Living in Vintage

Note, although I have the best intentions written in this post, I actually wrote it about two weeks ago. Yeah... Anyway, I really am going to do better now. I have my schedule all worked out so that I have Wednesdays open, so I will hopefully write at least one post a week from here on out.

     Well, I am back at school now and busy with homework already. I am also going to be in the school play, and I have a job, so pretty busy! I honestly think though, that I will be able to keep up with blogging better than I did before. My New Years Resolution (though it's pretty casual, since I've never really done New Years Resolutions) is to be more disciplined in life. This may seem like a strange one to people who know me, because I always get done what must be done and am very driven and busy. But the thing is, I don't do the other stuff. I don't take the time to read my favorite book, blog about what I love, sew, or spend time in the Word. I sleep in as late as I can, so I don't have time to try something new with my hair; it has to be the same-old same-old. I want to make the time to still be alive, even with deadlines!
     I am a huge advocate of vintage the way it was actually worn. I love seeing photos of ordinary girls wearing casual, everyday wear. It is still beautiful clothing, but it shows me how to dress in a real life way. The problem with this is that people often say things along these lines to me, "I know you like vintage, but you aren't like such-and-such; she wears it all the time." and I cringe. It irritates me. The problem is that the clothing I am wearing is very timeless. Sweaters and skirts are never really going out of style, neither are blouses. I was expressing this frustration to my mom, and she said something that has really stuck with me, "That means you have succeeded, you don't look like you're wearing a costume. You look like you are wearing your clothes." and she was absolutely right. It has always been my goal to wear what I love without making a big show of it. People will compliment me, but they don't say "I love how vintage you look!" they say "You always look so nice!" I realize now that that is the compliment worth gaining. And deep down, I know that I am vintage. People around me won't necessarily understand what all vintage means. Since it is such a fad right now, people think peter pan collars and lace make something vintage, which isn't entirely false. But they don't know about the everyday, average girl that actually used to live. I just have some extra information, and I can be happy with that.
     So, if you find yourself becoming irritated by people who haven't done their research, just stop and realize that you have succeeded. You are wearing your closet, which happens to be vintage, and people see you first. That isn't a bad thing!
     Here are a bunch of pictures of a few of the outfits I have worn recently. Hope you enjoy!

Lots of love,

Christmas and Projects

Rachael and her stocking (full of chocolate) wearing her stocking cap that she just finished knitting. 

     Hello, all of you lovely ladies! I have been enjoying my time without school so much that I haven't even turned on my computer since the time I posted last. Sometimes a break is just necessary (albeit too long...). I had a lovely Christmas, as I hope the rest of you did as well! Since most of my family are in college right now (and therefore poor), we decided to draw names for Christmas presents. I received my Dad, and my brother-in-law received me. Since my Dad is a mountain man reenactor, it is pretty easy to shop for him (unlike most men). I got him a book about Bent's Fort and season 1 of Mountain Men (which I still haven't watched, it's a fairly new series and I had never heard of it until I did a search). I also got him a book of phrases beginning with 'Dad, you're dynamite because...' and wrote some special notes in it of my own, and I got him a CD he has been wanting for a long time. It is one of his favorite groups, Daniel Amos, from when he was young, and they recently released a brand new CD, which is pretty cool.

     Johan (my brother-in-law), got me some beautiful presents! One of which, my sister informed me, he chose without any help from her! A lovely calender full of pictures of hats (they have always been a weakness with me), a thrifted book (written in the 70's) called 'History of 20th Century Fashion', and one of my favorite movies, 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. I had never heard of this movie until this last semester, and I absolutely fell in love. If you like Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, the 20's, and kooky fun, you will love this movie! It is crazy and weird and wonderful. My Mom and Dad still gave us 'Santa' presents. This year it was all of the Narnia books in one.

      I had this lovely, unrealistic goal of finishing a dress for Christmas Eve. That didn't happen, but I am still sewing the dress. I am using a lovely chocolate brown, silky fabric. I decided to line it in flannel to make it warmer and more wearable, and I am so excited to finish it! I think it is going to be very comfortable, and since I don't have many warm dresses, this is needed. I have plans for many more projects while I am at home, but I don't have much time, since school starts again on the 8th. Oh well, I will just have to be a sewing fiend for the next few days!

The lining

Reading and knitting

New purse!

