearly impossible to figure out, and in the end I decided to wing it. It was only after I finished the top of the skirt that I figured out how I should've done it, as it ended up a bit bulky, but it still looks fantastic when it's on!

The fabric that I had the pleasure of using for this was a heavy Italian wool. Don't get me wrong, I'm really not the kind of gal to go and splurge on some over-the-top luxury fabric, but last year I visited the Fabric Warehouse over in Warren, Michigan and stumbled across this amazing fabric for $12.99 a yard, when it had originally sold for $50-60 a yard in New York City fashion houses. Holy Moly, right? It's the most luxurious fabric I've ever sewn with (though I have a couple of other gems in my collection waiting to be used) so there was a lot of pressure to make it into something special. This project has proved to be the perfect excuse.

I have yet to add the buttons, hook-and-eyes and hem (which I am just realizing I've never actually done an invisible hem – maybe I can get away with hiding a plain-stitched hem in an embellishment at the bottom as pictured on the drawing...) so there will be plenty of photos of this babe when I'm finished. I'll be finishing the hem at a shorter length than was typical of the Edwardian period from which this pattern comes simply because I want it to be a working skirt, or the kind of skirt that you'd wear when skating on the local pond. It needs to be short enough that my wellies don't get caught up in it as I'm trudging out to feed the livestock, but ideally it should be long enough to allude to the modesty of the era.

Stay tuned for more photos!