      Now for some cliche stuff! Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I actually really love drawing names for Christmas. I feel that it keeps giving a part of Christmas, but one is not overwhelmed with more presents than they need. My favorite part of Christmas has always been all of the traditions, as well as our Christmas Eve service (which is also a tradition...). I love hearing the Christmas story, it reminds me why we are celebrating. Christmas is a time of celebrating the birth of Christ and spending time with loved ones. It is a time to show love to everyone you come into contact with. I don't need to say that materialism is a problem around Christmastime, because everybody says that. I think that a bigger problem is not taking time to enjoy Christmas. I went to the store a few days before Christmas. When I checked out I said 'hello' cheerfully. The lady at the counter's response was to say that I must have finished all of my Christmas shopping. We then had a little conversation about her children, and it was nice. I felt so sad, thinking about all of the cranky customers she had obviously been dealing with. I encourage all of you to make an effort to smile at people, not just at Christmastime, but all year long. It is amazing the difference it can make in someones day to be smiled at by a stranger.

      I must get back to sewing my dress now, and soon we will be eating. We are having meatloaf and black eyed peas for dinner, and we have sparkling cider for later. So, without further ado, Happy New Years, everybody stay safe!

Lots of love!

A Lack of Inspiration

     Well, I have been completely MIA, and I apologize. The past few weeks I have been exhausted and simply uninspired. I think that part of it had to do with homesickness; but after being home for four days, I am feeling better again. Another issue has been my necessary separation from my sewing machine. Seriously, I'm having withdrawals. I am still wearing vintage (inspired), but there hasn't been anything new or exciting. Let me tell you though, vintage collegiate is very comfortable! Sweaters and my black pencil skirt; that is pretty much what I have been wearing. One of the biggest perks to this combo is that I can wear them to my acting classes.
     I am leaving for home tomorrow, and I am so excited! I promise that I will have lots more to say coming soon. I have lots of sewing in my sights!
Lots of love,

Giveaway at Chronically Vintage

     Hey everybody, I have never posted this often before! This is just a quick note to tell you that there is a wonderful giveaway going on over at Chronically Vintage hosted by The Best Vintage Clothing. It is a fifty dollar gift card to spend on/towards anything in their shop. Go on over to Chronically Vintage to enter!

A Coat to Make You Smile







     Let's just be perfectly honest: winter is cold and dreary. This isn't to say that I don't appreciate a magical snowfall, or drinking hot cocoa with a good book, but when it comes to doing what has to be done (namely getting out of my bed to brave the cold and walk to class, usually rushing), let's just say that I would rather skip from fall to spring. I love fall weather, with the delightful crispness in the air and the leaves crunching underfoot or displaying their gorgeous fall colors while still on the trees; but as soon as it becomes bitingly cold, I don't want it anymore. The one redeeming factor about freezing temperatures is the beautiful style that can go with it. Enter scarves and tights and socks and hats; and enter my winter coat.

     I love my coat so much; I made it last year at the end of the Christmas season, right before the spring semester began. I knew at this point that I would be moving to my University and need a very warm coat for traipsing all over campus. I had had the wool for an entire year (having received it as a Christmas gift the year before) when I finally made it. I used this pattern, which isn't really meant for heavy fabrics, but the silhouette was so perfect that I decided to disregard that little tidbit (and it worked).

 

     I lined it in red satin, which was actually very much a 'Make Do and Mend' thing to do. I re-purposed it from the skirt of my first Civil War ball gown, knowing that I would never wear it as such again. It seemed such a waste to let all of that lovely satin sit unused, and I had no money or fabric otherwise. Really, it was quite satisfying to be so thrifty about it. I love eliminating waste, so this was a challenge accepted for me. The fabric was not long enough to be the lining, and so I had to piece it together. I was actually quite pleased with how the seams looked, it gives the coat rather more personality.

     I added the button just before I left home in August, which was a necessary adjustment. The coat is far too prone to fly open for my liking, and the button insures that I will keep my coat on. It is very heavy, what with a thick layer of wool and satin interlined with muslin, and it keeps out the cold better than any other coat I have (except for the front opening which still has a mind of its own). I love wearing my coat, it instantly makes any drab outfit feel glamorous; though I admit that there are times when I wonder if it is too much. I honestly need to just stop worrying about what people think. The truth is that some people will think it is too much, some will think it's lovely, and most probably won't care. I have realized lately that it is almost narcissistic to think that everyone (or even most people) care about what I am wearing. I do not wear the clothes that I wear to stand out, I wear them because I want to; and if my focus shifts from that then the whole point of wearing vintage is defeated, and I might as well go back to jeans and t-shirts. The truth is that people usually don't even know that what you are wearing is vintage inspired, because most people are not as obsessed as I am, and I do mean 'obsessed'.
     Well, all this goes to say that if it is dreary and cold out, nothing can make the day so tolerable as a pretty swing coat. It makes you happy, and keeps you warm!
Lots of love!

My Closet

 

My shoes are not organized, but that is always the case...

      So, I have this obsession with reading blogs from their very beginnings (anyone else find the need to do this?), and the past week or so I have run across several posts regarding simplifying your closet (your posts matter, they will always be inspiring to people). I began to think about my closet, which has issues holding my abundance of clothes, and how I don't even wear most of what is in there on a regular basis. Therefore, I am downsizing and organizing. I wanted to find three different categories, and get rid of things from all but 1:

1. Hand sewn
2. Thrifted
3. Store bought

I don't have a before picture, but there is seriously so much more space in here now. The bottom of the closet looks worse than it is, that big mess is my cloth hamper being annoying.

     I have way more hand sewn and thrifted than store bought at this point, and it was time to downsize even more. I feel like all of my store bought clothes have been holding me back. They are a bit of a handicap, because I can always fall back on what looks 'normal'. I want to eventually reach the place where I can honestly say that my whole closet is either thrifted or hand sewn, with more hand sewn than not (most of what I thrift is sweaters, and I don't make those so I don't mind that so much). I need to do a lot of work on my fall/winter wardrobe. I have a lot more hand sewn summer clothes than winter, so when the weather gets cold again I feel like I don't have anything hand sewn to wear. Considering how much I wear sweaters, I really should start knitting and crocheting more. It's just that the last sweater I tried to make ended so sadly. The sleeves were far from big enough for my arms, and they were supposed to be baggy! Dumb pattern... Anyway, if I can find cheap yarn, then I will probably give it another go. I went through and rid myself of several dresses and skirts that I couldn't part with before, simply because there was nothing wrong with them. I have them all in a bag now, waiting till I can sell them at the end of the school year. I am just done holding onto things that do me no good, and could benefit someone else immensely. By the by, would any of you be interested in buying some of my clothes if I put them on Etsy? They aren't vintage, but they are in very nice condition. If anyone is interested, I can get more information out there.

      I feel so much better about my closet now, I actually have extra hangers! Even with everything I purged, I feel like there is more that should go. It is hard to get rid of some things, like tshirts, because I wear those when I am lazying around the house or working out, but I have too many. I want to clean out my closet regularly, to avoid the overdose of stuff that I hate so.
     I have found some definite methods for purging my closet, and maybe they will work for you too. First I make sure that I don't have clothes laying around (to avoid accidentally getting rid of something), and I designate a space for clothes I am getting rid of, and a space for clothes that need to be fixed/revamped. Next I make a first run-through of the closet, grabbing everything that I am just done with. I repeat this at least five times. It is surprising to me that I am able to grab more each time, it's like the more I get rid of the easier it is to let go. When I have gotten rid of everything I can in this way, I go through and try on everything left in my closet (except for obvious things, like the dress you wear three times a week. It obviously fits and works.) You can get rid of even more through this process. Try on anything you aren't sure of. Also, don't be afraid to get rid of that ratty old t-shirt that you wear constantly. If it is basically an addiction to wear it all of the time, then the only thing to do is stop cold-turkey; plain and simple as that. Make sure that while you are trying on things you hang them up right away, or put them in your 'gone' pile. Keep things clean while you go, and you will thank yourself later.

We made extra closet space under one of the beds and have all of our jackets and coats hanging here. This is both my sister and my clothing.

     Well, after getting rid of so much stuff I now have room for some things I have been wanting again! On that list are:

• Vintage style jeans (women's or men's; either would have been worn)
• Cigarette pants (and shorts too, though I don't know that they are actually called that. You know, the ones that come to the knee cap and are worn with tall socks)
• Pajamas
• Vintage style workout clothes would be fantastic
• Cold weather skirts

     This is not an exhuastive list, but these are things that I find myself wishing that I had. I have to be able to move easily in my clothes every time that I have a theatre class, which is four days a week. This often means that I can't wear skirts at all, so I need to get more pants and such that fit my style. Next semester I will only have a theatre class two days a week, so it will be a bit easier to deal with. The main problem is that these classes are in the middle of the day, so I don't change back into my prettier clothes after that class. Often I change into sweats instead. Things must change people! Who's with me? Are you ready to stop being lazy about your daily wardrobe with me? I am going to make an effort to stop wearing the same clothes over and over, and start exploring my closet a bit more. Also, the fact that I will only be wearing an outfit for my first class and chapel (which ends by 11) is no excuse to not wear those clothes. I love wearing my style, and I hate leaving it all of the time. Now that my closet is so much clearer, maybe I'll be able to look and grab faster!

Flashback Summer Giveaway Winner

     Good day lovelies, allow me to introduce you to Helen Mae.

     Lovebirds Vintage is a very charming blog; I just explored a little bit, and I am quite smitten. She has lots of pretty outfit posts (seperated into their own private tab), makeup tutorials, she is learning to sew, and she is a reenactor. I absolutely adore reenacting, and I am for sure going to be exploring her blog a bit more. If you are in the mood for some great inspiration, definitely go on over and give her blog a look.
Lots of love!